The test case design is an important factor in the quality of the software testing process because they have a major role to play in identifying bugs and defects. The test case design is how you set-up your test cases and there are various techniques of doing so. In this article, we will briefly look at the types of test case design techniques and how they are different from one another. 

Types of Test Case Design Techniques

Test case design techniques can be broadly classified into three categories:

  • Specification-based techniques
  • Structure-based techniques
  • Experience-based techniques

1. Specification-Based Techniques

This technique uses the external description of the software such as the client’s requirements, design, and technical specifications. Through this technique, testers can develop test cases that provide full test coverage. It can be further divided into 5 categories which are:

  • Boundary Value Analysis (BVA): Explores errors at the boundary of the input domain.
  • Equivalence Partitioning (EP): Test input data is divided into several classes having an equivalent number of data.
  • Decision Table Testing: Test cases are designed based on decision tables which results in outputs based on various scenarios and conditions.
  • State Transition Diagrams: The software is perceived as a system having a finite number of states of different types and transition from one state to another is led by a set of rules.
  • Use Case Testing: Test cases are designed to execute various end-user functionalities and business scenarios.

2. Structure-Based Techniques

This technique focuses on the internal structure of the software to design test cases. The developed code is exhaustively tested and test cases are designed with the help of developers who have complete information about the software. This technique can also be divided into five categories which are:

  • Statement Testing & Coverage: Execution of all the statements in the source code at least once.
  • Decision Testing Coverage: One of the possible branches from each decision point is executed once at least to ensure the execution of all reachable code.
  • Condition Testing: All the testing outcomes are at least tested once.
  • Multiple Condition Testing: Different combinations of conditions are tested to get 100% coverage.
  • All Path Testing: The source code of a program is leveraged to find every executable path.

3. Experience-Based Techniques

As the term suggests, these techniques depend highly on the experience of testers who are required to understand the important areas of the software. The major determinants of outcomes of these techniques are the expertise, knowledge, and skills of the people involved. Following are the types of experience-based techniques:

  • Error Guessing: Testers anticipate errors based on their knowledge of product failure, availability of data, and experience. 
  • Exploratory Testing: The application is tested without any formal documentation with an emphasis on formal documentation.

Importance of Test Case Management Tools

In today’s age of Agile, managing test cases without test case management tools aren’t just hard but also unreasonable. They not only allow teams to write and manage test cases in a better way but also enables them to report bugs and present detailed reports using filter features that can provide actionable insights.