It is estimated that US companies lost $2.08 trillion in 2020 as a result of poor software quality. This figure underscores the vital role software testing plays in the software development life cycle (SDLC).

Software testing is necessary for the success of a product or an app. It can be done manually and also by tools. In this post, we will discuss a fantastic tool called Jira which is used by software developers to manage software projects and keep track of various tasks related to them.

What is Jira?

It is a popular bug-tracking, issue-tracking, and project management software used by over 65,000 businesses globally, including industry heavyweights such as Cisco (News - Alert), eBay, Dominoes, Airbnb, Carfax, Audi, and Square.

It is a software product that provides a work management solution for software teams to keep track of development projects and manage issues. It helps teams collaborate on software development projects, align business goals, and make informed decisions faster.

Although designed to be used by Agile (News - Alert) teams for issues and project tracking, Jira use cases also include test case management as developer teams prefer to keep development and assessments together.

But how does it work?

Create a “Test Case” issue.

In Jira, you can add an issue type titled "Test Case" for the management of test cases. Here are the steps you need to follow:

• Create a new issue type for "Test Case".
• Include the steps necessary to achieve the expected outcome.
• Make it the parent issue for the evaluation you need to do.
• Create a subtask called "Test Run" so that your evaluation can execute.
• The "Test Run" subtask should contain the outcomes, affected versions, and the person running the checks.

Because Jira issues are meant to be marked as done, you may not be able to use this approach to rerun or reuse tests.

Convert a user story into a test case.

Alternatively, you can customize the "User Story" to manage test cases. Here's how it works:

• Create a User Story
• Add a subtask that functions as a test case or a test run that references the User Story.
• The User Story is ready for production once the subtasks pass.

The challenge here is that the subtask serves both as the test case and the test run. This means that it won’t work for reusing or aligning multiple cases.

Add a “Testing” status to your Jira workflow.

If you want to avoid the issue of the software moving your project to ‘done’ before you have finished, you can manually tweak the workflow so that the status remains as ‘testing’ or ‘not done’ until you are ready to push tp done.

Automate your evaluations using tools and plugins

One of the best ways to save time and increase your productivity is by automating your evaluation processes. Automation reduces errors, increases accuracy, and reduces manual work.

There are dozens of tools you can integrate with Jira on the Atlassian (News - Alert) Marketplace  to automate your evaluation processes, however, there are also third-party plugins available that allow you to have even more control over your process. A good example can be found at https://aqua-cloud.io/jira-integration, where you can find information about the Jira test management plugin.

Where can you use it?

Even though it is originally designed as an issue tracker/project management tool, people have discovered different uses of Jira, from requirements and product evaluations to agile software development.

The following are some of its popular applications:

• Agile Teams
• Bug Tracking
• DevOps
• Product Management
• Project Management
• Software Development
• Task Management
• Test Case Management

Jira types

Jira comes in five different packages.

• Jira work management is a general project management solution that helps teams in tracking all work-related activities.
• Jira software is the basic software combined with agile project management capabilities. It is principally intended for software development teams.
• Jira service management is designed specifically for IT and service teams. It provides them with everything they need to manage problems, changes, and incidents.
• Jira align is a project management solution suited for bigger projects. It coordinates the efforts of numerous teams in order to achieve the organization's common goals.
• Jira product discovery makes it easy for product managers to make sense of team ideas, customer feedback, and product analytics, in order to make good business decisions.

Features of Jira

As one of the top project management solutions available, system Jira delivers a plethora of unique benefits and features. The most prominent ones are:

• Audit Logs
• Bug and Issue Tracking
• Custom Workflows
• Detailed Reports
• Issue Creation
• Project Tracking
• Powerful Agile views
• Roadmaps
• Scrum and Kanban Boards
• Thousands of App Integrations
• Time Tracking With Color Indication??
• And lots more.

Conclusion

While it may not be designed for out-of-box assessments, many developers report that they have a good experience with Jira. It is built to be easy to use and adaptable to the needs of any project. If you are looking for an application that can help your team work together easily, then it may be a good idea to learn more about Jira.

If your company already uses Jira to keep track of software development, aqua test management tool may be what you need to make the most of it. You will not be disappointed.