Software Test Plan

A software project test plan is a document that describes the objectives, scope, approach, and focus of a software testing effort. The process of preparing a test plan is a useful way to think through the efforts needed to validate the acceptability of a software product. The completed document will help people outside the test group understand the why and how of product validation.
Test plan is a document through which we can describe objective, approach, scope and focus of software testing efforts. A Test Plan contains following particulars like:
1. Overview
2. Scope
3. Bounds
4. Settings
5. Definitions
6. Quality Risks
7. Schedule
8. Transitions
9. Entry Criteria
10. Stop Criteria
11. Exit Criteria
12. Test Configurations and Environments
13. Test Execution
14. Resources
15. Management of Bugs and Tests
16. Bug isolation and classification
17. Release Management
18. Test Cycles
19. Referenced Documents
20. Change History

Severity of Bug

Bug Severity indicates how serious the bug is and reflects its impact on the product and customers of the product. It can be critical, major, minor, cosmetic or suggestion.
Critical severity: The bug is of critical severity if it causes system crash, data loss or data corruption.
Major severity: The bug is of major severity if it causes operational errors, wrong results and loss of functionality.
Minor severity: The bug is of minor severity if it causes defect in user interface layout or spelling mistakes.

Priority of Bug

Priority indicates how important it is to fix the bug and when it should be fixed
Immediate Priority: The bug is of immediate priority if it blocks further testing and is very visible
At the earliest Priority: The bug must be fixed at the earliest before the product is released
Normal Priority: The bug should be fixed if time permits
Later Priority: The bug may be fixed, but can be released as it is