Last year we did a TestLodge review and mentioned some pros and cons of this test management tool. STH readers also shared their thoughts and requested for some new features. TestLodge owner Scott Sherwood took our suggestions seriously and improved this tool with a new range of awesome features.

He contacted me today to update me on these improvements. I thought it would be a good idea to post these improvements on this blog.

What is TestLodge?

TestLodge is a test management tool to manage project requirements, test plans, test cases, test runs, and reporting. It’s simple and easy to learn interface makes this tool stand out from other available tools. Your team can access it from anywhere as it’s a web-based cloud-hosted tool.

Using TestLodge to Manage Test Projects:

End-to-end test cycle using TestLodge:

• Create a new project
• Create a Test plan (you can create a test plan using a predefined test plan template which can be updated as per your requirements)
• Add requirements
• Write test cases
• Assign test cases to testers
• Execute test cases (update test cases with status – Passed, failed, skipped, not run)
• Run reports and tracking progress – Measuring test metrics is very critical in improving team productivity. Graphical report representation and charts make it very simple to measure the team performance and project QA status. You can view test reports for individual test runs or in a group for test suites.

Watch this 2 minute Getting started video:

TestLodge Recent Improvements

#1) Integration with different Issue Tracking Systems: Manually linking defects to test cases is a tedious task when you have a large volume of test cases. For example, TestLink does not support automatic integration with the issue tracking system.

We need to create a defect in the issue tracking system and that defect number needs to be updated manually in the TestLink test case. Connecting the development team with a test management tool is very crucial. This can be done by integrating the defect management system with a test management tool.

TestLodge can be integrated with almost all major bug tracking systems. This is the biggest TestLodge feature enhancement in recent months. The tool currently supports integration with 9 different issue tracking systems.

See the list in the below screenshot

How does it work?

For every failed test case, a new ticket is automatically created for a bug tracking system that is linked to TestLodge. A new ticket has been created with all the required fields like defect description, steps to reproduce, expected and the actual result.

For example, TestLodge can be integrated with Assembla – a tool to manage the Agile Software Development process. Ticket for the failed test case is created automatically in the background and you can also choose who the ticket should be assigned to and what should be the priority.

#2) Requirements Tracking: Tracking test cases based on requirements is an essential feature in any test case management tool. This allows you to track test case coverage and execution based on user stories. At any point, you can easily determine testing progress for a particular user story.

#3) Image Uploads: TestLodge now supports image attachments with test cases. Using images, testers can easily explain the expected result in complex test scenarios. Image attachments can also help for faster test execution.

#4) Activity Feed & Charts: View what is happening at a glance in the chosen project. It shows ‘not started’ and ‘in progress’ test cases along with the test and reporting charts to explain test execution progress.

#5) Advanced Test Run Creator: You can still quickly run an entire test suite, but you can now choose to run a variety of tests from a variety of suites within the same run.

#6) Content Copying: All content (test plans, requirements, and test cases) can now be copied within or to a different project. This will be useful to reuse test plans and test cases. You can copy selective test cases from one project to another project’s existing or new test suite.

#7) Versioning: Easily go back in time to find out how your content has changed. This will help us track test case versions and content changes for all versions.

#8) Reuse Test Cases: When you type a test case title all similar test cases are displayed. This will be useful to avoid duplicate test cases as well as reusing test cases with a few modifications.

Even though all these are great features, there are some missing features which in addition can greatly increase the value of this tool:

• Removing test cases from the test plan. This is useful if you don’t want to run some test cases in the current release but want to schedule those for upcoming releases. However, the existing feature to skip test case execution is helpful if we don’t want to run any test cases in the current test plan.
• Set test case importance. This is useful if you want to prioritize test case execution based on test case importance.
• Defect tracking can be managed on the TestLodge interface instead of integrating it with other issue trackers.
• Limiting the number of test cases can create problems over the long run if you have a large volume of tests to run.
• Test cases cannot be classified based on keywords/tags. When you classify tests with tags like functional, business rules, navigation, etc. you can easily prioritize execution based on these keywords.
• No self-hosting option.

I was talking with Scott and he was very excited about the new features under development, such as the requirement matrix report, activity history details, advanced search options, personalized dashboard, and the new interface.

Special offer for STH readers:
Scott was kind enough to offer a special discount to STH readers. If you are serious about trying any licensed tool to overcome the limitations of open-source test management tools, then you can get the TestLodge tool with a 10% discount for life on any subscription plan.

To qualify for this, simply sign up for a paid account and before the trial expires send your account URL along with the promotion code ‘SoftwareTestingHelp’ to TestLodge and the discount will be applied to your account.

Note: If you are the owner of any licensed Automation tool and want to get your tool reviewed here, please get in touch with us with your giveaway/discount offer for our readers.

Over to you:
Please share your thoughts on which test management tool you use in the comments section below?