Outsourcing Test Plan
This is a practical guide to building a test plan for an outsourcing project — the approach, scope and schedule for testing the deliverables, adapted to the realities of outsourcing a function to an external provider.
What a Test Plan is
A test plan is the approach, scope and schedule for testing the deliverables. For the full concept and how it works in general, see Test Plan. On an outsourcing project it plays the same role, tuned to this kind of work.
Why it matters for an Outsourcing project
Outsourcing projects live or die on outsourcing a function to an external provider. A well-built test plan gives the team a shared, explicit reference for exactly that — reducing ambiguity, aligning stakeholders, and making problems visible early enough to act. Skipping it, or doing it generically, is how outsourcing projects drift into avoidable delay and cost.
What to include
- Test scope and objectives
- Test cases/scenarios
- Environments
- Entry/exit criteria
- Defect management
Outsourcing-specific considerations
Tailor the test plan to the risks that most often derail outsourcing projects:
- Knowledge transfer
- Service-level definition
- People impact
Example
On a real outsourcing project, the test plan would be shaped by outsourcing a function to an external provider. In particular, it should explicitly account for the project’s biggest risks — knowledge transfer, service-level definition, people impact — rather than treating them as afterthoughts.