They say communication is the key to good relationships. Your weekly software test status report is one very important component to building good relationships, both within your team and outside of your team. A good software test status report, provided to all the stakeholders in your project, gives people confidence that you will deliver.
Here are some tips for what to include in your weekly software test status reports:
Summary: a single paragraph describing how the testing has progressed during the last week and what the main concerns are.
Current version under test: version of the product that the test team is currently testing
Important Defects: a list of bugs that have the biggest impact on your testing (usually a list a blocker defects).
Project Issues: A list of the project issues (e.g. lack of resources) that need to be resolved in order for the testing to continue without obstruction.
Expected releases: when you are expecting the next release from the development team and what fixes/functionality you expect in the release.
Schedule/Progress: Are you on track to complete the testing on the estimated completion date? For example if you track the test cases you run you may list planned vs. actual test cases completed for the period
Including a test dashboard on the status report can also be useful. A dashboard aims to show a high level status of the testing in a graphical or table format. Your dashboard could cover items such as:
Test Areas: a list of areas your testing is covering
Current Effort: how much effort is currently being applied to the test area
Coverage: level of coverage planned for the test area
Quality: a subjective estimate of the quality level for the test area
Bugs: number of bugs raised within the test area
Comments: important points relating to the test area
Depending on your audience, your software test status report can be a quick one page summary or run to 3 or 4 pages. The most important point is to make sure you keep your software test status reports relevant and up to date. The more relevant and up to date the more likely people are to take notice. After all, one of the main purposes of this software test status report is to get other people to carry out their obligations to help you keep the software testing on track.