This document defines an efficient and consistent solution for keyword-driven testing by:

—     giving an introduction to keyword-driven testing;

—     providing a reference approach to implement keyword-driven testing;

—     defining requirements on frameworks for keyword-driven testing to enable testers to share their work items, such as test cases, test data, keywords, or complete test specifications;

—     defining requirements for tools that support keyword-driven testing; these requirements are applicable to any tool that supports the keyword-driven approach (e.g. test automation, test design and test management tools);

—     defining interfaces and a common data exchange format to ensure that tools from different vendors can exchange their data (e.g. test cases, test data and test results);

—     defining levels of hierarchical keywords, and advising use of hierarchical keywords; this includes describing specific types of keywords (e.g. keywords for navigation or for checking a value) and when to use "flat" structured keywords;

—     providing an initial list of example generic technical (low-level) keywords, such as "inputData" or "checkValue"; these keywords can be used to specify test cases on a technical level and can be combined to create business-level keywords as required.

This document is applicable to all those who want to create keyword-driven test specifications, create corresponding frameworks, or build test automation based on keywords.