Summary: This article underscores the significance of QA testing tools in software development by highlighting the importance of accurate insights and actionable metrics, offering guidance on setting up and utilizing QA testing tool reporting features to enhance project management, track progress, monitor testing activity, and improve software quality.
No matter your industry, software development is a complicated, multi-faceted process that requires careful coordination across your team.
If you don’t have visibility into how your project is progressing, you can miss key deadlines, bypass cost estimates, and fail to meet crucial customer requirements.
One of the most important elements of the software development lifecycle is the testing phase, so having accurate, actionable insights into how it is progressing is vital. For example, the quality assurance (QA) team can provide early notification on if your product will perform as expected and flag flaws before they become major issues.
Are you wondering if your current testing metrics approach is enough or how to get your own program up and running? Here’s how to set up the QA testing tool reporting features you need.
The Power of QA Testing Tools
As with any business process, you cannot improve that which you do not measure.
Using QA testing tools to establish a reporting process gives your project managers and stakeholders the quantitative data they need to measure quality and introduce improvements.
In particular, test reporting helps:
Monitor testing activity.
Quickly review all recent and upcoming test activity to ensure the necessary resources are in place to be successful, or use custom fields and filters to drill down into your test results.
Highlight issues early.
Identify potential issues in your testing efforts with key performance indicators (KPIs) to put the necessary mitigations in place early.
Forecast testing progress.
Track overall testing progress, review real-time forecasts for your project, and compare to planned due dates.
Key Metrics of QA Testing Tools
In short, QA testing tools provide an overview of the quality of developed software and your team’s progress in your QA test plan.
However, to achieve this visibility, your QA testing tool needs to be able to track several key metrics. Although the testing metrics your organization captures can evolve, your team should at least consider the following types:
- Testing Coverage: The percentage of test cases performed that evaluate the identified requirements and functional scenarios from the total number of available cases, usually displayed as a percentage.
- Test Execution: The number of tests passed, failed, and in progress divided by the total number of available test cases.
- Bug Find Rate: Dividing the total number of bugs by the total number of hours spent testing.
- Defect Distribution: The total number of defects per component of the software.
- Defect Rate: The number of test cases that failed divided by the number of tests executed.
- Percentage of Fixed Defects: The total number of defects fixed divided by the total number of defects reported.
TestMonitor Makes It Easy to Report on the Metrics You Need
Although establishing a software testing reporting mechanism can seem daunting, test management tools make the process easy.
In fact, an industry-leading platform like TestMonitor does more than just enable a strong QA test reporting program; it also accelerates and amplifies your team’s ability to perform quality, efficient, and comprehensive software testing.
That’s because TestMonitor makes it easy to:
- Organize and sequence test cases and test runs.
- Capture accurate and detailed test results.
- Leverage common and custom fields to collect the information you need.
- Generate the reports your stakeholders need over chosen time horizons.
No matter the size, scope, and maturity of your software testing program, TestMonitor is ready to take it to the next level.
Want to find out how much TestMonitor can boost your team’s productivity and your bottom line? Then take a moment to check out our ROI calculator!
