Defining Pass-Fail Criteria

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As testers conduct a variety of tests, some applications will pass and some will fail. You should have a procedure defined so that participants know when and where they can log application problems and issues to be resolved.

When testers have completed the tests for a specific application, they need to enter the results in your test tracking and reporting system. You need, of course, to prioritize and track all outstanding problems and then retest applications when the problems are resolved. To track testing progress, however, you might want to know which applications are ready and which are not. If you plan to track your progress by whether applications passed or failed, you need to define the criteria for each category you use. To define the criteria for pass and fail, consider issues such as the following:

  • How significant is the problem? Does it affect a critical function or a peripheral one?

  • How likely is someone to encounter the problem?

  • Is there a way to circumvent the problem?