Test and QA Plan

How the build is validated before go-live: three sequential test phases, edge cases, and production verification.

4 pagesPDF · Quality

FS-DOC-06Quality

Test and QA Plan

End of Month Close Automation

[YourCompany.com] · Finance Department · Prepared by FullSpec · [Today's Date]

This document defines the full test and quality assurance plan for the End of Month Close automation, covering all three agents: Chase and Notification, Reconciliation, and Accruals and Reporting. It is written for the FullSpec build team and is the authoritative reference for what must pass before any component is promoted to production. Testing runs in three sequential phases. Phase 1 validates each agent in isolation using sandbox credentials. Phase 2 confirms cross-agent handoffs and exercises edge cases. Phase 3 runs a single traced production cycle with the process owner present. No phase begins until the previous phase fully passes with zero outstanding failures.

01Testing approach

Testing is structured in three phases that run in strict sequence. No phase begins until every test case in the previous phase carries a confirmed pass status. Phase 1 isolates each agent and validates individual logic. Phase 2 exercises agent-to-agent handoffs and known edge conditions. Phase 3 executes one complete end-to-end run in the live production environment, with the process owner present for final approval. FullSpec manages all three phases; the process owner joins at Phase 3 only.

Phase 1: Unit Testing

Each agent tested in isolation against sandbox credentials

Scope

Individual agent logic: trigger firing, data retrieval, transformation rules, output formatting, and failure handling for Chase and Notification Agent, Reconciliation Agent, and Accruals and Reporting Agent.

Environment

Sandbox only. Xero demo company, Gmail test account, Slack test workspace, Hubdoc/Dext sandbox, and Google Sheets test file. No production credentials permitted.

Credential rule

All credentials must point to sandbox or demo accounts. Production OAuth tokens must not be loaded into the test environment during Phase 1. Credentials are stored in the automation platform's secret manager under a clearly labelled sandbox workspace.

Pass condition

All cases T01 through T16 pass with outputs matching expected results exactly. Zero cases in a failed or blocked state before Phase 2 may begin.

Who runs it

FullSpec team only. Process owner is not required for Phase 1.

Phase 2: Integration and Edge Case Testing

Agent handoffs and failure scenarios validated in sandbox

Scope

End-to-end data handoffs between agents, Xero API pagination and rate-limit behaviour, Google Sheets write contention, and all defined edge cases including duplicates, missing data, unavailable tools, and human review timeout.

Environment

Sandbox throughout. Same credential set as Phase 1. Integration tests use realistic volume: 300 simulated transactions seeded into the Xero demo company.

Credential rule

No production credentials. Xero demo company OAuth token only. Gmail and Slack sandbox accounts only.

Pass condition

All cases T17 through T24 pass and all edge cases E01 through E08 pass. Any case that exposes a data loss or silent failure scenario must be resolved and re-run before Phase 3.

Who runs it

FullSpec team only. Process owner is not required for Phase 2.

Phase 3: End-to-End Production Test

One full production run traced and signed off by process owner

Scope

A single complete close cycle executed against production systems using an internal test address and a voided test journal. All steps traced from trigger to report distribution.

Environment

Production. Live Xero organisation, live Gmail account (internal test recipient only), live Slack workspace (test channel), and the live Google Sheets management accounts template.

Credential rule

Production OAuth tokens active. The FullSpec team confirms that all sandbox credentials have been swapped out and that the credential store is pointing exclusively to production before the Phase 3 run begins.

Pass condition

All cases T25 through T29 pass, including the final process owner review case. Pass confirmation is recorded in the FullSpec platform confirmation log. No separate signoff block is required.

Who runs it

FullSpec team executes the run. The process owner (Finance Manager or delegated Controller) joins to observe, review the final management accounts pack, and confirm approval as the last test case.

Test and QA PlanPage 1 of 4

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02Phase 1 — unit test cases

Sandbox credentials only. Before executing any test in this phase, confirm that every connected tool (Xero, Gmail, Slack, Hubdoc, Dext, Google Sheets) is authenticated against a sandbox or demo account. Production OAuth tokens must not be present in the test environment. If a credential swap is needed, pause and notify the FullSpec team lead before proceeding.

