How Do You Convert User Stories Into Test Cases?

The following is a sample template that includes a user story, acceptance test, and a test case:

• User Story:
  As a [user role],
  I need [the ability to do something],
  so that I can [get some benefit or avoid some consequence]
• Acceptance Criteria/Test:
  Given [input | preconditions],
  when [actions | triggers],
  then [output | consequences].
• Test Case:
  TC ID [id/unique number]
  Summary [objective]
  Pre-requisites [preconditions to be fulfilled to carry further steps]
  Test Procedure [step by step procedure for execution]
  Expected and Actual Results

A user story promotes more discussions and collaboration within the team. Acceptance criteria define boundaries and requirements. Following are the key steps involved in creating test criteria in an Agile model:

• The business provides requirements and acceptance criteria for a user story.
• QA reviews the queries and scrapes the existing test cases. New test cases are created based on the functional areas.
• Engineers keep a check on scenarios impacting the business workflow in case these are not captured in the User Story.
• QA provides a session to the business analysts in order to implement changes at the early stages.

While drafting the test cases, QA teams visualize the workflow so that all happy path coverage, boundary analysis, and negative scenarios can be covered in a well-stipulated manner.

• Positive Scenario: Positive (Happy Path) scenario tests the basic requirements of an application. If the Happy Path outcome is a failure, then the rest of the testing may be blocked due to critical defects.
• Negative Scenarios: Test the negative scenarios to see how the system behaves in case of any inappropriate inputs.
• Regression Scenario: Verify some standard items such as headers, footers, standard menu options, hyperlink, and interrelated scenarios. These test scenarios will help you to perform regression testing.
• Boundary Analysis: Test the boundary conditions to verify the system behaves correctly at the minimum and maximum limits without any abrupt behavior.
• Integration Scenario: Perform integration testing is necessary when a project has multiple modules but the changes are made in a single module, verify if the functionality is working among all the modules collectively.

Analogy between a User Story and its Test Case: