Black Box Testing Techniques : Decision Table Testing

In previous articles we learned about Testing Techniques Overview and then Specification Based Testing Techniques or Black Box testing techniques overview.

Specification Based Testing Techniques(click here to read)

• Equivalence Partitioning 
• Boundary Value Analysis
• State Transition Testing 
• Use Case Testing
• Cause-effect graph
• Classification tree method
• Domain Analysis

 In this article we will learn about Decision Table Testing

Decision Table Testing

“A black box test design technique in which test cases are designed to execute the combinations of inputs and/or stimuli (causes) shown in a decision table.”
[ISTQB glossary]  

Decision tables are tables that list all possible “conditions” (input) and all possible (outputs)

Example

Decision table is used to: 

• Capture system requirements that contain logical conditions, and to document internal system design. 
• Find problems and ambiguities in the requirements. 
• Record complex business rules that must be implemented by a system. 
• Help in designing test cases.

How to use

• Identify the input conditions.
• Binary conditions (true or false).
• Non-binary conditions (multiple alternatives). 
• Identify the actions that should be taken depending on the combinations of the identified input conditions.
• Create the different business rules by identifying a unique combination of input conditions that result in the execution of the identified actions. 
• Create the test cases by transforming each rule into a test case. 
• Minimize, if possible, the identified test cases.

Exercise