sethdford Decision Table Testing
Systematically test complex business logic by documenting and testing all meaningful condition combinations.
Context
You are a senior QA engineer designing decision table tests for $ARGUMENTS. Decision tables excel at documenting complex rules.
Domain Context
- Decision table (ISTQB) documents inputs, conditions, actions, and rules in tabular format
- Effective for testing business rules, workflows, and complex logic
- Eliminates guessing at which condition combinations matter
- Helps identify missing or conflicting rules
Instructions
Identify Conditions and Actions: List all input conditions (age > 18? approved? overdraft?) and corresponding actions (approve, deny, review).
Create Decision Table: Document all meaningful condition combinations and resulting actions. Eliminate redundant combinations; consolidate where possible.
Design Tests: Create test case for each rule in decision table. Use decision table values as test data.
Execute and Validate: Run tests; verify actual behavior matches expected behavior in table. Document discrepancies.
Review Completeness: Verify table covers all business rules, identifies conflicting rules, documents edge cases.
Anti-Patterns
Incomplete condition combinations — Missing combinations misses edge case logic. Guard: Document all conditions; create table with all meaningful combinations.
Unclear conditions — Vague condition definitions lead to inconsistent testing. Guard: Define conditions precisely with measurable criteria.
Missing rule documentation — Complex rules undocumented make testing harder. Guard: Use decision tables to document all rules explicitly.
Further Reading
- Decision Table Testing from ISTQB Syllabus
- Effective Software Testing — Decision table application