Updated March 18, 2023
Difference Between Test Cases vs Test Scenario
While both test cases and test scenarios documentation are essential artifacts in the software testing process, test cases give detailed, in-depth information on how the test execution should take place. Test Scenarios are high-level functional specifications that are obligatory for the testers to concentrate on in order to fulfil the provided requirement descriptions. Test case document should have test case name, pre-conditions, post-conditions, description, input data, test steps, expected output, results and status fields for every case, and Test scenario document can be created in any format depending on the test team’s choice.
Why Test Scenarios?
- Writing test scenarios helps in identifying the most critical part of the system.
- The main reason behind writing test scenarios is to verify the complete functionality of the system.
- Once you have test scenarios, it becomes easy to determine test cases for them.
- Test scenarios also help in ensuring the business processes are in align and as per the defined flow.
- They also help in serving as a quick tool to determine the testing effort and accordingly create a proposal to the client about the workforce.
Why Test Cases?
- Test cases are the steps for testing the functionalities.
- It helps in uncovering the defects at a particular point in the system.
- Test cases help to track and fix the bugs.
- Test cases help in simulating the real user scenarios.
- With test cases, the test engineer’s work is organized and simplified.
Head to Head Comparison Between Test Cases vs Test Scenario Cloud (Infographics)
Below is the Top 6 Comparison between Test Cases vs Test Scenario:
Key Differences Between Test Cases vs Test Scenario
Let us discuss some key differences between Test Cases vs Test Scenario in the following points:
A software product is made up of multiple functionalities; consider those functionalities as individual scenarios. And to test each scenario, you need test cases. So I can say that test cases are a subset of a test scenario. Or in other words, many test cases are written to test one scenario. Let us understand with an example of a simple software product, say, calculator.
Example:
A calculator has the following functionalities:
- Addition of two numbers.
- Division of two numbers.
- Multiplication of two numbers.
- Subtraction of two numbers Now, each of those functionalities is test scenarios, and to test them, we need test cases for each scenario. Let us write test cases for the “division of two numbers” functionality.
| Test Case # | Description | Expected Output | Actual Output | Result |
|
1 |
Enter one digit input. | The system allows you to enter input. | The system allows you to enter input. |
Pass |
|
2 |
Press division key. | The screen should display ‘/’ on the screen. | The screen should display ‘/’ on the screen. |
Pass |
|
3 |
Enter 0 as another input. | The system allows you to enter input. | The system allows you to enter input. |
Pass |
|
4 |
Press = key | The screen should display an error message on the screen. | The screen should display an error message on the screen. |
Pass |
Note that it may be possible for large and complex systems; these four functionalities together may become one test scenario. And each feature may end up as a test case. But to clear your head think of it as testing something as a whole is a test scenario, and to do that, you require test cases.
Test Cases vs Test Scenario Comparison Table
The table below summarizes the comparisons between Test Cases vs Test Scenario:
| Test Case |
Test Scenario |
| Test cases are low-level actions and derived from test scenarios. | Test scenarios are high-level classification derived from use cases/requirements. |
| Test cases focus more on how to test. | Test scenarios focus on what to test. |
| It is a full-proof guard for software tester. If the developer has missed something, it is easy to catch while executing test cases. | A good test scenario helps in deriving good test cases, which reduces the complexity of the product. |
| A test case consists of a test case name, precondition, description, steps/input condition, expected output, and actual output. | A test scenario is a detailed test procedure that may have many test cases. |
| Requires more resources and time for actual test execution of test cases. | Less time and resources are required. |
| Test cases are more about documenting the details. | Test cases are more about discussing and thinking details. |
But wait, do we always need to write to them? We now know what and why, but it’s time we should also know the when. The following are the situations when you may not choose to write test scenarios.
- When there are time crunches in delivering the product.
- When the product is complicated and unstable.
- When the project follows Agile, Scrum, Kanban methodology.
- When there is bug fixing, and regression testing (Testing done after a bug fix) needs to be done.
- When the project is maintenance, project test scenarios might already be written.
Conclusion
We have walked through what is testing, and for testing, we need both test cases and test scenarios. Their importance and differences. For software tester, both are essential. But as time passes, new methodologies take over, and we might choose to write any one of them. Honestly, it depends on the team, work nature, and, yes, your project manager. But I guess it is good to know them both.
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