Test Tool

[Andrew Tanyono]

My fellow testers,

Wondering what test tool do you use at work? and if possible give a word or two of what do you think the pro and cons of your current test tool? 

I'm going to a NZ-developed test tool seminar tonight any of you going as well? 

http://www.nzcs.org.nz/events/auckland/283-TPN_Enterprise_Tester_-_NZ-developed_Test_Tool%2C_taking_on_the_World%21_

Regards,
--
(n) Andrew Tanyono
(m) +64-21-532626
(e) andrew....@gmail.com

[Farid Vaswani]

The most important tool I use while testing is my brain. Whether it is identifying test scenarios in functional testing, identifying test parameters for performance testing or for that matter deciding if testing is required at all or not? And then there are other vendor-based or open-source tools that we use to support us. 

What tools are you looking for in particular? Test management? Functional Testing? Regression? Non-Functional - like, performance, security, etc?

If you're just interested in a long list - Google it and you'll find 1000s of those, I'm sure :)

Farid Vaswani
Mob: +64-21 912 246
http://www.geek4eva.com/

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[Oliver Erlewein]

Hi,

See http://opensourcetesting.org/

Amongst others....
....we use our own developed test tools roughly based on Watir for
functional automated testing.
....we use SoapUI for message testing.
...we use JMeter for performance testing.
....we use Cucumber/Ruby/Watir for agile projects.

Pros/Cons. They are tools and as Farid pointed out they are worthless
if there's no brain.

It's like asking a builder what he uses to get nails into materials.
He might say a stone, a mallet, a nail gun,.... But they all do the
same thing with different means and consequences.What I criticize is
the lack of conscious discussion of where the nail goes, who's doing
the work,.... in the IT community. Everyone is talking about the
hammer.

So test tools yes you need them to do your work better but they are
not necessarily vital. I tend to stay with open source as ROI on test
tools is often difficult to achieve. If I want to drop automation
because of lack of time/too complex to automate/couldn't be
bothered/... I don't want a manager asking me why I spent $$$$ and not
using it. Or the converse, i want to automate when it makes sense and
not have to wait for Kpex approval, fight around with licensing....

Tets Management tools so far in my opinion are too cumbersome to use
in most NZ-sized projects. In Europe/US, where projects are bigger the
numbers work out better for using bigger tools.

Cheers Oliver

On 5 April 2011 12:09, Andrew Tanyono <andrew....@gmail.com> wrote:

[andrew....@gmail.com]

Hi Farid,

I just want to know on what everyone is using really. Like to just compare on what is available in NZ and what real people use in they working environment.

I was referring to test tool as for managing your test cases, updating them, etc. (Something like TestLog) but I think TestLog cost for licensing.. And I know some people (testers) that horrified by this tool! :)

Cheers,

--------------------------

---

From: Farid Vaswani <fvas...@gmail.com>

Sender: software-teste...@googlegroups.com

Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2011 12:38:56 +1200

To: <software-teste...@googlegroups.com>

ReplyTo: software-teste...@googlegroups.com

Subject: Re: [stnz] Test Tool

[BANDREDDI, SRIKAR (SRIKAR)]

Check out Testlink. You might like it.

 

 

---

[Shawn Hill]

Also try aptest.  It is web based and pretty powerful if you spend time configuring it.

 

http://www.aptest.com/atm2/

-- This message has been checked by the Turnstone managed spam filter and is believed to be clean.

[Aaron Hodder]

I'm a recent convert of the use of Mind Maps.  Here's a great blog post on how you can use them for testing activities: http://www.bettertesting.co.uk/content/?p=956

I've started using them to unravel a complicated undocumented system to structure testing.  I've written about how I did that here: http://testerkiwi.blogspot.com/2011/02/building-test-plan-from-woe-to-go-using.html

[Farid Vaswani]

Oliver - Seems like we are on a similar tools-set; except Watir

Andrew - for test (case) management we've been using HP Quality Center. But as time progresses it is proving to be quite an expensive tool, only compatible with IE, not easy to be used by business departments, etc.

This is not a marketing plug for Enterprise Tester (ET) - but we've had an in-house demo from Bryce and we quite liked it. We've also started using Jira for defect tracking and seems like ET integrates quite well with Jira. So let's see where we end up in couple of month's time.

BTW - see you at TPN today.

Cheers,
Farid

Farid Vaswani
Mob: +64-21 912 246
http://www.geek4eva.com/

[Aaron Hodder]

We use Jira for bug and task tracking here, and we have a plugin called greenhopper which is really neat: http://www.atlassian.com/software/greenhopper/

It means you can drag issues across columns, and is really visual.  I can load it up, see what's in the "Testing" column and begin working away.  When I close an issue, I simply drag it to the "done" column.