Chase and Notification Agent — unit tests

Scenario

Input

Expected output

Pass criteria

T01

Happy path: schedule fires on last business day

Automation platform detects final business day of month; contact list contains 5 department contacts

5 Gmail chase emails sent; 5 Slack notifications posted to configured channels; delivery log entry created with timestamp and recipient list

All 5 emails confirmed delivered in Gmail sandbox sent folder; Slack API returns 200 for each post; delivery log row written to Google Sheets with status: sent

T02

Happy path: 24-hour reminder fires when no reply received

T01 emails sent; no reply received within 24 hours in sandbox account

Second reminder email sent to each non-responding recipient; Slack reminder posted; log updated with reminder_sent status

Reminder emails present in sandbox sent folder; log status updated to reminder_sent; no duplicate emails sent to recipients who did reply

T03

Happy path: reply received before reminder window

Chase email sent to one contact; sandbox reply received within 12 hours

No reminder email sent to that contact; log updated with replied status

Log entry for that contact shows replied; reminder workflow does not fire for that contact

T04

Failure: Gmail authentication fails at send time

OAuth token for Gmail sandbox account is expired or revoked before run

Agent catches auth error; Slack alert posted to ops channel with error detail; no silent failure; retry not attempted without credential refresh

Slack ops alert received with error code and timestamp; delivery log entry shows status: auth_error; no emails partially sent

T05

Failure: contact list is empty

Contact list in configuration contains zero entries

Agent halts gracefully; Slack ops alert sent stating no recipients found; no emails sent

No outbound emails; Slack alert present; log entry shows status: no_recipients; workflow does not proceed to reconciliation trigger

T06

Edge: Slack workspace unavailable at notification time

Gmail sends successfully; Slack API returns 503 at notification step

Gmail delivery confirmed; Slack notification failure logged; retry attempted once after 5 minutes; failure recorded if retry also fails

Gmail emails in sent folder; Slack error captured in log; exactly one retry attempt recorded; overall workflow continues to next step and does not block on Slack failure

Reconciliation Agent — unit tests

Scenario

Input

Expected output

Pass criteria

T07

Happy path: all transactions match cleanly

Xero demo company loaded with 300 transactions; all have matching bank feed entries and existing coding rules; no unmatched items

300 transactions marked as reconciled in Xero; exceptions Google Sheet written with zero rows; reconciliation summary shows 100% match rate

Xero demo reconciliation screen shows all accounts reconciled; Google Sheets exceptions tab is empty; summary row shows 300 matched, 0 exceptions

T08

Happy path: exceptions correctly flagged

280 matching transactions; 20 items with no match or ambiguous coding

280 reconciled automatically; 20 written to exceptions Google Sheet with transaction ID, amount, date, and reason for flag

Exactly 20 rows in exceptions sheet; each row contains all required fields; Xero shows 280 reconciled items; bookkeeper review step triggered

T09

Happy path: auto-coding rule applied to uncategorised items

15 transactions matching an existing Xero bank rule (e.g. recurring supplier name)

All 15 coded to correct account automatically; posted to Xero; not placed in exceptions sheet

Xero demo shows correct account code on all 15; no entries for those transactions in exceptions sheet

T10

Failure: Xero API returns 401 unauthorised

OAuth token for Xero demo account is expired

Agent catches 401 error; halts without writing partial data; Slack ops alert sent with token expiry message

No partial reconciliation data written; Slack alert received; log entry shows status: xero_auth_error; token refresh prompt visible in ops channel

T11

Failure: Hubdoc document fetch returns zero documents

Hubdoc sandbox contains no documents for the current period

Agent logs empty document set; proceeds with Xero bank feed data only; exceptions sheet notes document source as unavailable

Reconciliation runs using bank feed data; exceptions sheet includes a header note stating Hubdoc returned no documents; workflow does not halt

T12

Failure: Google Sheets write fails mid-exception export

Sheets API returns 500 after writing 10 of 20 exception rows

Agent detects incomplete write; rolls back to pre-write state; retries full write once; Slack ops alert if retry also fails

Either all 20 rows present after retry or zero rows present (no partial state); Slack alert fired on retry failure; log shows sheets_write_error

