Test organization and efficiency in the management process are indispensable to the sustainability of quality for the end products and timely delivery of the projects. In order to match the high volume of production and much faster release velocity of software products in the era of digital transformation, testing processes, strategy, and testing tools have to be agile. Therefore, to achieve efficiency and a more user friendly approach in test management processes, many teams and organizations are leveraging test management tools for Jira.
Given that companies today are seeking out new and unique ways of further compressing the release cycles, it is imperative for them to explore the advantages of using robust test management solutions that can support Jira workflows and assist them in keeping at par with the rapidly changing testing landscape. Despite that fact that Jira is not designed or intended to be used as a test management tool, many organizations are already managing their project requirements and tasks through this software. However, the uses of Jira extend beyond these simple processes, managers have discovered that the Jira workflows can be configured to set up and manage test cases at the same time. Owing to the user friendly, customizable, and flexible features in Jira, the extension of the functionalities towards test management plays in the favor for companies.
Key Challenges of Using Test Management Tools for Jira
Considering that the dynamics and the parameters of testing in agile organizations have changed dramatically, using test management solutions adequately is far more challenging in reality than in theory. There are many different kinds of issue types in Jira, ranging from bug management to improvement, however, there are none which are specifically designed for the needs of testing. This is largely because Jira is meant to be an issue tracking and management solution rather than a test management system. Even though the workflows and issue types in Jira can be customized and configured to mold it into a test management solution, the results are mostly temporary and even then they have certain limitations. For instance, in most scenarios, the test cases in the test management system are meant to be reused in future projects if there is a need, whereas, in Jira once a test case has been executed, it is marked as done. The test managers are extremely restricted in their flexibility of reusing the previous test cases.
In addition to that, Jira might work really well for manual solutions and test management systems, however, when it comes to any type of automation in the testing process, it falls short.
Addressing the Challenges of Using Jira
Despite the vast number of limitations and the lack of support for test management solutions, the Jira workflows can be configured by the test managers to suit the needs of the project for a certain amount of time. Adding test case issue types and making use of the user stories in Jira would allow the project managers and teams to create one workflow for quality assurance and development teams.
