Having a UAT environment setup for testing is essential and the first step. However, the next challenge would be to have a repository or a tool for tracking all the found issues. This is especially important when stakeholders and test users access the UAT environment; the issues found will need to be recorded and documented. But what are the best tools to use for tracking the found issues?
Testing Tools
Having the proper set of testing tools is essential
Having test tracking tools that are easy to understand and approachable is the key to success. There are many tools out there that have been established as the standard to use. However, not all of these tools are ideal for every project and UAT environment.
Testing applications that can offer both test case creation and test tracking are ideal tools. This will enable teams to have everything in one repository or application rather than in multiple places.
Many teams use a test tracking tool such as Jira and a test case creation tool, which is fine, but sometimes this is quite expensive. Here are some tools that can be used for UAT testing.
Jira
Jira has become one of the most popular and widely used bug tracking tools. I have personally used Jira and have had great success with bug tracking and reporting. The tool is easy to use and approachable from a veteran tester's standpoint.
However, for anyone who is not accustomed to a test tracking tool, this could be pretty intimidating to use. One thing to note is the configuration aspect can be quite complex depending on how much customization is needed.
The tool does give more visibility with the bug tracking side since Jira is widely used within the Agile methodology. Teams can set up Epics, User Stories, and Tasks for their projects in addition to bug tracking making this ideal for project management. With Jira, teams can set up an ecosystem for their projects and sprints. Plus, Jira offers a wealth of information for projects including sprint and agile metrics, time tracking, and story points.
Something to note is that Jira is limited as a stand-alone tool. If QA teams need to take their testing one step further, such as adding test cases, they will need to use an additional tool. However, one great thing about Jira is that additional tools can be integrated.
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Integrating additional tools for Jira
Zephyr
As mentioned, Jira does offer additional tools for integration. One example of this is Zephyr, which is a test management tool. Zephyr offers QA teams with the ability to create test plans, and test cases, and execute test cases. Plus, because the tool is integrated with Jira, teams are able to create and link Jira tickets to their test case results. This provides a fantastic testing ecosystem for QA teams. Having everything in one place also makes testing in UAT a breeze.
When a user provides feedback, the QA team can simply link the Jira ticket to the corresponding test case. Or, they can create an entirely new test case catered to the feedback if this is something that was unplanned such as a feature enhancement.
Finally, Zephyr provides visibility into the status of the executed test cases including their results and current progress. This gives teams full visibility over where the testing efforts currently stand. If there were any negative points for Zephyr, it would be that there is very limited customization for the test cases. If the QA team wanted to add an additional column to their test cases, they would be unable to do this.
Test Rail
Similar to Zephyr, Test Rail is another great tool for integrating with Jira. But unlike Zephyr, Test Rail can also be used as a stand-alone tool. This is great for teams that may not be using Jira as their project and bug tracking management tool. Think of this Test Rail like the complete package because of the different features the tool offers.
Like Zephyr, Test Rail does not have any installs since this is a web-based tool. Teams simply sign, create their test cases, and execute them. The tool has a great reporting feature along with giving QA teams the ability to execute various types of testing including:
Functional
Black Box testing
Exploratory testing
Teams can simply set up their test cases to match their testing needs. Test Rail offers several add-ons to support several automation tools including Selenium for executing automated tests.
HP ALM
Because Jira is not a complete testing tool on its own, some teams and companies may want other tools such as HP Quality Center, which is now known as HP ALM (Application Lifecycle Management). This is one of the most popular and well-known test management tools. This tool first started out being called Mercury Quality Center, which I have personally used in the past. Then as technologies evolved, so did Mercury, which became known as Quality Center.
Now the tool is known as HP ALM. The simplistic interface makes the tool very approachable and easy to use. Testers can write their test cases within the application and document any found issues. This is also ideal for bug tracking since any found issues can be reported within the tool. If shareholders or outside parties are involved, permissions can be set via groups within the tool. Involve the users early and often
One of the important things to note is when using HP ALM there are no additional integrations that can be used or added such as Jira. So if the team or company already has an established bug tracking tool like Jira, then they may want to use something else. However, as a stand-alone application, HP ALM gets the job done.
UIlicious
Ulicious is an innovative automation tool that requires no complex setups or downloads because it is a web-based tool. Did you know that with UIlicious, there is an option to paste snippets of test results? This means that if there is an issue found during automated test runs, the results can easily be pasted via a handy snippet URL.
The snippets are playback snippets showing the steps taken when an issue is found. These URLs can be pasted in JIRA issue tickets that will give the team direction on how the issue was found. This also means that the snippets are a great way to show the steps to reproduce the issue rather than type them out. When it comes to finding bugs, it’s always easier to show than tell.
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Conclusion
When it comes to reporting found bugs and issues, UIlicious is one tool that can provide the team with the necessary testing results. Teams that already have Jira and are looking to use a testing automation tool like UIlicious, will be able to use the snippet feature to give tickets more information and direction. The best part is that UIlicious offers automated test run scheduling, which means the tool can run as often as needed. For more information, check out UIlicious and receive a 10% discount!
