The Seapine View

Standardizing your test case layout and wording has always been hard to achieve. Starting with the 2012 release, if you use TestTrack TCM and QA Wizard Pro, you can now  record test case steps as you interact with an application in QA Wizard Pro. Recording steps saves time when you need to document longer tests and reduces the possibility of incorrect or incomplete test cases. It also means that steps, like clicking on a button or typing text in a text box, will always use the same wording in your test cases.

Watch the following video to see this new feature in action.

Beginning with the release of Seapine ALM 2012, if you use both TestTrack TCM and QA Wizard Pro, you can now create automated scripts from test cases. This helps save time when creating scripts because you don’t need to swtich between applications. It also automatically links test cases and scripts.

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We’re very excited to release beta versions of our Seapine ALM suite of products, including TestTrack Pro, TestTrack RM, TestTrack TCM, Surround SCM and QA Wizard Pro! The betas are open to anyone, so feel free to click through and try them out. If you do try them out, please leave feedback so that we can continue to improve our product offerings.
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Remember when you used to be able to track test cases and pass/fail results in a simple spreadsheet? It took all of 30 minutes a week to update the data, and no one asked for it more often than that. However, over time, the need for more precise and timely test information grew and the spreadsheet grew too. At the same time, the applications you test also became more complex. You started with 100 test cases but you’re currently up to 400 and counting.

Your spreadsheet now includes more information about each test case, such as when a test case was run, how long it took, where it failed, if a defect report was created, how long it took the defect to be resolved, and much more. That spreadsheet now has several dozen columns, with a jumble of dates, numbers, and text. You can’t easily view or report on the data you’re tracking.

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TestTrack includes Microsoft Outlook integration, which allows you to add Microsoft Outlook emails as new defects, requirements, requirement documents, or test cases or as tracked email to existing items in TestTrack. This short video shows you how to set up the integration during the TestTrack client installation and how to create a new defect directly from Outlook. It also includes an example of how to attach an email to an existing item in TestTrack.

If you’re new to TestTrack TCM or already use it, and want to learn better ways to manage your testing process, check out the TestTrack TCM Best Practices. This document covers:

• How TestTrack TCM items map to items from your manual test case management process.
• Suggestions for creating test suites and test run sets for better organization and meaningful reporting.
• When to create test cases and generate test runs.
• How to rerun failed tests.
• How to prepare for testing future releases.
• Which reports and live charts can help you accurately measure the progress of your testing effort.

Additional best practices were recently added for enhancements introduced in TestTrack TCM 2011.1, including new project options that can help you ensure tests meet compliance requirements or that your testing process is followed, and the ability share test case steps to maximize reuse.

A well-written test case is important for meeting high quality standards. While there are many opinions on what constitutes a well-written test case, I think there are some that almost everyone can agree on.

In this video, I cover some of these best practices and also show you how to write test cases in TestTrack. The video also shows a new enhancement in the upcoming 2011.1 release of TestTrack that allows you to include attachments with each step.

As I have worked with customers to implement our tools and improve current processes, one thing I have noticed is the use of modular tests. While the specific approach varies, these are tests that focus on a specific piece of functionality or contain a set of steps commonly used in the application being tested. Modular test cases are then reused and incorporated into longer test cases.

In this video, I provide an overview of modular test cases, the benefits, and how to manage them in TestTrack using the Share Steps feature, which is available in the 2011.1 release.

As projects grow in scope, both testing complexity and demands on the testing team increase. Homegrown methods for managing those tests start letting you down. Even as you spend more time managing individual tests, it becomes clear that you’ve lost track of the larger picture—what the results of your testing mean for the quality of your software and the efficiency of your testing program.

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Thanks to everyone who joined us for our Seapine ALM 2011.1 What’s New webinar. The recording is now available on YouTube if you missed the webinar or want to watch it again. Q&A from the session follows.

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