[Oliver Erlewein [DATACOM]]

[Oliver Erlewein [DATACOM]]

Sorry, sent a blank comment. Stupid iPhone ;-)

Jira seems to be the tool of choice for defect tracking in NZ now. It is powerful and comparatively cheap. 

We use Jira and so do many companies we have contact with. 

Cheers

On 5/04/2011, at 13:17, Aaron Hodder <aaron...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Shawn Hill]

Hmm...should a phone allow a blank comment?  I think not!  J

 

We’ve been using Mantis for 8 years or so now and it is pretty good and adaptable and even better there are no fees whatsoever.  JIRA is very AGILE based and is a great product, but with 8 years of data and code changes I’m not keen on moving to JIRA.  There are many changes and addons for Mantis as well, which is how we link to all our other tools for test cases and test plans.

 

Both good products for sure.

 

 

 

 

From: software-teste...@googlegroups.com [mailto:software-teste...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Oliver Erlewein [DATACOM]
Sent: Tuesday, 5 April 2011 1:57 p.m.
To: software-teste...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [stnz] Test Tool

 

Sorry, sent a blank comment. Stupid iPhone ;-)

-- This message has been checked by the Turnstone managed spam filter and is believed to be clean.

--

[Cecile]

Using Microsoft Test Manager at the moment... can't say I'm impressed.

I guess the main pro for this is that it can integrate with the rest of the development team's artifacts through TFS. I have a long list of cons for it, but it mostly boils down to it being a slicker version of Visual Studio, but with less power. It also feels quite fragile, but I may be biased by the trouble I had trying to get it up and running after I first installed it (I think it had trouble with the TFS versions I already had).

---

From: "andrew....@gmail.com" <andrew....@gmail.com>
To: software-teste...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Tue, 5 April, 2011 12:54:18 PM

[Trevor Cuttriss]

Sure – MTM and TFS have their drawbacks – we are using these fully and as you get to know them it’s not all bad.  There is a new version of MTM coming too…

 

Trevor Cuttriss
Team Leader Testing
TS Application Support and Development

IAG New Zealand Limited, State Tower, Level 23, 1 Willis Street, PO Box 5037, Wellington, New Zealand
T +64 4 9033823 Extn 33823   M +64 21 174 0082 

E Trevor....@iag.co.nz
www.iag.co.nz

 

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[Oliver Erlewein]

Hey Shawn,

Yes the phone may as it was a reply and included a lot of content. Just pure user error. ;-)

Haven't yet worked with mantis. Not really plugging Jira here. Just note that it is a preferred choice. Jira certainly has it's drawbacks. Of course I'd prefer pure open source ;-)

I can understand not changing something that worked for 8 years! Why would you?!?

Cheers

[Richard Robinson]

Nice responses Oliver, Farid, Aaran and co, always a good amount of comment around tools... I share Oliver's opinion in the use of tools. Always prototype before committing. I am always testing out tools and finding their limits. That way, I know if they are good. I tend to spend a lot of time evaluating, and doing this behind the work scene too. Remember, the company selling the tool will always say good things.

My favourite tool is vba in excel. I am a self-taught vba novice programmer of 12 months. Im my opinion, every tester should understand code, and vb is a good base, so is java. So far I have used vba to perform mgmt reporting, file creation, and numerous data prep tasks. At present, I have a library of vba modules to assist with session-based testing metrics, progress and monitoring and planning stats. 

Other tools I use are: 

- ClearQuest and Jira for bug mgmt, 

- autohotkey for ad hoc GUI automation, 

- SoapUI for web services handling (and Groovy script)

- browser-based code viewers etc such as FireBug with FireFox

I tend to move away from large products, as they require to much energy to get working, and to maintain. My preference is anything open source, and portable. Simple apps that seem to get me by include:

- Putty for viewing log files on servers, 

- WinMerge for comparing documents, 

- WinSCP for accessing and dropping files on a server, 

- Notepad++ for file manipulation

- freemind as an alternative to visio

- irfanview for screen shots and editing

- SQL Studio for query mgmt for data sets

I really enjoy new projects, as they demand new tools and macros to be built to get the job done. To have knowledge of many products allows us to use the best set of tools. 

Disclaimer: in my experience, new tool use gobbles up much time. Tool use can sometimes demand time for maintenance, and 100% reliance on a tool(s), which then fail, may mean your testing phase becomes impacted. Always have a back up for each tool you use, and be wary of the time commitment required if a tool should fail.

