• Formulation of the assignment
• Test strategy
• Approach (test units, with the test types and techniques to be used per test unit)
• Organisation
• Infrastructure
• Management
• Threats, (project) risks and measures
• Budget and planning
• Appendix: Product risk analysis

The various parts of the plan should be consistent. In practice, setting up a consistent plan takes place in several stages. The test plan with the results of preceding activities is fed back to the client and other stakeholders (such as the test manager of the overall test process) for approval or adjustment. This makes the test approach to be followed transparent and manageable, entirely in line with BDTM.

By adjusting the strategy (whereby the risk analysis is in principle unchanged), the test manager can enable the client to manage on the basis of the test effort weighed against the test depth. This results in a suitably adjusted strategy, with the scrapping or adding of test depth being shown by ○ or ● respectively, instead of ●, as earlier indicated in section Determine The Planning (AST). The test manager should make the consequences of this adjustment for the budget, planning and risks clear, and translate them into terms that the client will understand (referring back to the test goals). This is repeated until the client is satisfied with the balance between test depth and test effort.

Following the feedback and possible adjustment of the plan, the test manager should submit the test plan to the client, at the least, for approval. Whoever else has to give their approval depends on the organisation. In many organisations, the test plan is also submitted to other stakeholders for approval, such as users and developers. Parties for whom requirements are set in the assumptions part of the plan should give their approval.

The plan is then placed under configuration management as a formal test product. Besides this, a presentation, for example to the various stakeholders, can contribute to obtaining approval and – at least as important – create support throughout the organisation.