Comparative Study of 10 Test Management Tools
Keeping a testing process efficient simple and manageable is one of the most important aspects of test management. In my experience, there are some obvious limitations of using a spreadsheet instead of a test management tool. For starters, spreadsheets don’t scale well at all. With spreadsheets, it becomes very confusing when there are multiple users working on a test case and quickly lead to a confusion on the right and the most updated version. Further, if someone makes changes to an old version, then one may have to manually merge the two files and a nightmare is likely to occur. Hence, having a test management tools makes a lot of sense.
Functions of a test management tool can be split into three broad categories:
1. Management
2. Traceability
3. Automation
Management: This includes streamlining the testing process, structuring automated tests, manual test processes and allowing quick access to data analysis. It also includes tracking of bugs, defects and project tasks are done within one application. This all saves time and thus, money.
Traceability: It becomes helpful in tracking test results, identifying problem tests or problem areas of codes that are repeatedly being broken, link to defects. One can easily see reports on multiple test runs and metrics for test results over a period of time and thus help in decision making regarding the quality of the product.
Automation: Automated testing tools assist software testers to evaluate the quality of the software by automating the mechanical aspects of the software testing task. The benefits of automation are better software quality, repeatability of testing procedures & reduced cost of testing.
Given the above criteria, I researched some of the known Test Case Management tools and listed their comparative features below:-
Products | Automated GUI Test? | Defect Mgmt. | License Type | Screenshot Capture? | Video Recorder? | Import/Export with Excel | SUPPORTS MAC? |
Testuff | NO | YES | Proprietary | YES | YES | YES | YES |
HP QUALITY CENTER | YES | YES | Proprietary | ADD IN Available | ADD IN Available | YES | NO |
Q METRY | YES | YES | Proprietary | YES | NO | YES | YES |
Silk Central | YES | YES | Proprietary | YES | YES | YES | YES |
IBM Rational Quality Manager | YES | YES | Proprietary | Separate JAVA App Available | NO | YES | YES |
Klaros | YES | YES | Proprietary | YES | May Be | YES | NO |
PractiTest | YES | YES | Proprietary | NO | NO | YES | YES |
Referty | YES | YES | Proprietary | May Be | May Be | YES | May Be |
SpiraTest | YES | YES | Proprietary | YES | YES | YES | May Be |
Enterprise Tester | YES | YES | Proprietary | YES | May Be | YES | NO |
Note : Jing can be used for screenshot capturing and video recording for all platforms.
It is hard to pick one good tool from the above, because of pros and cons of each. Regardless, the value of a test management tool is immense and software product companies can not afford it to not include it in their Quality Assurance plan.
Testing team at ProtoTech has been using Testuff for a long time now to carry out daily regression tests for a client in the US. The client’s product has millions of users and it is essential for them to know the quality of their daily builds early in the morning. Testuff has proven to be an excellent cloud based test management tool.
Happy Testing !!!
Author: Zeba I.
Contact us:
info@prototechsolutions.com
ProtoTech Solutions