And apart from that, have fun! tool are cool!

Regards

Richard Robinson

[Jonathon Wright]

Great responses fromeveryone,

 

I thought I'd drop a quick update regarding tools as it something thats one of my primary focus over the past 10 years I think everyone is on the right track keeping to as many open source tools.

 

My focus recently is on Test Automation as a Service which is taking what I presented last year at the ANZTB (Hybrid Keyword Data Driven Framework Approach) and applying to the latest tools (in this case Visual Studio 2010 | Coded UI | Ranorex | WCF | .NET 4.0 | Azure) which has been a huge success but the basis is the tools that we use every day (I still believe the most powerful application is Notepad or UltraEdit32 if you want to go all the way with Macros etc).

 

But the approach to intergrate all these free tools into a single framework that can be reused that links to whatever defect management tool that you are using (I'm currently using TFS as you would expect) however as I'm guessing most people are using agile then Taskboard is a great application http://www.automation.org.uk/images/TaaaS_TaskBoard.jpg again powered by stories in TFS.

 

Have plenty of further information on this subject if anyones interested so drop me a email @ jonatho...@taaas.net or check out my blog @ www.TaaaS.net (click the Architecture link for further information) also interesting post on Direct linkage between Themes and Test Results written by one of my test managers which covers that link between the line of code executed (intellisense in .net) to the user story interesting stuff.

 

Best of luck everyone! keep testing! 

Jonathon Wright

[Aaron Hodder]

As an alternative to Visio, DIA is a free open source alternative.
mTail is a good free program for tailing log files and I find the snipping tool in Windows 7 is the best screenshotting program I've tried.

[Oliver Erlewein]

Aaron,

<geek-out-start>

The coolest screen shot tool is GrabFS for the Mac. 
http://osxbook.com/book/bonus/chapter11/grabfs/

Basic idea is that there is a folder/file system, where each folder is a running app, containing the current screen content. Want a screenshot, just copy the file! Now combine that with the power of unix command line....you see where I'm headed! 

Pity this only exists for the Mac. 

</geek-out-end>

;-)

[laumisc]

I used Testlink before, kinda cool. However, I think the main point here is what kind of tools your company is using..and if you were to propose a new tool, you know you have whole bunch of people to convince, ..training...etc.

 

Please share with me on what you've learned tonight at TPN.

 

Cheers,

Stephanie

---

From: "BANDREDDI, SRIKAR (SRIKAR)" <srikar.b...@alcatel-lucent.com>
To: "software-teste...@googlegroups.com" <software-teste...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tue, 5 April, 2011 12:59:40 PM

Subject: RE: [stnz] Test Tool

[Oliver Erlewein]

Good point. what i find hardest is actually convincing testers to use
the tools. Never mind convincing managers to shell out $$$$. OSS is a
bit easier but still have to convince testers.

On another note..... One of the advantages I see with tools is keeping
the tester life interesting. Meaning the output/quality might not be
affected by a tool but the happiness of the tester. Is that something
others see too?

Cheers Oliver

[Sharma Vishav]

Good thread, Apart for list of tools , I found two pints use of brain and happiness of testers as interesting points. Most often these core soft issues are over looked by companies when deciding which tool to select. 

My input would be select a tool which works for you and you don't have to work how tool mandates. Jira is a good example of such tool, configurable workflows, integrate with source control. Heavy weight,costly license test management tools if not already should soon be becoming history.  

cheers

Vishavdeep

[Marlena Compton]

It's worth mentioning that when choosing a tool, it's important to
consider the visibility of your tests that the tool will allow. Some
tools lock away testcases so that they are only ever seen by testers.
If you end up with one of those, you'll need to factor in the extra
time required to explain what you're testing because the testers will
probably be the only people with any awareness of what's being
tested.. Also, it's likely you won't be able to get your testcases
out if you want to to do anything with them outside of the tool.

I've just finished working for Atlassian where I used a wiki for
testing and loved it. Granted, I wasn't in a highly structured
environment, but everyone on the team knew what I was doing which made
it easier to keep testing on track.

Here's a blog post I wrote about it: http://marlenacompton.com/?p=1894

Any open source tool will get you the visibility. There are also now
more proprietary tools that allow visibility than there use to be.

Good luck making your choice.

