Chapter 4 · Practice 1 of 4
Trace every objective to a test and a result
Why it matters
The committee judges you against the objectives you set in the proposal. Make that comparison easy with a traceability table:
| Objective | How it was tested | Result | Met? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Record a batch with expiry in under a minute | Timed task with 6 pharmacists | Median 42 seconds | Yes |
| Alert a week before expiry | 30 automated test cases | 30 of 30 passed | Yes |
| Predict unsold expiring batches | Held-out 3 months of records | 71% recall against 55% baseline | Partly |
Then describe the testing itself: unit and integration tests, test cases for each functional requirement, any user testing with its tasks and questionnaire, and performance tests with the load used. An honest "partly" with an explanation is far better than a "yes" an examiner can disprove during the demo.
Do
- Include a table mapping objectives to tests and results
- Describe how each kind of testing was done
Avoid
- Claiming objectives are met without a test behind them