Level 2 Managed
At TMMi level 2, testing becomes a managed process and is clearly separated from debugging. The process
discipline reflected by maturity level 2 helps to ensure that existing practices are retained during times of stress.
However, testing is by many stakeholders still perceived as being a project phase that follows coding. In the
context of improving the test process, a company-wide or program-wide test strategy is established. Test plans are
also being developed. Within the test plan a test approach is defined, whereby the approach is based on the result
of a product risk assessment. Risk management techniques are used to identify the product risks based on
documented requirements. The test plan defines what testing is required, when, how and by whom. Commitments
are established with stakeholders and revised as needed. Testing is monitored and controlled to ensure it is going
according to plan and actions can be taken if deviations occur. The status of the work products and the delivery of
testing services are visible to management. For deriving and selecting test cases from specifications test design
techniques are applied. However, testing may still start relatively late in the development lifecycle, e.g. during the
design or even during the coding phase. Testing is multi-leveled: there are unit, integration, system and acceptance
test levels. For each identified test level there are specific testing objectives defined in the organization-wide or
program-wide test strategy. The main objective of testing in a TMMi level 2 organizations is to verify that the
product satisfies the specified requirements. The purpose is also to clearly differentiate the processes of testing
and debugging. Many quality problems at this TMMi level occur because testing occurs late in the development
lifecycle. Defects are propagated from the requirements and design into code. There are no formal review
programs as yet to address this important issue. Post code, execution based testing is by many stakeholders still
considered the primary testing activity.
The process areas at TMMi level 2 are:
2.1 Test Policy and Strategy
2.2 Test Planning
2.3 Test Monitoring and Control
2.4 Test Design and Execution
2.5 Test Environment