Cheers,
Marlena

On Apr 6, 10:19 pm, Sharma Vishav <sharma.vis...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Good thread, Apart for list of tools , I found two pints use of brain and
> happiness of testers as interesting points. Most often these core soft
> issues are over looked by companies when deciding which tool to select.
>
> My input would be select a tool which works for you and you don't have to
> work how tool mandates. Jira is a good example of such
> tool, configurable workflows, integrate with source control. Heavy
> weight,costly license test management tools if not already should soon be
> becoming history.
>
> cheers
> Vishavdeep
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, Apr 6, 2011 at 8:35 AM, Oliver Erlewein <oli...@erlewein.net> wrote:
> > Good point. what i find hardest is actually convincing testers to use
> > the tools. Never mind convincing managers to shell out $$$$. OSS is a
> > bit easier but still have to convince testers.
>
> > On another note..... One of the advantages I see with tools is keeping
> > the tester life interesting. Meaning the output/quality might not be
> > affected by a tool but the happiness of the tester. Is that something
> > others see too?
>
> > Cheers Oliver
>

> > On 5 April 2011 22:11, laumisc <laum...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > > I used Testlink before, kinda cool. However, I think the main point here
> > is
> > > what kind of tools your company is using..and if you were to propose a
> > new
> > > tool, you know you have whole bunch of people to convince,
> > ..training...etc.
>
> > > Please share with me on what you've learned tonight at TPN.
>
> > > Cheers,
> > > Stephanie
> > > ________________________________

> > > From: "BANDREDDI, SRIKAR (SRIKAR)" <srikar.bandre...@alcatel-lucent.com>

> > > From: Farid Vaswani <fvasw...@gmail.com>
>
> > > Sender: software-teste...@googlegroups.com
>
> > > Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2011 12:38:56 +1200
>
> > > To: <software-teste...@googlegroups.com>
>
> > > ReplyTo: software-teste...@googlegroups.com
>
> > > Subject: Re: [stnz] Test Tool
>
> > > The most important tool I use while testing is my brain. Whether it is
> > > identifying test scenarios in functional testing, identifying test
> > > parameters for performance testing or for that matter deciding if testing
> > is
> > > required at all or not? And then there are other vendor-based or
> > open-source
> > > tools that we use to support us.
>
> > > What tools are you looking for in particular? Test management? Functional
> > > Testing? Regression? Non-Functional - like, performance, security, etc?
>
> > > If you're just interested in a long list - Google it and you'll find
> > 1000s
> > > of those, I'm sure :)
>
> > > Farid Vaswani
> > > Mob: +64-21 912 246
> > >http://www.geek4eva.com/
>

> > > On 5 April 2011 12:09, Andrew Tanyono <andrew.tany...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > My fellow testers,
>
> > > Wondering what test tool do you use at work? and if possible give a word
> > or
> > > two of what do you think the pro and cons of your current test tool?
>
> > > I'm going to a NZ-developed test tool seminar tonight any of you going as
> > > well?
>

> >http://www.nzcs.org.nz/events/auckland/283-TPN_Enterprise_Tester_-_NZ...

>
> > > Regards,
> > > --
> > > (n) Andrew Tanyono
> > > (m) +64-21-532626

> > > (e) andrew.tany...@gmail.com

[Cheryl Singh (healthAlliance)]

Has any one used open source tool BugTracker

We use FogBugz which costs. BugTracker has similar features and is free.

If anyone has used BugTracker, what are any major issues if you identified any?

 

Kind Regards

Cheryl

 

 

 

 

---

From: software-teste...@googlegroups.com [mailto:software-teste...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Sharma Vishav
Sent: Wednesday, 6 April 2011 23:19

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[Williams, Christopher]

Hi Guys

 

I must respond to this thread on Testing Tools what can I say about the state of the testing tools market in NZ . It is not very good compared to the rest of the world especially Australia, Europe & USA.

 

I have worked in Europe & NZ. In Europe it is heavily in favour of the heavy weight Testing Tools why in NZ it is the other way round it looks like we are doing Testing on the cheap.  As Testing Professionals which I hope we all are.

 

As a Test Professional  we should be using professional tools not tools like JIRA, Bug Tracker etc OK the smaller companies are short of cash so I understand the reasons for going for these tools.

 

If I saw a Job advertised that has any of the tools mentioned I would not even considered that job. Somebody mentioned that heavy weight Testing Tools are on the way out I do not know what planet you are on but if you have a look at all the companies in the world that are using the heavy management tools they are increasing.

 

I do use Open Source tools myself but I would not use them for Test Management activities (i.e Requirements, Test Case & Defects Management)because the open source tools are just not good enough for these activities.

 

Many Thanks

 

Chris

 

Chris Williams

Senior Test Analyst

AS APJ ANZ Testing Practice

HP Enterprise Services South Pacific

office | +64 4 474 5715    mobile | +64 27 232 0864
Level 5 | 8 Gilmer Terrace | Wellington | New Zealand

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   We deliver applications so customers can deliver business value.

