Whenever a need for change occurs, it is driven by many factors. The software development industry is one of the few industries that observes rapid changes on a regular basis; it could be a change in the method of developing software, discovery of new or emerging technology, or anything else. Changes can vary in terms of being positive or negative.
In a crucial industry like software, meeting the users’ expectations and requirements is the top priority of businesses. That is why they incorporate different time-saving, efficient yet effective, methods to deliver a high-quality software product to their users. One of the most important parts of the software development life-cycle is software testing. For the sake of making the testing process easy, simple, and efficient, many organizations implement the use of a variety of tools including test case management tools.
Why test case management tools?
Efficient internal business operations is a perpetual endeavor for any business. Test management tools help software businesses pursue their dream of having a smooth and efficient testing process without demanding extra efforts from the teams.
Test management tools maintain a record of how testing is to be done, plans its activities, and updates the status of various quality assurance activities. These tools make it possible for the QA teams to manage test case environments, automated tests, defects, and project tasks. Some applications include advanced dashboards and detailed tracking of key indicators, making it easy to track progress and error management
Let’s discuss why an organization may feel that it is necessary to switch from one test case management tool to another.
What are the possible factors behind this demand for change?
Quite a large number of factors can influence an organization or business to change its test case management tool.
Here are some factors.
Costs
We prefer to buy a new car that would incur a one-time heavy expense rather than spending heavy amounts on the maintenance of an old car on every single weekend (that counts up to a heavy year expense). Similarly, the cost is an important factor when it comes to the purchase of an expensive tool or machinery.
When choosing a new test management tool, the cost of the solution should be considered and evaluated wisely. However, this does not mean considering only the cost of purchasing, but also training, implementation, and support costs. When choosing a test case management tool, pricing can become an obstacle, so it needs to be carefully analyzed and adapted to the project or company budget.
Generally, we keep all these things in mind when we are first purchasing a test management tool but pricing is also a major factor when there’s a need for a switch from one test management tool to another. Sometimes organizations may prefer a tool with relatively more cost if it has an advanced feature set instead of their old test management tool.
Legal Restrictions
In a business, there are some regulatory/legal concerns associated with it. Some legal concerns pose a great disadvantage when it comes to choosing a test management tool. Here are some examples.
- If you have acquired the test management tool from a third party that is geographically at a distance from you, certain terms and conditions may enable software providers to read or even publish the data contained in test cases. Data that was only accessible by company members would now be accessible to unlicensed third parties as well; this constitutes not only a legal risk but also a security risk.
- The service provider might use your brand or organization logo without taking any prior permission from you, to let the world see that you are its client either on their website or social media accounts.
Functionality & Operationality
Other than factors like pricing and legal limitations, another significant factor that influences an organization to switch from one test case management tool to another is the unreliable functionality or operationality of a tool. The lack of proper functionality of even basic features can lead an organization towards the change of tool.
Here’s a list of features that should be present in a good test management tool:
- Ease and flexibility: It is pivotal for a good test case management tool to be flexible and easy to use by every member of the QA team. Ensuring this helps testers in identifying any sort of errors that might be affecting the functionality of the product.
- Simplified tracking capabilities: To ensure that the project is growing or progressing smoothly from one stage to another, it is pivotal to monitor every step of the test life cycle. Maintaining records of different stages of testing in the form of a test dashboard is not only beneficial for the current project but also the future, because it allows people to easily detect any incompatible test requirements.
- Ease of tracking the assigned tasks: A good test management tool means that it knows which task must be assigned to which individual. Moreover, a tool must be able to track whether the assigned task is performed by the appropriate resource or not.
- Scalable: A test management tool is best when it’s highly scalable. This means that within a team of 10-15 members or more, every member must be able to access it via cloud servers. This way a team collaboration would also be strengthened and at the right time, the right information will be communicated.
- Security and safety: Test management tools should also provide complete security for all relevant and important information about test assets and test projects. With high-level security, test data can be distributed easily without worrying about unauthorized access.
Wrapping up
Kualitee is one of the best test case management tools you can get your hands on in the market. It is cost effective, easy to use, offers a wide range of benefits, and covers most of the factors discussed above.
If you are planning to switch your current test case management tool with another, then do consider the aforementioned practices to take up your testing game a notch.
