A test case specifies the conditions that must be validated to enable an assessment of aspects of the system under test. A test case is more formal than a test idea; typically, a test case takes the form of a specification. In less formal environments, you can create test cases by identifying a unique ID, name, associated test data, and expected results.

Test cases can be derived from many sources, and typically include a subset of the requirements (such as use cases, performance characteristics, and reliability concerns) and other types of quality attributes. For more information on types of tests and their relationships to quality test attributes, see Concept: Testing Qualitative Requirements.