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The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer.

 

 

 

 

[Aaron Hodder]

You seem to be implying that there is a correlation between the price of our testing tools, and how good we are at our jobs.  Tools are there to augment what we do, and should be as light weight as possible so that the tool working for us, not us working for the tool. 

"I have worked in Europe & NZ. In Europe it is heavily in favour of the heavy weight Testing Tools why in NZ it is the other way round it looks like we are doing Testing on the cheap."
Doing testing on the cheap, or ensuring our employers are getting value for money?  The value of a tester is not in the price tag of the tools they use.  A cheap tester with an expensive tool is still a cheap tester.  I am seeing increasing pay parity between testers and developers, so from where I'm sitting, I don't see testing done "on the cheap".  Mind you, I also see testing outsourced to India.  They may use HP Quality Center, but it's still cheap testing.

"As a Test Professional  we should be using professional tools not tools like JIRA, Bug Tracker etc"
Why not?   Jira is a great tool.  I also use wikis, and free mindmap software.  Should you say we shouldn't be using Linux because it's open source?

I do use Open Source tools myself but I would not use them for Test Management activities (i.e Requirements, Test Case & Defects Management)because the open source tools are just not good enough for these activities.

It's not the tool that does these activities, it's the tester.  Testing is a skilled, thinking activity, and if you think you can't do it without expensive tools, then maybe you have the wrong idea about what testing is actually all about.  Give me a pen and paper, and I can test.

[Shawn Hill]

Hi Chris,

 

I strongly disagree I am afraid.  The fact that “Heavy Weight” tools are available does not mean we must use them, we often find that they are not adaptable as required by the business.  Our business changes from time to time and as such the tools should be able to adapt.  Often the “Heavy Weight” tools cannot adapt at all given their inflexibility to as yet undefined processes.  All of the open source tools we use facilitate our processes whichever we use, V-Model through Agile - and very easily.

 

Cost is definitely a factor, especially for smaller businesses which New Zealand is made of – there are not as many large testing teams as you might think.  I know of some very successful companies in the USA and Europe which use applications like JIRA and Mantis – this does not make them unprofessional.  Given the cost constraints, testers in New Zealand need to look at what is available for their small teams, often “teams of one” and they need to look to the open source market – hence the call to these groups and the number of replies.  Furthermore, these “teams of one” often use spreadsheets for bug reports when there are free applications out there which will make their lives easier.  I would say, “go for it – use it”.  My experience with the Open Source community has been good, often more professional and quicker than the companies who deliver the “Heavy Weight” tools you mention.

 

The professionalism of us as testers is not defined in the tools we use, but how we use our tools and to what extent we assist with the improvement or maintenance of the quality of the products we work with.  If we can deliver test plans, scripts, bug reports clearly and easily through these tools then we should do so.

 

If anyone thinks I am way off on this comment please feel free to discuss.

 

Cheers

 

Shawn

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--

[Oliver Erlewein]

Might be of interest to some. Not really scientific but still an
interesting read on the tools topic.

http://testobsessed.com/2010/10/20/testers-code/

[Oliver Erlewein]

Hi Christopher,

Just out of interest is there some data around increasing use of "the heavy management tools"? I'd be especially keen to see that data for NZ if you have it. Or just a stat about unit sales 2009 and 2010 and support contracts for your tools.

Cheers Oliver  

[Farid Vaswani]

Hi Christopher,

I can only sympathise with you and understand where you are coming form -  because I just noticed your email signature...

...but sorry - I support quality over price!!

Thanks,
Farid

Farid Vaswani
Mob: +64-21 912 246
http://www.geek4eva.com/

[Williams, Christopher]

Hi  Farid

 

Me working at HP has nothing to do with my views on Tools except that I have passion for the tools that HP produce i.e QC, QTP ,BPT which I do not have for the open source tools except Enterprise Tester which looks pretty good.

 

Chris Williams

Senior Test Analyst

AS APJ ANZ Testing Practice

HP Enterprise Services South Pacific

office | +64 4 474 5715    mobile | +64 27 232 0864
Level 5 | 8 Gilmer Terrace | Wellington | New Zealand

---

   We deliver applications so customers can deliver business value.

---

The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer.

