Year after year we have asked you “what percentage of your project budget is allocated to which phase?” Interestingly, the results have been exceptionally stable, reporting a 19% allocation to Testing – a figure also recorded in the Planit Testing Index 2011.

The allocation of funding to testing is not trivial, but is a minority component of overall budgets, which perhaps belies its importance in successful project outcomes. When it comes to the overall allocation of budget, as would be expected, the highest proportion of project budgets was dedicated to development activity, equalling the entire budget of testing and requirements definition combined.

When more closely examining the 2011 data, the Banking and Finance sector placed the highest emphasis on quality assurance, with 39% of project budget being allocated to testing and business analysis.

Planit Testing Index 2011: Budget Allocation vs. Project Phases

 Requirements Definition   Design    Development   Testing   Implementation