For example, I have a website with users and articles. There are two types of users: Bronze and Silver. Further, there are two optional types of users: Employees and Executives. Each article has a visibility setting which is a combination of any of the above types.
Currently, my SAT test case looks something like this. (The SAT will be conducted at the client's environment).
Test Case #1: User views Bronze article
1. Click "Log In/Register"
a. Expected result: Terms and Conditions appear
2. Scroll down to the terms and conditions
a. Expected result: "Accept" button is enabled
3. Click "Accept"
a. Expected result: Login form appears
4. Enter username "bronze.user@mail.com"
a. Expected result: Populates the username field "bronze.user@mail.com"
5. Enter password "Password123#"
a. Expected result: Populates the password field with "Password123#"
6. Click "Log In"
a. Expected result: Takes user to the homepage with links to articles and profile management
7. Click "List of Articles"
a. Expected result: Shows user a list of available articles
8. Search "arbitrary bronze article"
a. Expected result: One article appears
9. Click the article and confirm it is viewable
a. Expected result: Shows the contents of the article
10. Click "Log Out"
a. Expected result: Ends the user's session
11. Click "Log In/Register"
a. Expected result: Terms and Conditions appear
12. Scroll down to the terms and conditions
a. Expected result: "Accept" button is enabled
13. ...everything repeats itself for "silver.user@mail.com", "bronze.employee@mail.com", "bronze.executive@mail.com"
The result is hundreds of lines of steps which I feel is very unnecessary. Logging into the system is a no-brainer. I could shorten the test case by writing:
1. Log into "bronze.user@mail.com"
2. Search "arbitrary bronze article"
a. Expected result: One clickable article
3. Log into "silver.user@mail.com"
4. Search "arbitrary bronze article"
a. Expected result: "No articles found"
5. ...repeat for each user type
However, I read that being thorough is a quality QAs should uphold. Should QAs be thorough when the test case is highly repetitive? Is it acceptable to shorten repetitive steps into generic ones? How about repetitive Expected Results - can those be shortened, or even ommited too?