 

 

 

 

 

From: software-teste...@googlegroups.com [mailto:software-teste...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Farid Vaswani
Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2011 5:37 PM
To: software-teste...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [stnz] Test Tool

 

Hi Christopher,

[bjosman]

Hi Chris,

First of all thanks for commenting and sharing your experience and
opinions. However, i do disagree with certain statements in your
argument. I have used QC, Visual Studio, the Rational suite - the
*heavyweights* and whilst i had relatively good experiences with them,
I have found myself leaning more towards the open source tools (JIRA,
bugtracker, bugzilla, Fitnesse, selenium etc) because they suited my
purpose/context and needs. Was cost a factor? Yes and No. When cost
wasn't a factor, it was purely that the opensource tool could do the
job better (in my opinion).

Did that make me a test renegade? Any less professional? No - in fact,
a test that makes choices on how they approach a problem, factoring in
context and applying the most appropriate tool for that context, is
more of a professional in my eyes.

Reliance on a one set of tools is an example of confirmation bias
where you favour usage of heavyweight tools based on the information
that you favour. That's fine, however that does not mean that
heavyweight tool is the correct tool to use in ALL contexts.

A number of open source tools, in my opinion, are better than the
*heavyweight* tools available (and no doubt the converse maybe true)
for a number of factors (with cost being a major factor).

The tool does not make the tester...the tester makes the tool...and it
is the tester that determines professionalism, not the tool.

On Apr 12, 3:49 pm, "Williams, Christopher"

<christopher.willia...@hp.com> wrote:
> Hi Guys
>
> I must respond to this thread on Testing Tools what can I say about the state of the testing tools market in NZ . It is not very good compared to the rest of the world especially Australia, Europe & USA.
>
> I have worked in Europe & NZ. In Europe it is heavily in favour of the heavy weight Testing Tools why in NZ it is the other way round it looks like we are doing Testing on the cheap.  As Testing Professionals which I hope we all are.
>
> As a Test Professional  we should be using professional tools not tools like JIRA, Bug Tracker etc OK the smaller companies are short of cash so I understand the reasons for going for these tools.
>
> If I saw a Job advertised that has any of the tools mentioned I would not even considered that job. Somebody mentioned that heavy weight Testing Tools are on the way out I do not know what planet you are on but if you have a look at all the companies in the world that are using the heavy management tools they are increasing.
>
> I do use Open Source tools myself but I would not use them for Test Management activities (i.e Requirements, Test Case & Defects Management)because the open source tools are just not good enough for these activities.
>
> Many Thanks
>
> Chris
>
> Chris Williams
> Senior Test Analyst
> AS APJ ANZ Testing Practice
> HP Enterprise Services South Pacific
> office | +64 4 474 5715    mobile | +64 27 232 0864
> Level 5 | 8 Gilmer Terrace | Wellington | New Zealand
> ________________________________

>  [cid:image002....@01CBF929.0C8F89E0]   We deliver applications so customers can deliver business value.

> ________________________________
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>
> From: software-teste...@googlegroups.com [mailto:software-teste...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Cheryl Singh (healthAlliance)
> Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2011 2:43 PM
> To: software-teste...@googlegroups.com
> Subject: RE: [stnz] Test Tool
>
> Has any one used open source tool BugTracker
> We use FogBugz which costs. BugTracker has similar features and is free.
> If anyone has used BugTracker, what are any major issues if you identified any?
>
> Kind Regards
> Cheryl
>
> ________________________________
> From: software-teste...@googlegroups.com [mailto:software-teste...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Sharma Vishav
> Sent: Wednesday, 6 April 2011 23:19
> To: software-teste...@googlegroups.com
> Subject: Re: [stnz] Test Tool
> Good thread, Apart for list of tools , I found two pints use of brain and happiness of testers as interesting points. Most often these core soft issues are over looked by companies when deciding which tool to select.
>
> My input would be select a tool which works for you and you don't have to work how tool mandates. Jira is a good example of such tool, configurable workflows, integrate with source control. Heavy weight,costly license test management tools if not already should soon be becoming history.
>
> cheers
> Vishavdeep

> On Wed, Apr 6, 2011 at 8:35 AM, Oliver Erlewein <oli...@erlewein.net<mailto:oli...@erlewein.net>> wrote:
> Good point. what i find hardest is actually convincing testers to use
> the tools. Never mind convincing managers to shell out $$$$. OSS is a
> bit easier but still have to convince testers.
>
> On another note..... One of the advantages I see with tools is keeping
> the tester life interesting. Meaning the output/quality might not be
> affected by a tool but the happiness of the tester. Is that something
> others see too?
>
> Cheers Oliver
>

> On 5 April 2011 22:11, laumisc <laum...@yahoo.com<mailto:laum...@yahoo.com>> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > I used Testlink before, kinda cool. However, I think the main point here is
> > what kind of tools your company is using..and if you were to propose a new
> > tool, you know you have whole bunch of people to convince, ..training...etc.
>
> > Please share with me on what you've learned tonight at TPN.
>
> > Cheers,
> > Stephanie
> > ________________________________

