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I am working as an associate QA engineer and my team asked me to send a QA confirmation email. I don't have any experience with a confirmation email.

Can you tell me what the format for a QA pass email is? I've tried Google, but can't find any help on formatting - maybe my keywords are wrong.

I read this article but it does not help me.

dvniel
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GHOST
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  • Beyond the format, you may want to consider whether such a "sign-off" email is really a good idea, for you, the team, or the company, especially if it might be taken to mean that there aren't any problems, then used against you when problems are found after release. This 12-minute interview with Michael Bolton might be helpful in clarifying the purpose of such communication or alternatives: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM3XOqdeb2o – c32hedge Feb 25 '19 at 17:51

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I never heard of any formal artifact of that name but if you go with a simple test report I imagine you should be fine. Just write down what (exactly) was tested, where you tested what you found, what your passing criteria were and identify remaining risks. If they need anything else they'll tell you, or even better, just ask them beforehand. Being a good communicator is part of being a good QA Engineer.

Daniel
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  • thank you but they said they need email qa confirm there are no issue with this release its ask by CEO even developer also have no idea about that :( and there are no senior person all people are associate level and trainees – GHOST Feb 15 '19 at 07:13
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    Well, neither the ISTQB nor IEEE 829 define the format so, from a completely technical POV you could write whatever you want. If you look at this page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_test_documentation you'll see all the standard artifacts of testing. I assume the Master Test Report would be closest to what they need although that might actually be overkill, but that' what happens when people require undefined documents noone can explain.^^ – Daniel Feb 15 '19 at 07:30
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    @GHOST you could do that while following the advice Daniel gives. Where I work our "sign-off" process is essentially what Daniel says. Lay out any issues you've found, and attach any test results to the email. If there are issues you feel should stop the release, highlight them in the email. If you don't think there are problems, say that testing is completed, there are no known issues and you believe it's ready for release. – anonygoose Feb 15 '19 at 09:12
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    @ghost In my view it is not your decision whether it is good for release or not. You provide information. So as Daniel stated: list what you have done. What you not have done. What your results are and document the issues you feel are serious and for what reason. It's not your pay grade to decide. So don't be forced in the scapegoat position. Just a word of warning... – Ray Oei Feb 15 '19 at 11:01
  • and i am using testng so its give awesome report developers can see that report through jenkins they are not happy with my report i listed all known bugs (its link with our bug tracking tool) they said this is the way to send email @RayOei may i know how you guys send email? they ask you have to give a person to go live or not – GHOST Feb 15 '19 at 11:26
  • they not ask qa report they expect qa permission to go live or not @anonygoose i send a email with all report but they said we noo need bugs report :( – GHOST Feb 15 '19 at 11:30
  • @GHOST You may want to go and create a chat for a more interactive discussion? Answering your question: we don't send emails. We don't expect 'qa' to decide on releasing. From what I gather you provided information on what you did. Reported bugs. That is it. Somebody else has to decide if he/she finds it good enough to ship. Or you should ask for a pay raise to perform the role of project manager of release manager or something like that. Then you can decide ;-) – Ray Oei Feb 15 '19 at 14:22
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    Have a read here and here. I concur with the main message: shipping is a business decision not a qa/tester one. – Ray Oei Feb 15 '19 at 14:25
  • @RayOei I almost lined to one of those same articles and later saw this buried in the comments. You might consider adding this as an answer so it can get more visibility--we need more answers that help solve underlying problems even if they don't strictly answer the question as stated. – c32hedge Feb 25 '19 at 18:03
  • @c32hedge See ;-) – Ray Oei Feb 26 '19 at 14:01
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In short, there is NO overarching, industry-wide accepted format for a sign-off email (which is what they are asking you to compose). I have been in QA - automated and manual - for almost 25 years now, and have never seen a template for a sign-off email. You and your team would need to make the determination on what is expected in the body of the email. Some teams, "QA signs-off on XXXX" is good enough. Others may be more robust.

TLDR;

Ask your team what the expectation is!

Brian
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Although this doesn't answer the question directly, as there isn't a 'standard sign-off email' at least that I know of, the underlying problem is more important.

As far as I am concerned 'shipping' is a business decision. Not a decision made by the tester/QA or the team. I wholeheartedly concur with this when testers are asked for ship/noship opinion and have a read here.

Your job is to inform. As has been mentioned elsewhere: communicate what you have done, how you did it and what you didn't do. So others can make informed decisions based on what you provided and on information provided by others and information you don't even know exists.

To me it seems as you are being setup to be the scape goat, the fall-guy or at best the 'one to make the decision so no-one else has to'. That is not your role, and I assume you are also not being paid for it.

Originally added as a comment, I added this as an answer on a nudge from @32hedge ;-)

Ray Oei
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Same as Daniel was mentioning above, there is no specific standard set for sending the Testing Sign off email. But what you can do is, is to include the necessary details in the sign off email.

Below items can be optional for your team, so choose the ones you need.

  1. Which feature you are signing off.
  2. Which environment,browser (versions)/application version you have tested the feature.
  3. List of tests you have executed for the feature.
  4. List of tests which were marked as de scoped/not in scope for testing this feature.
  5. Build version of the feature which was tested.
  6. Bugs obtained while doing the testing, its status.
  7. List out the known open bugs which is accepted for this feature.
Sandeep Chandra Sekhar
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The correct format is the format you and your team/company decide on. Like others wrote there is no industry standard. Actually I think most companies use a workflow management system to handle this, or a test management tool, not email.

Still if email is the way to go, I would suggest you try to find the Minimal Viable Bureaucracy. Whats is the minimal email content that will generate the necessary flow of communication.

Niels van Reijmersdal
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