Every project starts with a test plan: the checklist that leads the team from the survey link to the go-live. SurveyTester ships two plans. Most companies have their own QA process, though: extra approval steps, client-specific checks, a different order. With test plan templates you turn that process into the plan your projects start with, and you decide which kind of project gets which plan.
Why this is hard without SurveyTester
- A process document is not a process. A QA handbook describes the steps, but nobody follows it line by line in the middle of a project. A template puts the steps where the work happens.
- One size fits nobody. A tracker study, an ad test and a multi-country B2B survey need different checks. A single company checklist is either too long for the small projects or too short for the big ones.
- Changes do not reach the projects. When the process changes, the copies of the old checklist live on in every running project. With templates, new projects get the new version automatically.
How it works
- A project gets its test plan the first time its Test plan page is opened.
- It takes the company template that fits the project best: a template restricted to the project's type and folder beats a template restricted to only one of them, and that beats a template for every project. When two templates fit equally well, the default template of the company wins (marked with a star), otherwise the newest.
- If no template fits, the project gets a shipped plan. Which one you choose in Company Settings › General Settings › Test plan of new projects. Without a choice it is the SurveyTester simple test plan.
- The project gets a copy of the items. Later changes to the template do not change running projects. The team takes them over with Manage › Load template or Reset test plan... on the project.
- Items taken over from a SurveyTester plan keep the SurveyTester texts, in the user's language, until you change them.
Step by step
1. Open the template administration
Open Administration › Test plan templates. You need the permission Manage Test Plan Templates.
On the left you see your Templates and, below them, what a project gets when no template applies, with a link to the setting in Company Settings. Under Actions you create and manage templates.
2. Create a template
Choose one of the actions:
| Action | Result |
|---|---|
| New template | An empty template. |
| Start from: SurveyTester simple test plan | A copy of the 28 steps that guide through SurveyTester. |
| Start from: SurveyTester standard test plan | A copy of the full plan with 114 items in 15 phases, including every step of the simple plan. |
| Duplicate | A copy of the selected template. |
| Delete | Deletes the selected template. Projects that already use it keep their items. |
3. Decide which projects get the template
Give the template a Name and a Description. Under Which projects get this template choose:
- Project types: only projects of these types,
- Project folders: only projects in these folders,
- User roles: who may see the template when loading a template into a project.
Leave a list empty for "all". Tick Default template of this company for the template that should win a tie.
4. Arrange the items
The items are grouped by category, every category once, with its items below it.
- Categories: rename a category in its header (a name that already exists merges the two), add an item with +, and move the whole category up or down with the arrows. The category order is the order the project shows.
- Items: drag an item by its handle, also into another category. The round buttons at the end of a row edit the item, move it up or down, reset its texts to the SurveyTester default and remove it.
- Active: an inactive item stays in the template but is not copied into new projects.
5. Edit an item
Click an item title (or the edit button) to open the item dialog:
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Code | A short, unique code. Ticks of items with the same code survive when a project loads another template. |
| Category | An existing category, or New category... |
| Title and What to check | What the team sees in the project. |
| SurveyTester feature | Where in SurveyTester the item is done. |
| Verified by | Manual, Auto check, Survey bot, Questionnaire, Data (several possible). |
| Tick per | Once per project, per language, per market, per language and market, or per device. |
| Automatic check | The rule that ticks the item from the project data, or None (manual). The help below the field explains the rule. A warning tells you when the rule cannot judge the chosen Tick per separately. |
| Active | Whether new projects get the item. |
Click Save in the editor when you are done.
6. Choose the plan for all other projects
In Company Settings › General Settings, Test plan of new projects decides which shipped plan a project gets when none of your templates applies. The link under the template list on the template page jumps straight to it.
7. Set the go-live warning per project type
The test plan shows the project's go-live date next to its title and turns it crimson when the go-live is close. What "close" means you set per project type: Administration › Project Types › choose the project type › Other › Test plan: warning days before go-live. Leave it empty for 7 days; 0 turns the warning off.
Good to know
- Existing projects keep their plan. A new or changed template only reaches projects that open their test plan for the first time, load the template, or reset their test plan.
- Ticks follow the code. Keep the codes of items you only reword. A new code is a new item, and its ticks start from scratch.
- Start from a SurveyTester plan rather than from scratch: the automatic checks are already assigned, and the texts stay translated until you change them.