> > From: "BANDREDDI, SRIKAR (SRIKAR)" <srikar.bandre...@alcatel-lucent.com<mailto:srikar.bandre...@alcatel-lucent.com>>
> > To: "software-teste...@googlegroups.com<mailto:software-teste...@googlegroups.com>"
> > <software-teste...@googlegroups.com<mailto:software-teste...@googlegroups.com>>

> > Sent: Tue, 5 April, 2011 12:59:40 PM
> > Subject: RE: [stnz] Test Tool
>
> > Check out Testlink. You might like it.
>
> > ________________________________
>
> > From: software-teste...@googlegroups.com<mailto:software-teste...@googlegroups.com>
> > [mailto:software-teste...@googlegroups.com<mailto:software-teste...@googlegroups.com>] On Behalf Of
> > andrew.tany...@gmail.com<mailto:andrew.tany...@gmail.com>
> > Sent: Tuesday, 5 April 2011 12:54 p.m.
> > To: software-teste...@googlegroups.com<mailto:software-teste...@googlegroups.com>
> > Subject: Re: [stnz] Test Tool
>
> > Hi Farid,
>
> > I just want to know on what everyone is using really. Like to just compare
> > on what is available in NZ and what real people use in they working
> > environment.
>
> > I was referring to test tool as for managing your test cases, updating them,
> > etc. (Something like TestLog) but I think TestLog cost for licensing.. And I
> > know some people (testers) that horrified by this tool! :)
>
> > Cheers,
>
> > --------------------------
>
> > ________________________________
>

> > From: Farid Vaswani <fvasw...@gmail.com<mailto:fvasw...@gmail.com>>
>
> > Sender: software-teste...@googlegroups.com<mailto:software-teste...@googlegroups.com>

>
> > Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2011 12:38:56 +1200
>

> > To: <software-teste...@googlegroups.com<mailto:software-teste...@googlegroups.com>>
>
> > ReplyTo: software-teste...@googlegroups.com<mailto:software-teste...@googlegroups.com>

>
> > Subject: Re: [stnz] Test Tool
>
> > The most important tool I use while testing is my brain. Whether it is
> > identifying test scenarios in functional testing, identifying test
> > parameters for performance testing or for that matter deciding if testing is
> > required at all or not? And then there are other vendor-based or open-source
> > tools that we use to support us.
>
> > What tools are you looking for in particular? Test management? Functional
> > Testing? Regression? Non-Functional - like, performance, security, etc?
>
> > If you're just interested in a long list - Google it and you'll find 1000s
> > of those, I'm sure :)
>
> > Farid Vaswani

> > Mob: +64-21 912 246<tel:%2B64-21%20912%20246>
> >http://www.geek4eva.com/

>
> > On 5 April 2011 12:09, Andrew Tanyono <andrew.tany...@gmail.com<mailto:andrew.tany...@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> > My fellow testers,
>
> > Wondering what test tool do you use at work? and if possible give a word or
> > two of what do you think the pro and cons of your current test tool?
>
> > I'm going to a NZ-developed test tool seminar tonight any of you going as
> > well?
>

> >http://www.nzcs.org.nz/events/auckland/283-TPN_Enterprise_Tester_-_NZ...

>
> > Regards,
> > --
> > (n) Andrew Tanyono

> > (m) +64-21-532626<tel:%2B64-21-532626>
> > (e) andrew.tany...@gmail.com<mailto:andrew.tany...@gmail.com>

>
> > --
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> > For more options, visit this group at
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>
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> ...
>
> read more »
>
>  image002.jpg
> 1KViewDownload

[Oliver Erlewein]

Hi Chris,

You do realise that neither JIRA nor Enterprise Tester are Open Source products? 

...so you work for HP, have a passion for their products, have admittedly no Open Source knowledge and are convinced HP tools/big tools are the way forward. And you say none of that has an impact on your views? That's a bit hard to believe. I mean, what's wrong with being convinced of something and standing up for it? I would have wholeheartedly welcomed a "I'm biased but totally convinced I'm right".

And I think it was me that stated big tools are on the way out. That is my opinion and nothing I can prove. I'll also stand by it and time will tell who was right.

In the end what's important to me -as others have stated- is that the testers get the right tools to do an excellent job as economically as practical. It is usually the latter part that commercial tools tend to fail on (in NZ) not the fact that they aren't good tools. I personally also have issues with where these tools are applied and how but again that is my opinion.

