[toc]Formalized reporting at the end of every deliverable or on an alternate basis is really important as it helps you to make informed future decisions. Higher management is always looking out for this part so that they can decide the future of the project and work around the areas which require instant attention. A report is expected to be complete and well-done with a clear purpose. The main purpose of creating the report is to communicate a clear thing among team leads, developers, managers, and testers. It shouldn’t be exhaustive to be read and transparent enough to be understood by the stakeholders. Management expects it to be concise and to the point so that no one has to spend generous time just to understand the progress of the project. With a test report, the progress of the project can be easily monitored as it contains key elements that revolve around the crux. The following are the elements that are expected from a perfect report.
- Project Information
- Test Objective
- Test Summary
- Defects
But there should be a way to manage all test cases and track their progress and for that purpose, testers rely on test management tools to create relative reports. Usage of test management tools proved to be revolutionary as most of them can be integrated with testing tools and make it easy to track development processes. As with test management tools, all the testing data is stored in a single place so it makes it easy to build connections and share information among the team members. This tool is not less than facilitation and should be considered as an important part of the testing team. Working around the test management tool would not only prove to be beneficial in terms of reporting but would act as a tool to improve your work which would be appreciated by the team as well as customers.
Types of Reporting Generated through a Test Management Tool
Requirements Coverage Report
This reporting type helps you to figure out if all the requirements are covered regarding test cases, test plans, and test execution. It also allows you to filter the results based on your specified requirements. Usually, the view of the report is flexible enough to identify covered and uncovered areas. The report can be easily customized and unnecessary areas can be removed with a simple click.
Traceability Report
With the traceability matrix, all sorts of relationships between two baseline issues can be viewed in a transparent way. To make it completely functional, data on the X and Y axis can be customized and can be filtered through different features. Traceability report also allows you to view multiple developments and testing projects simultaneously and you can easily verify the defects linked to different features.
Test Case Execution Report
Test management tools assist you with requirements and test management, with that you can easily track the progress of test cases and generate its report. Test Case Execution (TSE) can be represented in pictorial form through pie charts as they are easily interpretable and communicate the actual purpose. All essential details related to the test cases are also mentioned in these reports and these documents can be easily exported to be shared with the people who do not have access to this tool.
Test Execution Report
This reporting type represents overall progress for the selected test case plans and their execution. All important information is mentioned in the form of a table and it also calculates the remaining time for the completion of the successful testing. While specifying the test execution, you can conveniently determine which areas require more focus and which section can be carried on with similar efforts.
Wrap Up
To understand your project and build a clear aspect with your customers, reporting is considered as an integral part and maximum efforts should be put into it as it works as a proof of effective test management. It also helps you to evaluate the performance of your team and goes through different stages to ensure that you are meeting your set targets. Incorporating a test management tool in your testing environment is your way to build a prosperous testing strategy that ensures the effectiveness of the work with its detailed reporting feature.