Advanced Test Management with TestRail™

If you are looking for an advanced test management tool instead of T estlink, I have found an outstanding solution from Gurock Software. Unlike TestLink, this is not a freeware. But, it has all the features that you expect from a test management tool. TestRail is a web-based test case management tool which enables monitoring, evaluating and organising software testing efforts. In this article, I would like to discuss few main features, benefits and basic components of TestRail.

Main benefits of TestRail

Organise test cases and test suits
Mange test runs and report issues on the go
Tracking test results
Distribute test reports
Boost testing productivity
Tracking test progress

Add test cases or import test cases via xml, csv file
Create milestone and add test plans to the milestone
Create Test runs by including testcases
Issue Tracker integration - TestRail can be integrated with bugzilla, GitHub, JIRA, Mantis, Pivotal, LightHouse etc. This helps to report and link issues to a testcase
Track progress of Test execution in every aspect
TestRail plugin to the JIRA – Using this plugin user can link the requirement (JIRA ticket) to the test case. On the other hand, requirement (JIRA ticket) shows all the relevant testcases within the story
Customisable & graphical interpretation of test reports.

Dashboard

Dashboard Overview

TestRail Dashboard view enables users to have an overview of their projects. ToDos, Project milestones, Recent Activities and Graphical Interpretation of Test runs are the key features.

Note: for more information about ToDo and Milestone, see below sections "Milestone" and "ToDo"

Test Cases

Users are allowed to create testcases and testsuits. Key features of TestRail – Test Cases section are,

it enables to rearrange test cases between test suits (sections)
move and copy test cases between test suits or test projects
customise test case templates
estimate the time for each individual test case
attaching files to the test case
import testcases in csv or xml formats
‘Tests and results’, ‘defects’ and ‘history’ of a particular test case can be monitored
markdown options (E.g. **Bold** - two asterisks before and after a text will bold your text).

Hint: In a section (Testsuit), group testcases by application modules or functional areas, not by product version or testing types.

Test Runs and Results

Test Runs and Results section helps users to perform a test run prior to a software release and obtain the test result. Key features of TestRail – Test Runs and Results section are,

Add Test Run

Assign test run to particular users
Attach a milestone to the test run
Select all or specific test cases to the test run, based on selected criteria. (E.g. high priority test cases)

Execute Test Run and Result

Execute the test and add test result (E.g. Passed, Failed, Blocked, Retest)
Report test execution time
Report bugs relate to a Test case into an integrated bug tracking tool (E.g. JIRA)
Email, Print or Export (in xml or csv format) test result

Add Test Plan

Add a test plan (collection of test runs) to group test runs
Attach a milestone to the test plan
Add configurations (E.g. browsers or OS) to a test plan

Defect Integration

TestRail allows administrators to integrate an issue tracking tool (e.g. JIRA). After integration is done “Test runs and Results” section allows users to,

push (link) details from Test result to the JIRA story and
add a new bug in JIRA instantly.

Also, the ‘References’ section under “Test Cases” section allows users to,

Link JIRA stories (requirements) to the particular test case.

Milestone

User can use milestone to separate releases
User can set a start and end date to a milestone
User can assign the milestone to a test run or test plan

ToDo

ToDo represents an individual task for each member of a test team. Administrator (Test Lead) can assign tests to members of test team.

Reports

There are a lot of overview charts available within the each section (Milestone, Test run and Results, Test cases, Defects, Activities). For additional reporting options, TestRail facilitates various types of customisable reports. Few examples are shown below.

Milestone Report
Workload Summary
User can assign the milestone to a test run or test plan
Defect Report
Coverage Report
Activity Report etc.

Few other features of Testrail reports are,

user can set access permission of their customised reports
user can schedule a test report to generate regular basis
user can print, download or email reports.

Tool Comparison – TestLink Vs TestRail

Here is the list of advantages of TestRail over TestLink.

TestRail interprets real time testing progress. Also, it enables editing tests during a test run. Testlink cannot do the same
TestRail has a JIRA plugin that can be used to monitor test progress within JIRA
TestRails allows to Clone Tests between projects and TestLink doesn’t
TestRail allows batch operations (cloning, editing, deletion etc.)
TestRail has a advanced reporting module over Testlink. Customisable reports, dashboard graphs and schedule reports you can only fine in TestRail
TestRail provides both cloud and on-premise access while Testlink doesn’t support cloud.
TestRail helps Taskboards, which is a great help to an agile team. But, Testlink doesn’t have Taskboard facility.
Since TestRail is a commercial Tool, it has wide support and service. But a freeware like Testlink doesn’t.

Hope you learnt something new and useful by reading this post! Stay tuned for more QA related blog posts.

References

www.gurock.com/testrail
www.testlink.org
www.qasrilanka.blogspot.com/2014/10/test-management-with-testlink.html
www.youtube.com/channel/UCaCU2W8q6eYOPpdxcFKfCVA