I see the movement towards agile practices and observe how testers nowadays interact with developers (even in V-model/Waterfall projects). The turn-around times for testing have become very quick and most of the commercial tools I've worked with (mainly Rational and Mercury (not HP at that time)) would have been too cumbersome to keep pace or conversely; too expensive and time consuming to implement on these projects.

I haven't seen HP tools in a while (bar presentations of them) so my information might be (and hopefully is) somewhat outdated. I therefore stand to be corrected but so far have found no tangible evidence to convince me otherwise. I will get the chance to experience the Rational stack in-depth soon so there's a good chance I might get to change my conviction.

Cheers Oliver

P.S. I like the discussion so far. This is not about being right but having the discussion openly about tools and voicing pros/cons and what has worked and what not. So I'm hoping we will get much more input from examples from all tools, where things have worked. I'll probably need to write up some ofthe cool stuff we do with our OSS tools and post it here.

[Cheryl Singh (healthAlliance)]

Hi Everyone one

 

Very interesting to see that we have testers so passionate about their tools ;)

I am currently eveluating one more test management tool. Thought of sharing with everyone : tosca-testsuite.com

I would be interested to know if anyone is currently using this tool and know its pros and cos.

 

Cheers

Cheryl

---

From: software-teste...@googlegroups.com [mailto:software-teste...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Oliver Erlewein
Sent: Wednesday, 13 April 2011 14:28

[Suman Sajwan]

Hi all -Thanks for this interesting discussion.

 

Tosca users - I am also very interested to learn your experience with TOSCA. What made you to choose this test tool?

 

Thanks

Suman

---

From: software-teste...@googlegroups.com [mailto:software-teste...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Cheryl Singh (healthAlliance)
Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2011 9:57 AM

To: software-teste...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: [stnz] Test Tool

[linki...@gmail.com]

Hi All,

I am looking for an answer here like test tool for agile project:

1 - QC
2 -JIRA-ZYPHER Plugin


We have two options like Either use QC or JIRA+ZYPHER. But I am not much explored yet.
What we are planning to add test cases on QC and Bugs on JIRA. But I don't know how integrate bugs with test cases and the same with requirement . Does anyone have experience to answer my query


1. Is there any documented integration to QC-JIRA?
2. What could be better way to run STLC?


-Amit

On Thursday, April 14, 2011 4:46:41 AM UTC+5:30, Suman Sajwan wrote:

Hi all -Thanks for this interesting discussion.

 

Tosca users - I am also very interested to learn your experience with TOSCA. What made you to choose this test tool?

 

Thanks

Suman

---

From: software-teste...@googlegroups.com [mailto:software-testers-new-zea...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Cheryl Singh (healthAlliance)

Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2011 9:57 AM
To: software-teste...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: [stnz] Test Tool

Hi Everyone one

 

Very interesting to see that we have testers so passionate about their tools ;)

I am currently eveluating one more test management tool. Thought of sharing with everyone : tosca-testsuite.com

I would be interested to know if anyone is currently using this tool and know its pros and cos.

 

Cheers

Cheryl

---

From: software-teste...@googlegroups.com [mailto:software-testers-new-zea...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Oliver Erlewein

> software-testers-new-zealand+unsub...@googlegroups.com.

> For more options, visit this group at
> http://groups.google.com/group/software-testers-new-zealand?hl=en.
>

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[olivernz]

Hey Amit,

Can you elaborate some more? 

What kind of project are we talking about, what types of testing are you doing? How many people testing? Are you using Scrum? What's the testing process (testing within a sprint or separate sprints)? Are you going SBTM or what process will you be following to test? Why are you limited to those tools?  What is the driving motivator to use a tool? Will there be a measurable/tangible ROI? What process does the rest of the team use and what tools? How are they integrating into testing? Are you using things like Gherkin to define tests?...+whatever else you can think of.

Cheers Oliver

[bryc...@catchsoftware.com]

Hi Amit,

We develop Enterprise Tester that has full integration with JIRA and allows you to run Agile projects pulling stories and epics from JIRA into Enterprise Tester, auto generating test case stubs and running them with any bugs being automatically pushed to JIRA.

We are also one of approximately 20 Atlassian Platinum and Atlassian Enterprise Experts having worked with them for over 7 years (so know them likethe back of our hand ) 

There are a couple of connectors between QC and JIRA that can be used but I would suggest that QC doesn't really facilitate Agile development. If you have time, drop me a line as would love to show you how ET and JIRA integrate from Requirements / Stories - Test Cases - Test Runs - Bugs

Regards

Bryce