Customise JIRA For Test Case Management

It is recommended to read Using JIRA for Test Case Management before using this guide.

Contents

Information For New Users

You're able to setup a sample instance of JIRA that has been already setup for test case management, simply by installing the JIRA Test Case Management sample project. You're welcome to build your real JIRA instance using the sample project as your guide.

Information For Existing Users

While there is a test case sample project available, you can't merge it with your existing instance because doing a site export overwrites all your existing content. Instead, you should use the customisation guide below to create your own version of the test case management setup. You may like to check out the JIRA Test Case Management sample project first to see if it meets your needs.

Customisation Guide

Instructions to customise JIRA for internal test case management:

1. Setup Bamboo Integration

1. Download the latest version of JIRA Enterprise.
2. Install JIRA using our JIRA Quick Start Guide.
3. Download the latest version of Bamboo.
4. Install Bamboo using our Bamboo Install Guide.
5. Follow this guide to Integrating Bamboo with JIRA.

2. Users, Groups, Projects & Notifications

1. Either add your users or integrate JIRA with your external user management.
2. Add the following groups to JIRA. Under your Administration > Group Browser, use the Add Group feature to create groups for:
   • Testers
   • QA
   • Developers
3. Create projects for each software tool you'd like to test, if you haven't done so already. Testing is best conducted inside your development projects.

3. General JIRA Customisation

1. Enable subtasks under the Administration > General Configuration
2. Enable issue linking under the Administration > Issue Linking
3. If using JIRA for requirements management as well, add any related new issue types that you plan to use, such as Requirement and User Story.
4. Add these link types:
   • Test, "is a test for", "is tested by"

4. Custom Issue Type

Define a new issue type named Test Case with a document icon and description 'A manual testing step.'

5. Custom Fields

Add these custom fields and associate them with the Test Case issue type and Default Screen:

6. Custom Field Configuration

1. Create a new field configuration named Test Field Configuration. Optionally, configure it so to make any fields required such as Component and Steps To Execute.
2. If you would like to use user stories and define them in JIRA, then please define a new issue type named 'User Story' with an unused icon and description 'A short description of a user activity.' An alternative approach is to define them in your project documentation and have your test cases link to them by adding a custom field 'User Story' of type 'URL field'. This field is not included in the sample file.

7. Custom Screens

Create the following new screens so that we can have testing-specific transitions and assign their fields. The associated Screen Schemes and Workflows sections are shown here only for reference since they are setup in the next section:

8. Custom Screen Schemes

Create a new screen scheme called Test Case Screen Scheme. Assign the Create Issue step to our new Create Test Case Screen and the default issue operation to the Test Case Screen.

9. Custom Workflow

1. Add the following new states:

   State Name	Icon	Description
   Awaiting Review	Invisible	A new test case that needs to be approved for use.
   Template	Generic	An approved test that has not yet been scheduled.
   Ready To Run	Assigned	A test that has been scheduled.
   Passed	Closed	A successful manual test.
   Failed	Needs Information	An unsuccessful manual test.
   Invalid	Down	A test that has become obsolete or cannot be run.

2. From the Workflow administration option, create a new 'Test Case Workflow' with description 'Workflow for the test case issue type.'
3. Under the new workflow, edit the Open step and change the transition to 'Awaiting Review'.
4. Create the following states.

5. Transition	Linked Status	Description	Transitions (Next Step)
   Awaiting Review	Awaiting Review	A new test that needs to be approved or rejected.	Reject (Close)  Approve (Approve)
   Approve	Template	A test has passed review and is now a template.	Assign To Run (Assign To Run) Retire Test (Close)
   Assign To Run	Ready To Run	Turns a template into a live test.	Start Test (In Progress)
   Fail	Failed	Test criteria are not met.	Rerun (Assign To Run)
   Pass	Passed	Test criteria are met.	Rerun (Assign To Run) Retire Test (Close) Revise Test Criteria (Awaiting Review)
   In Progress	In Progress	Test is now ongoing.	Fail  (Fail) Pass (Pass) Invalid (Awaiting Review)
   Close	Closed	Deactivates a test that is no longer in use.	Reopen (Awaiting Review)
   Invalid	Invalid	Test is not applicable.	Retire Test  (Close) Revise Test Criteria (Awaiting Review)

6. Associate the new workflow with the 'Test Case' issue type.

10. Plugins

1. Optionally install the following reporting plugins:
   • Links Hierarchy Report
   • Links Report
   • Issue Linker and Link Searcher
     

User Guide

A new test case is defined by creating a new TestCase issue in Jira and filling in the required fields such as Summary, Description and Component. For each release where this test is going to be run, a subtask of the issue is created and the Affects Version field is set to the release. The priority of the test for this release can also be added here. Use assignee as the person who defines the test.

When a test is run, the results are entered or updated in the subtask, not in the parent Test Case issue. Comments about the test run can also be entered if appropriate.

When a report is created for the current state of a release, we search for all TestCase issues with the Affects Version field set to the required release. The resulting set of issues can then be sorted and counted by number passed, failed, not run etc. Producing historical reports can be done with the Timecharts plugin for Jira, which shows a graph of how the results in a report change over time.

We can also create a new link type to connect test cases to the bugs that they created or are verifying. This is the biggest advantage that I see of using an issue tracker to track test cases and bugs together. We could also add a box to all bugs to indicate whether a Test Case is expected by someone for a bug.

Further Reading

• From bugs to builds: Using Bamboo & JIRA together
• How Moodle uses JIRA for TCM
• How Open Laszlo uses JIRA for regression testing
• Using JIRA for Test Case Management

Discussion & Help

For help or to ask questions, simply post to the JIRA test case thread in the user forums.

Thanks to Matt Doar, author of Practical Development Environments for contributing the basis for this guide.