Unlocking the Value of Test Case Management
A combination of innovative technologies and robust strategies to automate the tedious business process, reduce testing efforts, and mainly generate a central repository for the efficient maintenance of cases is known as test case management. The primary objective of a proficient test case management tool is to not just monitor and update the test case central repository regularly but to also execute them on new builds and generate comprehensive reports from the results. From analyzing the stability of the software product to meticulously tracking the progress of all test cases, these tools offer great value to the organizations.
What is Test Case Management?
In simpler terms, test cases are the set of rules and conditions which are used by the quality assurance team to measure the software application against the requirements and specifications. For each aspect and component of the application, various different scenarios are created to test the response of the application under multiple conditions and environments. This is where the test cases come in handy, as they are built specifically to test these scenarios and determine if the software product works as per to the expectations. Depending on the nature of the project, requirements of the software product, and goals of the organization, a test case template is generated. A typical test case template has many different elements ranging from test case ID, test suite ID, and date of creation to the name of the author who created the test and the name of the tester who executed the test case. Some of the most important elements which are more or less included in all formats of test cases include;
Summary of the test case: the main objectives of the test case or a summary of what the test case is trying to achieve
Related requirements: this comprises of the identification or tags of the requirements to which the test cases can be traced to
Prerequisites: for almost all test cases, there are preconditions and prerequisites that have to be addressed before the execution
Test procedure: a step by step guide of the whole procedure of the test case implementation
Expected result: the expectations of the developers for the performance of the application, based on the requirements
Actual result: the actual result of the performance and quality of the software application which is filled in the reports
Test data: the dataset or the link to the dataset which is required for the design and execution of test cases
Status: the status of the test case as every stage of the process, the final result can be pass/fail, the status would be ‘blocked’ if the testing was blocked, or if the testing cases were unable to perform, the status would be ‘not executed’
Comments or remarks: this features all remarks and comments added by the teams during the testing process
Environment of the test: the environment in which the test process takes place, this may include hardware, software, or network
With a test case management tool at their disposal, teams across the organization are able to understand and define the scope of the testing. This software proves to be beneficial in more ways than one as it also enables them to assign and manage testers and resources to test cases as per the requirements. The additional features of setting the priority for the test cases along with filtered and search options enable the team members to organize and schedule the issues and cases to deliver the end products on time. The customizable and user-friendly dashboard that is available empowers the testers and developers to create fields, sections, and properties that are specifically suited to the needs of the project. It also includes a powerful, flexible, and agile workflow engine which in turn equips the teams with the ability to assign test cases for better review and to add comments and feedback on the test cases as well.
Metrics for Good Test Cases
The quality assurance should make an effort to make all test cases ‘atomic’ so that they test one aspect or feature at a time, instead of overlapping and complicating matters. They should also take pains to ensure greater test coverage so that all positive, as well as negative test cases, are also taken into account. Test cases should be identified and classified in a way that they can easily be traced back to their requirements, and they should be flexible enough to be used repeatedly.
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