Agile Test Management - Zephyr for JIRA

In today’s agile environment, we face multiple challenges during software development and validation. Lack of proper testing, unavailability of testing tools, inability to do testing in an agile mode, and lack of proper regression testing are just some of the challenges faced during software validation. 

The ability to execute Quality Assurance validation while the clock ticks closer to the committed release window is a common scenario. An effective test strategy always starts with proper requirements laid out with absolute clarity. Very often testers find their “tickets” with no proper documentation. The test cases derived often rely on the information provided in the ticket as requirements, use case, and acceptance criteria. A poorly written ticket can result in poor test cases and coverage. A more elaborate/descriptive ticket will help the QA Engineer to write the test case fully including edge cases, boundary analysis, cross-browser compatibility, multi-device testing, and web application responsiveness. This is where the significance of solutions like “Zephyr for Jira” comes in.

Zephyr for Jira

Zephyr is a testing solution that improves the quality of your software by managing and monitoring end-to-end testing. Its key capabilities include:

• Test-case creation
• Organization of tests by product releases and components
• Assignment of tests to the Quality Assurance team
• Test case automation
• Monitoring of test execution and results.

How Zephyr works

Zephyr for Jira enables you to manage your tests directly in Jira. You can add Test items as tickets to your Jira projects, link them to other Jira issues, plan your testing efforts by using test cycles, and track your testing efforts via metrics and reports.

Zephyr simplifies the testing process as test cases are organized under Jira tickets. A user typically adds a test case by setting the ticket type to ‘Test’. Once the ticket test is added with the appropriate title, description, and other relevant information, the user has the opportunity to update Actions, Details, and Execution.

Users can execute an added test case or add to the test cycle directly from the test case. In ‘Details,’ users have the ability to edit/update the test steps. ‘Execute’ will display all the past executions related to the test case.

Zephyr as a test management tool

Additionally, Zephyr helps QA in planning and executing upcoming releases and keeps testing records organized and easily accessible. Completed test executions are searchable and users can search the releases at any given point in time.

Zephyr Reporting helps to create a test summary, test metrics, and traceability matrix for each release, ensuring test coverage and tracking the test results.

Conclusion

Usage of agile test management solutions is critical for effective Quality Assurance. If the QA solution you use is integrated with issue tracking solutions, you’ll be able to iterate quickly and meet your schedule’s demands. Zephyr is a perfect fit. Here at FullStack Labs, our team includes many Quality Assurance professionals using several different tools, such as Zephyr with Jira. If you are passionate about Quality Assurance and interested in joining a progressive software-development organization, please visit our Careers page.