Before starting to write the tests, it is important for a verification engineer to prepare a verification plan and come up with all the scenerios that need to be exercised as part of the execution. After the verification plan is created, it should be reviewed with all stakeholders (verification lead, Designer, management). The verification plan can also be treated as a plan to track progress of the verification by the management. Verification plan typically consists of testname, sequences used, checks, score board updates. Typically tests that need to be mentioned in testplan are:
- Directed tests
- Random tests
- Register tests
- Error handling scenarios
- Power managements tests
- Performance management tests
- Clocking and reset tests
- Assertions
- Cover groups.
- Scoreboard checks.
A Verification plan can have different formats outlining above information. One of the typical format is presented below for reference:
