Do we prepare requirement traceability matrix Before / After creation of Test Plan?

Question

Is RTM prepared before the creation of Test Plan or after the creation of Test Plan?

• How are both interrelated?

• In case of Integration, System, Master test plan how os RTM related?

Answer 1

STLC has 5 staging Requirement Analysis exit criteria is RTM and then next stage is Test Planning
and then Test case development. so how RTM written before Test case development

Answer 2

Is RTM prepared before the creation of Test Plan or after the creation of Test Plan?

It's a document that is delivered once development/testing is completed, so it should be a living document. It essentially maps your requirements to your test cases so that you have traceability of your coverage as you test whatever is in development.

how both are interrelated?

There aren't 100% coupled. Your test plan would cover your approach to how it will be tested. The RTM maps what you are testing to make sure that you have sufficient coverage in the testing process.

Incase of Integration, System, Master test plan how RTM is related?

In the case of System/Integration testing, your RTM ideally would have coverage for both types of tests. For me personally, I think a master test plan is a waste of time and effort. Your test plan(s) should cover what you need.

Edit: There is a really good write-up on it here.

I hope this helps!

Answer 3

1. To answer your first point, RTM is something that is prepared as and when the requirements are ready. If you plan to adopt a practice of creating RTM in your project, you can mention this point in your Test Plan irrespective of the fact that it is created or not.
2. Test Plan and RTM are not related. RTM is prepared keeping the following objectives in mind:
   • Requirements coverage - To verify whether all requirements have been covered against test case.
   • It is extremely useful in identifying related test cases, hence simplifies regression testing
3. The practice we follow is that RTM is created for each requirement. As soon as the requirement is frozen, QA team creates test cases for it, marks all the related test cases for the requirement and shares it with the development team. So, while the development is in progress, developers refer the matrix to ensure that all the test cases related to that requirement pass before passing on the requirement to QA team. So, ideally RTM should be prepared as soon as the requirements are known. Of course, this means that any changes in the requirements, will need modification to the RTM as well. That might be in the form of adding a new TC, deleting a TC or identifying regression test suite here.
   You can read more about how to create a RTM here since it is very important that it has been populated correctly, otherwise it might cause lead to unsatisfied clients. RTM is only as good as the people creating it.
   Hope this helps!

Answer 4

RTM is always an important document of any project.In any project RTM template is defined over test plan and how the tester will operate with template in day today basis once the project kicks off.

Once the requirements are finalized then each requirement IDs need to be included in the RTM Template.

Once the test cases are created and reviewed perfectly ,all the test cases need to be mapped to proper requirement IDs.

Even sometimes if project has any process to follow MOSCOW rule It'll help testers to determine the order of execution as well.

In the end RTM guarantees that each requirement IDs have test cases for them.It guarantees maximum coverage but not 100%

Answer 5

Traceability Matrix is prepared once the requirements are gathered and after the release post QA sign off we generate the RTM(Requirement Traceability Matrix) from HP ALM QC(Test Management Tool ) as I am using HP ALM its done this way.

After the requirements are gathered we prepare the Test Plan Strategy document which covers all the Test scenarios (Inscope,out of scope,Regression items covered) based on that we create the requirements in HP ALM QC and associate the test cases related to each scenario.

After signoff, we Generate the RTM to verify whether all the requirements are covered in that release and nothing is missed out.