Test artifacts
Test artifacts are the documents and outputs that testing produces, from the test plan written before any test runs to the closure report written after the last one. They include test cases, test scripts, test data, test logs and defect reports. ISTQB calls the same set of work products testware.
The longer version
Each stage of testing leaves something behind. Planning produces the test plan, with its schedule, risks and entry and exit criteria. Analysis and design produce test conditions and test cases. Implementation produces test scripts, test procedures, test data and the suites that group them. Execution produces test logs, which record what was run and what happened, and defect reports for the failures. Each cycle ends with a test report, and completion produces one closure report on the whole effort. The ISTQB Foundation syllabus lists work products like these as testware and adds that organisations vary significantly in how they produce, name and manage them. British English spells the word artefacts, and the meaning is the same.
An artifact earns its keep through its reader. The test plan is read by the project manager and the product owner, who need to know what will be tested, by when and what is left out. Test cases and scripts are read by the testers who run them and by developers reproducing a failure. Test data is read mostly by tools. A test log is read by whoever has to explain a result later, including an auditor. Defect reports go to the developers who fix the problem and to whoever ranks it. The test report for a cycle is written for the people deciding whether to release, so it has to make sense without the rest. The closure report is written once, at the end of the effort, for whoever plans the next one.
How many artifacts a team keeps depends on what it has to prove. A regulated product needs each requirement traced to its tests and their results, so every artifact is written, versioned and stored. A small team shipping weekly may keep a one-page plan, automated tests that serve as both cases and scripts, and the defect tracker. Either way the artifacts describe one product and have to agree with each other. A test case that no longer matches the screen, or a plan that names a retired environment, misleads the next reader, which is the argument for keeping artifacts under version control and deleting the ones nobody maintains.
Common questions
What are test artifacts in software testing?
Test artifacts are the work products created during testing: the test plan, test cases, test scripts, test data, test logs, defect reports, test reports and the closure report. Together they record what was planned, what was run and what was found.
What is the difference between test artifacts and test deliverables?
Test artifacts are everything testing produces, including working files that never leave the team. In common usage, test deliverables are the subset handed to someone outside it, such as a client or a release board, typically the plan, the results and the test report. Which artifacts count as deliverables is agreed in the test plan.
What is testware?
Testware is the ISTQB word for the work products of testing. The ISTQB glossary defines it as work products produced during the test process for use in planning, designing, executing, evaluating and reporting on testing, which is the ground the phrase test artifacts covers.
Which test artifacts are created before test execution?
The test plan, the test conditions, the test cases, the test scripts and procedures, the test data and the test environment setup are all created before execution starts. Test logs, defect reports and the test report for each cycle are produced during execution, and the closure report once it is over.
Who is responsible for test artifacts?
The test lead or test manager usually owns the plan, the test reports and the closure report, and the testers who design and run the tests own the cases, scripts, logs and defect reports. On a team without dedicated testers, the developers who write the automated tests own the artifacts that go with them.
Bug reports that arrive ready to triage.
Collect replay, console, network and browser context with the Free plan.