Dr.Cem Kaner in “A Pattern for Scenario Testing” has explained scenario Based Testing in great detail that can be found at www.testing.com.
What is Scenario Based Testing and How/Where is it useful is an interesting question. I shall explain in brief the above two mentioned points.
Scenario Based Testing is categorized under Black Box Tests and are most helpful when the testing is concentrated on the Business logic and functional behaviour of the application. Adopting SBT is effective when testing complex applications. Now, every application is complex, then it’s the teams call as to implement SBT or not. I would personally suggest using SBT when the functionality to test includes various features and functions. A best example would be while testing banking application. As banking applications require utmost care while testing, handling various functions in a single scenario would result in effective results.
A sample transaction (scenario) can be, a customer logging into the application, checking his balance, transferring amount to another account, paying his bills, checking his balance again and logging out.
In brief, use Scenario Based Tests when:
1. Testing complex applications.
2. Testing Business functionality.
When designing scenarios, keep in mind:
1. The scenario should be close to the real life scenario.
2. Scenarios should be realistic.
3. Scenarios should be traceable to any/combination of functionality.
4. Scenarios should be supported by sufficient data.