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What is Jira? This is a very common question in the minds of people who are introduced to the tool or learn about it. To put it simply, it is a platform developed by Atlassian that was developed to serve as a bug tracking and project management tool. In other words, it is a tool that is only meant to help developers track bugs in a software product or application and in addition to that, the tool is also meant to help developing teams track projects and collaborate with other members of their team or even other teams working on the project, with ease.
Now, Jira is the most popular bug tracking tool across the globe today and almost every other software development team, including the Agile teams, can be found using the tool. Interestingly enough, software development teams are using it for test case management. So, is Jira a test management tool? Well, the answer is ‘No, talking about test case management tools, Jira is NOT one of them!’. So, what makes so many people use it for a purpose it was never designed for in the first place, instead of using dedicated tools like QARA Test and Katalon Studio?
The Benefits of Using Jira for Test Case Management
Works well for manual execution.
Allows users to create a single workflow for both, the developers and the QA teams.
Allows users to create custom issue types, which is used to create « test cases » as an issue type.
Users are familiar with its interface.
However, since it’s not a test case tool, Jira can create certain challenges that users face when using it for the purpose of managing test case executions.
Challenges of Using Jira
No provision for traceability reporting.
Does not allow user to group executions and cycles.
Does not support integration with frameworks other than the CI server.
No in-built functionality to support test case management.
Cannot be used for version control handling.
No provision for repeated execution.
So, what is the solution? Well, there are two approaches to overcome the challenges of using it as a test management tool and these are as follows:
1] Use of Add-ons
There are add-ons that are internal integrations and can be installed within Jira. If you search for these add-ons on the Atlassian Marketplace, you’ll find add-ons of leading automation tools. QARA Test Management for JIRA is one such add-on that brings the test management capabilities of QARA Test within the interface of the bug tracking tool.
The major benefits of this approach include support for clubbing of groups and improved test case management within the interface of the tool without the need to switch to another tool.
2] Use of Jira Test Management Tools
This approach works the other way round, and is all about adding the advantages of Jira to an automation tool. A Jira test management tool is nothing but an automation tool with external integration with the bug tracking tool.
The major benefits of this approach include significant improvement in efficiency, added functionality, support for multiple executions by the QA team and provision to share across multiple projects.
Conclusion:
Jira is a very good example of how people can make efforts to work around a popular tool to perform functions that the tool was never intended for. However, for people who are way too familiar with it can now get a test management tool with Jira integration to get the best of both worlds.
Elise Lowry is a technical writer and a web entrepreneur with many years of experience. She regularly blogs about rising IT companies, path breaking IT solutions, current IT trends and much more. Understanding how technology affects the world we live in, is her subject of interest.
