How TestLodge Test Management Tool Improved with Your Feedback

Following a comprehensive review of TestLodge we carried out last year, the software received enhancements based on feedback from the readers of STH and our team. The proprietor of TestLodge, Scott Sherwood, took the feedback seriously and worked on improving the tool, introducing a variety of impressive features.

Scott recently communicated with me to update me on these enhancements. I believed it was vital to let you know about these improvements through this blog post.

A Look into TestLodge

TestLodge is a user-friendly, intuitive test management solution. It’s designed to simplify the handling of project requirements, test plans, test runs, test cases, and reporting. The web-based and cloud-hosted setup of TestLodge brings seamless accessibility anywhere for teams.

How to Leverage TestLodge for Competent Test Project Management:

A Comprehensive Test Cycle with TestLodge Involves;

• Project creation
• Formulating a test plan (A pre-defined test plan can be utilized and tailored to meet your specific requirements)
• Adding requirements
• Penning test cases
• Distributing test cases to the testers
• Running test cases (Update test cases with statuses like Passed, Failed, Skipped, Not Run)
• Producing reports and observing progress – Precise measurement of test metrics plays a critical role in boosting team efficiency. Individual test runs or groups of test suites can be examined in the reports, with graphical representations and charts making for easy comprehension of team performance and project QA progress.

Watch this brief 2-minute guide video:

Most Recent Upgrades in TestLodge

1) Connection with Diverse Issue Tracking Systems: Handling defects linkage to test cases manually can be a challenging task when dealing with a large set of test cases. For instance, TestLink lacks support for automatic connection with issue tracking systems.

Highly necessary for relating a development team to a test management tool; integration of a defect management system with a test management tool is required. TestLodge provides integration with virtually all mainstream bug tracking systems. This recent upgrade is a massive feature addition to TestLodge and now supports integration with nine distinct issue tracking systems.

The following screenshot depicts a list:

How does it function?

TestLodge automatically creates a new ticket in the connected bug tracking system for every failed test case. The created ticket encompasses all the required fields such as defect description, requisite steps to reproduce, and the expected and actual results.

Here is an example, It is possible to integrate TestLodge with Assembla, a tool popularly used for managing the Agile Software Development process. This integration facilitates automatic ticket generation whenever a test case fails, offering choices to assign a ticket and establish its priority.

2) Tracking of Requirements: The capability to detect test cases grounded on requirements plays a vital role in any test case management instrument. This feature aids in tracking test case coverage and implementation based on user stories. Testing progress for a particular user story can be easily deduced at any point.

3) Image Uploads: TestLodge now extends support for appending pictures to test cases. Testers can use images to competently illustrate expected outcomes in complex test scenarios. Image attachments can considerably hasten the tests execution.

4) Activity Feed & Charts: Obtain a swift review of project undertakings. The activity feed shows all the test cases earmarked as “not started” or “in progress,” alongside visual charts representing the progress in the test execution and reporting.

5) Sophisticated Test Run Creator: Although the option to promptly run a complete test suite remains, it’s now possible to selectively operate various tests from different suites during the same run.

6) Content Duplication: Now all the content (test plans, requirements, and test cases) can be duplicated, within the same project or a different one. This feature is useful when repurposing test plans and test cases. It’s possible to copy selected cases from one project into an existing or new test suite within another scheme.

7) Versioning: Conveniently track the changes made in your content by accessing past versions. This feature helps in tracking the versions of test cases and related content.

8) Reusing Test Cases: Upon entering the title of a test case, similar test cases are shown. This feature aids in avoiding repeated test cases and enables test cases to be used with minor alterations.

While these features are impressive, there remains room for improvement with new features that could significantly add to the tool’s value:

• The capability to remove test cases from the test plan: Useful when planning to exclude certain test cases from the current release but schedule them for future releases. However, it’s noteworthy that the present feature to skip test case execution proves helpful when intending to avoid executing any test cases in the current plan.
• The ability to assign a level of importance to a test case: Facilitates prioritization of test case execution based on essentiality.
• Defect tracking should be manageable directly within the TestLodge interface, bypassing the need for integration with other issue trackers.
• Removal of the limitation on the amount of test cases: Over time, this constraint can pose problems when dealing with a large number of tests.
• The ability to classify test cases based on labels/keywords: Classifying tests using keywords like functional, business rules, navigation, etc. could facilitate easy prioritization of execution based on these labels.
• Lack of an option for self-hosting.

During my recent conversation with Scott, he voiced commendable enthusiasm for the new features presently under development, such as the requirement matrix report, activity history details, advanced search options, personalized dashboard, and a revamped interface.

A unique offer for STH readers:
Scott has kindly extended a special offer to STH readers. If you are considering adopting a licensed tool to address the constraints of open-source test management tools, you may claim a lifetime discount of 10% on any subscription plan for TestLodge.

To seize this deal, simply register for a paid account, and prior to the end of the trial period, email your account URL along with the promotion code ‘SoftwareTestingHelp’ to TestLodge. The discount will subsequently be applied to your account.

Note: If you are the proprietor of a licensed Automation tool and would like us to evaluate your tool, contact us and provide details of any giveaways or discount offers for our readers.

We turn to you now:
We are eager to know which test management tool you prefer. Share your insights below in the comments section.