How to create Test Scenarios? (with Examples)

A test scenario, sometimes called a scenario test, is the documentation of a use case. In other words, it describes an action the user may undertake with a website or app. It may also represent a situation the user may find themselves in while using that software or product.

In the following sections, we’ll learn about Test Scenarios with the help of two examples, best practices, & also the difference between test cases and scenarios.

What is a Test Scenario?

Test Scenarios are created to ensure that every functionality a website or app offers is working as expected. It is best to gather input from clients, stakeholders, and developers to create real/accurate test scenarios. This helps effectively cover all possible user scenarios and enables comprehensive testing of all business flows of the software in question.

Test Scenarios are required to verify the entire system’s performance from the users’ perspective. When creating them, testers need to place themselves in the users’ shoes to clarify what real-world scenarios the software will have to handle when made public.

Why create Test Scenarios?

• It helps ensure complete test coverage
• Since test scenarios must ideally be approved by business analysts, developers, and potential customers (a control group, ideally), they would cover everything that needs to be tested before the software goes public.
• It helps estimate the required testing effort and organize the testing process. It can also serve as a proposal for the client.
• It helps identify the most critical end-to-end user flows, which assists with organizing the testing efforts according to priority

When to not use Test Scenarios?

It is not necessary to create and use Test Scenarios in the following situations:

• In case of a time crunch or when testing an unstable website or app. Creating detailed test scenarios takes time, and creating them for unstable software makes no sense because they will change as the software stabilizes.
• When a project follows the Agile methodology of development.
• When implementing a bug fix or regression tests. If this occurs, there will already be existing documentation from previous test cycles that can be used.

How to create a Test Scenario?

1. Carefully study the Requirement Document – Business Requirement Specification (BRS), Software Requirement Specification (SRS), and Functional Requirement Specification (FRS) about the System Under Test (SUT).
2. Isolate every requirement, and identify what possible user actions need to be tested.
3. Figure out the technical issues associated with the requirement.
4. Also, remember to analyze and frame possible system abuse scenarios by evaluating the software with a hacker’s eyes.
5. Enumerate test scenarios that cover every possible feature of the software.
6. Ensure that these scenarios cover every user flow and business flow involved in the operation of the website or app.
7. After listing the test scenarios, create a Traceability Matrix to ensure every requirement is mapped to a test scenario.
8. Get the scenarios reviewed by a supervisor, and then push them to be reviewed by other stakeholders involved in the project.

Test Scenario Examples

Look at an e-commerce website and a test scenario related to its Login page.

Test Scenario 1 

Check the Login functionality.

Ask the following questions in this scenario:

• Can the user log in with a valid email id and password?
• What happens when an invalid email id and valid password?
• What happens when a valid email id and an invalid password are entered?
• What happens when an invalid email id and invalid password are entered?
• What happens when the email id and password fields are blank and the Login button is clicked?
• Is the Forgot password? Is the option working as expected?
• Is every link on the page functioning as expected?

Let’s also look at a detailed example of test scenarios for a food delivery app:

Best Practices to Create Test Scenarios

• For simplicity’s sake, create one test scenario for a requirement or user story.
• If one test scenario does have to accommodate multiple requirements, then ensure that each requirement has been checked in isolation beforehand. Otherwise, it is easy to miss certain functions.
• If it turns out that the number of test scenarios is too large or too expensive to run, prioritize based on customer preferences.

Difference between Test Case and Test Scenario

The Role of Real Devices in Test Scenarios

No matter the activity, all testing operations must be executed on real devices. Test Scenarios can only be effectively implemented when corresponding tests are run in real user conditions. Running them on emulators or simulators cannot provide 100% accurate results, so testers and QA managers cannot evaluate the testing process accurately. Any results yielded from following a test scenario would be only partially correct, and therefore the results will not be a real barometer of software performance.

• Whether manual testing or automated Selenium testing, real devices are non-negotiable in the testing equation.
• The device pool for testing must include not just the latest gadgets but also older devices still active in the market.
• Since one can’t know which device will be used to access a website or app in a highly fragmented landscape, the more devices one can run tests on, the better.
• In the absence of an in-house device lab (regularly updated with new devices and maintains each of them at the highest levels of functionality), opt for cloud-based testing infrastructure.

BrowserStack provides 3000+ real browsers and devices that can be accessed for testing anywhere in the world, anytime. Run parallel tests on its Cloud Selenium Grid for faster results without compromising accuracy.

Users can sign up, select a device-browser-OS combination, and start testing for free. They can simulate user conditions such as low network and battery, changes in location (both local and global changes), and viewport sizes as well as screen resolutions.

Test on Real Device Cloud

QA managers can modulate testing processes by running tests on a real device cloud to provide the desired results. Since Test Scenarios are integral to shaping a highly functional test cycle, testers, and managers can utilize them accurately in every project to ensure their success.