Accruals and Reporting Agent — unit tests

Scenario

Input

Expected output

Pass criteria

T13

Happy path: accruals calculated and posted to Xero

Accruals schedule in Google Sheets contains 8 accrual lines with amounts, account codes, and period references for the current month

8 journal entries posted to Xero demo company with correct account codes, amounts, and period date; journal reference includes automation run ID

Xero manual journals screen shows 8 entries matching schedule amounts exactly; journal reference field populated; no duplicate journals; Google Sheets schedule marked as posted

T14

Happy path: management accounts pack generated correctly

Xero demo contains finalised P&L, balance sheet, and cash flow data for the period; Google Sheets report template is present

Template populated with correct period figures; variance commentary generated for lines deviating more than 10% from prior period; completed pack saved to designated Google Drive folder

Each numeric cell in template matches Xero report output exactly; commentary rows populated for applicable variance lines; PDF export function produces a readable file

T15

Failure: accruals schedule is empty or malformed

Accruals Google Sheet exists but the accruals data range contains no rows or has missing account code columns

Agent halts before posting any journals; Slack ops alert sent with sheet validation error detail; no partial journals posted to Xero

Zero journals posted to Xero demo; Slack alert received with specific field validation message; log entry shows status: schedule_validation_error

T16

Failure: Xero journal posting returns 400 bad request

One accrual line contains an invalid account code that does not exist in the Xero chart of accounts

Agent catches 400 error for that line; remaining valid lines posted; invalid line written to exceptions log with error detail; Slack alert sent

Valid 7 journals present in Xero; invalid line not posted; exceptions log contains the failed line with account code and Xero error message; no silent failure

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03Phase 2 — integration and edge case tests

Integration tests — agent handoffs

All Phase 2 tests run in the sandbox environment. Seed the Xero demo company with 300 transactions before beginning integration tests. Confirm that the Google Sheets accruals schedule and exceptions template are populated with realistic test data. Do not use production credentials at any point in this phase.

Scenario

Input

Expected output

Pass criteria

T17

Handoff: Chase Agent completes and triggers Reconciliation Agent

Chase window closes; all contacts have either replied or timed out; chase agent marks run as complete

Reconciliation agent begins automatically within 2 minutes of chase agent completion flag; Xero transaction pull initiated; no manual trigger required

Reconciliation agent run log shows start time within 2 minutes of chase agent end time; no manual intervention recorded

T18

Handoff: Reconciliation Agent completes and bookkeeper review step is triggered

Reconciliation agent finishes; 15 exceptions written to Google Sheets

Bookkeeper receives Slack notification with direct link to exceptions sheet; notification includes exception count and a timestamp; Reconciliation Agent status set to awaiting_review

Slack message delivered within 60 seconds; message contains exception count (15) and hyperlink to the correct sheet tab; agent status log updated to awaiting_review

T19

Handoff: Bookkeeper approves exceptions and triggers Accruals and Reporting Agent

Bookkeeper marks exceptions as reviewed in Google Sheets approval cell; all exceptions resolved or accepted

Accruals and Reporting Agent triggered automatically; reads accruals schedule; posts journals to Xero; proceeds to build management accounts pack

Agent run log shows trigger source as bookkeeper_approval; journals posted within the same run; pack generation begins after journal posting confirmation from Xero API

T20

Handoff: report pack generated and Finance Manager notified for approval

Management accounts pack completed by Accruals and Reporting Agent; saved to Google Drive

Finance Manager receives Gmail notification with link to the draft pack; Slack message posted to finance channel; pack status set to pending_approval

Gmail notification delivered to Finance Manager test address; Slack message contains pack link; Google Sheets pack status cell reads pending_approval

T21

Handoff: Finance Manager approves and distribution triggered

Finance Manager clicks approve in the designated Google Sheets approval cell or via the approval link in the notification email

Automation exports pack as PDF; sends PDF to all stakeholder email addresses in the distribution list; Slack confirmation posted; run status set to complete

PDF present in Google Drive export folder; Gmail sent folder shows outbound emails to all distribution list addresses; Slack confirmation message posted; run log status is complete

