Everybody can confirm that the software development and testing are very complex processes. Having a good organizing tool (or using more of them) can help a lot to make the process faster and more fluid.
This time I will write about TestRail – the test management tool.
Why Testrail?
We have tried many test management tools – installed a lot of them, played with settings, configurations and at the conclusion was that those apps was uncomfortable/complicated for everyday use. We tried to find some free test management tools, but after few try we decided to try a professional ones.
So let’s start now with TestRail (we have previously made an article about Zephyr and other test management tools – in next posts there will be other management tools). Why is TestRail so popular? It is simple – it is a pure and simple solution for test management and covers all functionality for manual test use.
For the first time we have created a free account and tried the product. You can also create a free account, just visit the page: https://secure.gurock.com/customers/testrail/trial/ and fill the form. After registration you will get an email for the email confirmation. Shortly after the email is confirmed you will be redirected to your TestRail account.
First you will need to add a Project – it is a logic start, so let’s do it. After the Project is created there is a chart displayed. Above the chart there are tabs/menu points added. (If you are stuck at any point, you can check their documentation on link: http://docs.gurock.com/testrail-userguide/start – here you can find many helpful information about the application and also many useful tips and tricks for using.)
After the project is created, you can create Milestones – not necessary, but it can be helpful if your application is a bigger and you will have more steps during the development phase.
If you have finished with some Milestone – you can easily close it. Remember, if you close a Milestone, you cannot assign tests and test cases to that milestone anymore.
Next step is adding test cases. So Open the Test Cases tab. For better organization, create first Sections. The section names should be added based on your application or software – use the menu point names or main functions as Sections. If you are not sure what the best categorization is, just create few sections and later you can easily copy/move the cases, so it can be easily re-organized.
Just add 1-2 Sections. After the sections were created, you can start with adding the Test Cases.
The new Test Case form is simple and has everything you need to create a test case: Title, priority, type, Preconditions, Steps, and Expected Results. Also you can upload attachment if you need to add some special instructions for testers or process flows to execute the test case.
Just click on Add and your first test case is created. It is easy as 1, 2, 3.
Click on the Test Cases tab again and there will be listed all the test cases – ok, there is now only 1, but you can now continue and add more test cases.
If there are added many test cases, and you need to re-organize them, just hover the test case with mouse and the moving arrow is displayed at the row start. Click on it and move the test case where you want. When you release the mouse button you will get a tooltip and you can Copy, Move or Cancel the operation. I find this option very helpful, when you have similar cases for different parts of the application – you just copy the existing cases and after a minimal change the cases for that function are ready. Also you can select more cases and copy/move more case at once.
After you have created an initial set of test cases, you can create Test Runs – open the Test Runs & Results tab and click on Add Test Run. Here you can select Milestone, assign cases to a tester, add description for Test Run – additional information and select test cases.
If you select “Include all test cases” and you are making some changes (update/add/remove some test cases in sections) those changes will be automatically added here, too. This is an excellent feature!
If you just pick up some cases (selected is “Select specific test cases”) the newly added test cases can be added here, if you edit the test run and add them manually.
So after the Test Run is created assigned to a tester, it will appear in the Todo tab for the assigned tester (to check this, just assign some TestRun to yourself).
Open Todo. Here will be listed every TestRun. Click on the active one. You will get at the top a detailed report with chart about the passed/blocked/retest/failed test cases.
Lower there are listed the Test Cases assigned to the logged in user. If tester has tested the case, the test result can be added easily. Also every Test Result has different options, like Assign, Version, Elapsed time, Defects (integration with bug tracker!!!), comments, attachments…
After every added result, the top chart is updated.
Also the application has many other features, like bug tracker integration (tried with assembla and jira – worked fine!), reports (many type and powerful reports!)
Conclusion:
TestRail is easy for use, simple and very powerful test management system. It is not free, but it will be very helpful in your work, will speed up the testing and you will have powerful reports after every test run.
You can very quickly create test cases, create test runs and assign them to different users. Using the reports you can compare different test run results.
Also the application has bug tracker integration as well. This can be setup in admin panel. Testers can easily push new issues to bug tracker from the Test Result popup – using the Defects field. They just need to fill some fields and the issue will be reported same time together with adding the Test Result.
I am not getting payed for this review, I’m just sharing what we are using to get speed up in our testing. Try it for free, give a shot and you will see that building and running test cases can be easy as 1, 2, 3.
Similar Posts from the author:
- Test Management tools – Kanoah
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- Screen recording – screencast – part III
- Comparison of web-based bug tracking tools
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