How to Enhance Jira with Native Test Management

  March 06, 2023

How to Enhance Jira with Native Test Management 

Test management is essential to software development, ensuring applications meet quality standards. Effective test management requires a systemic approach to creating, executing, and tracking test cases. The hard part is usually incorporating test management into your existing development workflows. 

Many Agile organizations use Jira to manage projects, track issues, and communicate between teams. If you already use Jira, consider test management solutions that live within Jira to streamline your workflows and get the most value from your tests. Accessing everything in one place makes it much easier to stay organized and minimize mistakes. 

This article will explore why test management matters and why you may want to consider Jira-native test management. 

Test management is crucial to software development, and native Jira test management solutions, like Zephyr Squad, can streamline the process to deliver the most value to your team. 

Why Test Management Matters 

Many projects begin by running a handful of unit and integration tests before each deployment. But, as a project grows, it becomes more challenging to track test cases and their execution. For example, when you have hundreds of tests spread across multiple releases, it's easy to lose track of what tests have run and their results. 

Growing projects also involve more team members, and manual test management limits the ability to collaborate and share information. Without centralized testing data, developers may rely on email or chat to share information about testing progress. And that can lead to miscommunication, duplication of effect, and a lack of visibility. 

Test automation strategies also require efficient management. For example, scheduling automated test suites without test automation tools is challenging. As a result, you may miss opportunities to run tests in parallel to realize time and cost savings. Or, you may miss updates to test automation scripts, resulting in false positives or missed bugs.  

Ultimately, the inability to efficiently track test cases and communicate results could hurt quality. Without a systemic approach to testing, tracking test coverage, tracing problems, and fixing issues before they impact production is difficult. It's even hard to scale testing efforts as a project grows, increasing the likelihood of issues in the future. 

Native Test Management for Jira 

Jira-native test management solutions offer several advantages for agile organizations already using Jira for project management. While initially developed as a bug and issue tracker, Jira has evolved into a powerful work management tool. And native test management adds even more robust functionality to the platform without adding complexity. 

The most notable advantage is the native integration with Jira's existing features, such as issue tracking and project management. So, for example, if you have a test case that fails, you can easily create a new Jira issue without switching between applications. You can also automate many of these processes to save time and reduce errors. 

Accessing test cases, plans, and executions within Jira also makes it much easier to communicate with others. For example, you can reference a test case within a Jira issue without forcing the recipient to switch between applications. And product managers can access test reports in the same place they plan the rest of a release. 

Finally, native integrations with Jira also make integrating with other products, by extension, easier. For instance, a native test management suite could help inform Jira stories that influence releases and CI/CD processes. Using Jira as a central hub, it's easier to tie together different products and platforms to achieve desired outcomes. 

How Zephyr Squad Can Help 

Several test management solutions integrate with Jira, but Zephyr Squad's native integration sets it apart from the competition. By introducing a "test" issue type, the platform enables you to use native Jira functionality, like components, labels, and priority, to easily report on your testing activity without leaving Jira. 

Graphical user interface, application, Teams

Description automatically generated 

Zephyr Squad is embedded within Jira screens and maintains the look and feel of Jira, making it easy for teams to realize immediate benefits. Source: SmartBear 

In addition to a native look and feel, Zephyr Squad helps visualize all test executions by a user story or requirement to understand test coverage and quality better. You can link features between test cycles and sprints, track quality metrics with burndown charts and dashboard widgets, and focus on what you need to improve quality – all without leaving Jira. 

When a bug or issue arises, Zephyr Squad can help provide unparalleled traceability to discover the root cause. In particular, the Traceability Matrix helps trace links from requirements to defects, or vice versa, within a software release cycle. That way, you can make Go/No-Go decisions with greater confidence. 

And finally, with an out-of-the-box REST API, you can integrate your tests with CI/CD tools like Jenkins or Bamboo, or automation tools like Selenium or Cucumber. By automating these tasks, you don't have to worry about the impact of human errors. Instead, you can focus on maximizing test coverage and getting issues resolved quickly. 

The Bottom Line 

Test management is critical to building high-quality software applications, particularly as they grow in size and complexity. If you're already using Jira for project management and issue tracking, Jira-native test management solutions like Zephyr Squad can provide the functionality you need in a way that streamlines your workflows. 

Of course, test management is just one part of the testing ecosystem. SmartBear offers a range of testing solutions that integrate with Zephyr Squad to ensure quality and performance. These solutions include ReadyAPI for API testing, TestComplete for end-to-end tests, LoadNinja for performance testing, and CrossBrowserTesting for UI tests. 

Sign up for Zephyr Squad today!