T22

Integration: Xero API rate limit encountered during transaction pull

300 transactions require multiple paginated API calls; rate limit of 60 calls per minute is reached during fetch

Agent detects 429 response; applies exponential backoff starting at 2 seconds; completes full transaction pull without data loss; total pull time logged

All 300 transactions present in reconciliation dataset after completion; no transactions missing; log shows retry events with timestamps; no unhandled exceptions

T23

Integration: Google Sheets concurrent edit conflict during exceptions write

Reconciliation agent attempts to write exceptions while a test user has the sheet open with an active edit

Agent detects conflict; waits 10 seconds and retries; completes write successfully or logs failure after 3 retry attempts

Exceptions data fully written after retry; no partial rows; or Slack alert fired after 3 failed retries with conflict detail in log

T24

Integration: Finance Manager rejects pack and correction loop triggers

Finance Manager selects reject in the approval step and enters a correction note

Pack status set to returned_for_correction; correction note written to Google Sheets log; Slack alert sent to Controller with note content; Accruals and Reporting Agent flagged for re-run after correction

Pack status cell reads returned_for_correction; correction note visible in log sheet; Slack alert delivered to Controller; re-run trigger is available without requiring a full workflow restart

Edge case tests

Scenario

Input

Expected output

Pass criteria

E01

Duplicate transaction entries in Xero

Xero demo contains 10 transactions that appear twice with identical amounts, dates, and references

Reconciliation agent flags all 10 duplicates in the exceptions sheet with a duplicate_detected reason code; does not auto-reconcile either entry; bookkeeper review required for each pair

Exactly 10 duplicate-flagged rows in exceptions sheet; no duplicate pair auto-reconciled; reason code is duplicate_detected on each row

E02

Missing supplier document for a transaction requiring one

Xero transaction exists for a supplier; corresponding document is absent from both Hubdoc and Dext sandboxes

Transaction flagged in exceptions sheet with reason code no_document_found; not auto-coded; bookkeeper notified via Slack

Exception row present with no_document_found reason; transaction not reconciled; Slack message references the specific transaction ID and amount

E03

Accruals schedule contains a row with a missing amount field

Accruals Google Sheet has 8 rows; one row has an empty amount cell

Agent validates schedule before posting; flags the incomplete row; posts the remaining 7 valid journals; Slack alert lists the row reference and missing field

7 journals in Xero; 1 row in validation error log with row reference; Slack alert received; no journal posted for the incomplete row

E04

Bookkeeper does not action the exceptions sheet within 48 hours

Exceptions sheet written with 12 items; approval cell left blank for 48 hours after notification

Escalation Slack message sent to Finance Manager and Controller after 48-hour timeout; run status set to stalled_awaiting_review; no downstream agents triggered

Escalation message delivered at 48-hour mark; message names the stalled step and links to the exceptions sheet; run status is stalled_awaiting_review in the log

E05

Finance Manager does not approve or reject the pack within 24 hours

Management accounts pack delivered; approval cell blank for 24 hours

Reminder notification sent to Finance Manager via Gmail and Slack; if no response within a further 24 hours, escalation sent to the process owner contact defined in configuration

Reminder delivered at 24-hour mark; second escalation delivered at 48-hour mark if still no response; run status is awaiting_fm_approval throughout

E06

Slack is unavailable for the entire chase window

Slack API returns 503 for the full duration of the chase and notification period

Gmail chase emails sent successfully; Slack notifications attempted and retried 3 times with exponential backoff; failure logged after third attempt; workflow continues using Gmail only

All Gmail emails in sent folder; Slack error recorded in log with retry count; overall workflow not blocked; ops alert delivered via Gmail fallback to the ops email address

E07

Xero demo company has no transactions for the period

Xero API returns empty transaction list for the current period

Reconciliation agent logs zero transactions found; Slack ops alert sent; workflow paused; no exceptions sheet written; no journals posted

Log entry shows zero_transactions status; Slack alert received; exceptions sheet not modified; accruals agent not triggered

E08

Report template in Google Sheets is missing expected named ranges

Management accounts template has been edited and named ranges for P&L, balance sheet, and cash flow no longer exist

Accruals and Reporting Agent detects missing named ranges during validation; halts before writing any figures; Slack ops alert lists the missing range names

