Excel vs Postman — A Clear Comparison for Beginners

Excel — Test Case Sheet Layout:

| TC_ID | Module      | Title                  | Steps            | Expected      | Status |
|-------|-------------|------------------------|------------------|---------------|--------|
| TC_01 | Login       | Valid login            | Enter valid creds| Dashboard     | Pass   |
| TC_02 | Login       | Invalid password       | Wrong password   | Error msg     | Pass   |
| TC_03 | Policy      | Create new policy      | Fill proposal    | Policy issued | Fail   |
| TC_04 | Claims      | Submit FNOL            | Upload docs      | Claim created | Pass   |

Useful formulas:
=COUNTIF(F:F,"Pass")          → total passed
=COUNTIF(F:F,"Fail")          → total failed
=COUNTIFS(B:B,"Login",F:F,"Fail")  → failures per module

Excel — Test Data Sheet (for data-driven testing):

| Username    | Password   | Expected_Result |
|-------------|------------|-----------------|
| user1       | Pass@123   | Success         |
| user2       | wrongpass  | Invalid login   |
| user3       |            | Field required  |
| user4       | Pass@123   | Success         |

This sheet can feed:
- Manual test execution
- Selenium data providers (Apache POI)
- Postman CSV/JSON data files

Export as CSV when feeding Postman collections.

// Postman — Tests tab (JavaScript)

pm.test("Status code is 200", function () {
  pm.response.to.have.status(200);
});

pm.test("Response time is under 500ms", function () {
  pm.expect(pm.response.responseTime).to.be.below(500);
});

pm.test("Policy number is returned", function () {
  const body = pm.response.json();
  pm.expect(body).to.have.property("policyNumber");
  pm.expect(body.policyNumber).to.match(/^POL\d{6}$/);
});

// Save a value for the next request
pm.environment.set("policyId", pm.response.json().policyId);

// Run a Postman collection with data file (Newman)

newman run insurance-api.postman_collection.json \
  -e qa.postman_environment.json \
  -d testdata.csv \
  --reporters cli,html \
  --reporter-html-export report.html

// testdata.csv (exported from Excel):
// username,password,expectedStatus
// user1,Pass@123,200
// user2,wrongpass,401
// user3,,400

Each row runs the full collection once — this is data-driven API testing.

Beginner Learning Path — Excel + Postman:

Week 1-2: Excel for QA
  ☐ Build a test case sheet (20+ cases)
  ☐ Build a defect log with severity and status
  ☐ Build a requirement traceability matrix
  ☐ Learn COUNTIF, COUNTIFS, VLOOKUP

Week 3: HTTP & JSON basics
  ☐ GET, POST, PUT, DELETE
  ☐ Status codes (200, 201, 400, 401, 404, 500)
  ☐ Headers and request bodies
  ☐ Reading JSON

Week 4: Postman basics
  ☐ Create a collection and folders
  ☐ Set up environment variables
  ☐ Write 3 assertions per request

Week 5: Data-driven runs
  ☐ Export a CSV from Excel
  ☐ Run a collection with the CSV
  ☐ Verify all rows execute

Week 6: Newman & reporting
  ☐ Install Newman
  ☐ Run collection from CLI
  ☐ Generate an HTML report

Portfolio Project — Combine Both Tools:

1. Pick any public API (e.g. a sample insurance or
   e-commerce API).

2. In Excel, create:
   - Test case sheet with 20+ API test cases
   - Test data sheet with valid/invalid inputs
   - Defect log template

3. In Postman, create:
   - A collection with folders per module
   - Environment with base URL and token
   - Assertions for status code, schema, and values

4. Export the Excel data sheet as CSV and run the
   collection with it using Newman.

5. Publish the run report and link it from your resume.

This single project demonstrates manual QA, API testing,
data-driven testing, and automation — all in one.