No figures written to template; Slack alert received with specific list of missing named range identifiers; log status is template_validation_error

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04Phase 3 — end-to-end production test

Important before running Phase 3: (1) Use an internal test email address as the sole recipient for all outbound communications during this run. Do not include real stakeholder or director addresses in the distribution list until the run is confirmed as passing. (2) The Finance Manager approval step will generate a real Xero journal entry. This journal must be voided in Xero immediately after the test is confirmed complete. The FullSpec team will action this void and confirm it in the run log. (3) Confirm with the process owner that the production Xero organisation, Google Sheets template, and Gmail account are all in a clean state before the trigger fires.

The following table covers one complete production run traced from the automated schedule trigger through to stakeholder distribution and process owner approval. Test IDs continue from the Phase 2 sequence.

Scenario

What FullSpec checks

Expected production output

Pass criteria

T25

Production trigger fires on the correct calendar date

Automation platform run log; timestamp of trigger event; confirmation that no manual kick-off was required

Workflow starts automatically on the last business day of the test month; run log shows trigger source as schedule; Chase and Notification Agent begins within 60 seconds of trigger

Run log timestamp matches the scheduled last business day; trigger source is schedule not manual; Chase Agent status transitions to running within 60 seconds

T26

Chase emails and Slack notifications delivered in production

Gmail production sent folder; Slack production channel message history; delivery log in Google Sheets

Chase emails delivered to the internal test address only; Slack notifications posted to the designated finance test channel; delivery log written with all required fields

Gmail sent folder shows outbound emails to the test address only; no external addresses present; Slack test channel shows notification; delivery log row contains recipient, timestamp, and status: sent

T27

Reconciliation completes and exceptions sheet is accurate

Xero production reconciliation screen; Google Sheets exceptions tab; Slack bookkeeper notification

All auto-matchable transactions reconciled in Xero; exception rows written to Google Sheets for any unmatched items; Slack notification delivered to bookkeeper with exception count and link

Xero reconciliation screen shows expected matched count; exceptions sheet row count matches the number of unmatched items identified; Slack notification received by bookkeeper within 60 seconds of reconciliation completion

T28

Accruals posted and management accounts pack generated correctly

Xero manual journals screen; Google Sheets management accounts template; Google Drive export folder

All accrual journal entries posted to Xero with correct account codes and period dates; management accounts template populated with live Xero figures; PDF export present in Drive

Journal count in Xero matches accruals schedule row count; every numeric cell in the template matches Xero report output; PDF file present and opens without error; Finance Manager notified via Gmail and Slack

T29

Error log verification: no silent failures across the full run

Full run log in the automation platform; Slack ops channel; Google Sheets run audit tab

Run log contains a complete sequential record of every step, status, and timestamp with no gaps; Slack ops channel shows no unresolved error alerts; audit tab in Google Sheets is fully populated

Log entries present for every workflow step in order; no step shows status unknown or missing; Slack ops channel has no open error threads from this run; audit tab row count equals the number of expected workflow events

T30

Process owner reviews management accounts pack and confirms approval

Process owner (Finance Manager or delegated Controller) reviews the draft pack in Google Sheets; confirms figures are correct; marks the approval cell as approved

Approval recorded in Google Sheets; distribution workflow triggered automatically; PDF sent to internal test address only; Slack confirmation posted; run status set to complete in the FullSpec confirmation log

Approval cell contains approved and the approver name; Gmail sent folder shows outbound PDF to internal test address only; Slack confirmation posted in the finance channel; FullSpec run log status is complete; test journals voided in Xero and void confirmation recorded in the log. Process owner approval at this step constitutes the final QA sign-off for this automation. No separate signature block is required.

After T30 passes, the FullSpec team will archive the full test run log, update the confirmation record in the FullSpec platform, and prepare the handoff summary for the finance team. Contact support@gofullspec.com for any test queries or to report a blocking issue during any phase.

Test and QA PlanPage 4 of 4

Test and QA Plan

Test and QA Plan

01Testing approach

02Phase 1 — unit test cases

03Phase 2 — integration and edge case tests

04Phase 3 — end-to-end production test

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