Bonfire introduces the concept of a Test Session to JIRA.

Test Sessions Overview

source: http://blogs.atlassian.com/2011/08/test_sessions_with_bonfire/

This section will provide a conceptual introduction and overview of what Test Sessions are and how they differ from Test Cases.

Differences between Test Sessions and Test Cases

Test sessions differ from test cases in two ways. Firstly, more than one test can be carried out in a single session. Secondly, like test cases, test sessions can tell us who tested what, but they can also tell us how, when and why we tested. That makes test sessions useful for planning, executing and tracking manual testing, because they;

• Require testers to identify test objectives and focus their testing efforts on fulfilling them.
• Encourage testers to modify existing tests and add new tests to meet those objectives as they test.
• Provide a useful way to manage and review exploratory testing.
• Focus attention on the testing that’s actually performed, not just on test case results.
• Give testers the flexibility to respond to changes and re-plan their testing quickly.

Getting the most out of Test Sessions

There’s no restriction on when test sessions are added. It’s not uncommon for sessions to be created whilst the feature is being planned and developed and tested. Sessions can also be renamed or deleted as needed. If you have pre-written tests they can be run during a session, but because test sessions emphasize test objectives over specific test cases, testers are also encouraged to devise and run any additional tests that they feel will help meet the test objective. Creating and executing more tests based on what you discover and learn whilst testing is an approach called exploratory testing. It’s an extremely powerful way of optimising test coverage without incurring the costs associated with writing and maintaining test cases.

Learn more about Session Based Testing

We recommend reading about Jonathan and James Bach’s Session Based Test Management method.

Test Sessions in Bonfire

This section explains how Test Sessions work within Atlassian Bonfire.

Creating Sessions

Sessions are created in the JIRA web interface, and not via the Bonfire browser extension. To create a session belonging to an issue, click the "More Actions" drop down in the view issue page, and then fill in a session name. A session's name is flexible, and can be anything you like (e.g. "Test browser compatibility with Internet Explorer", or "Find security vulnerabilities").

A session can have zero or more "Related Issues" which serve as a relationship between existing issues in your system and the testing being performed. If you create a session from the view issue page, that issue is automatically set as the session's related issue.

Sessions can also be created in the "Test Sessions" tab in the view project page. Leave the "Related Issue" blank if this test session does not belong to a specific issue.

Assigning Sessions

Sessions can be assigned to other team members to be worked on.

Only users who have the "Assignable User" permission on the project which this session belongs will be able to have the session assigned to them.

The assignee of the session can start progress on the session, pause the session, capture issues and notes within that session, and complete the session.

Working in a session

Any test session have four states - Created, In Progress, Paused, and Completed. To modify the status of a session, use the buttons on the left. 

For each user, only one session can be active at one time. The active session is always displayed in the orange bar along the top of JIRA web interface. In the Bonfire browser extension, under the "Sessions" tab, you can also see all the test sessions that are available to you. You are also able to start and pause sessions in the list.

Similar to Bonfire in JIRA, the Bonfire browser extension will always display the active test session along the top of the display. If you expand this display, you will also see all the session information about the active test session.

Taking Notes in Session

At some stage during testing, you may like to take notes about what you are testing. It may be a reminder to come back and test something else "Reminder to test for XSS", or it may be an open question that you cannot resolve immediately "What's this supposed to do?". Session notes allow you to quickly note down important things you would like to come back to quickly, without interrupting your current context. Session notes are recorded under the "Sessions" tab in the Bonfire browser extension, when a session is active.

Bonfire test session notes allow special "#tags" to be inserted so you give more meaning to your notes and find them more easily later. Bonfire ships with 4 predefined tags.

• #? which represents a Question  
• #f which represents a Follow Up  
• #! which represents an Assumption  
• #i which represents an Idea  

Every single note is tracked in chronological order in the session activity, so it's easy to come back and look over notes taken during a test session.

Sharing Sessions

You can share a test session to allow others to participate in the session and join in collaborative testing efforts.

Once a session is shared and started, other participants on your team can join that session.

The Bonfire browser extension also displays all the sessions that can currently be joined.

Any testing activity performed by any participants will be tracked against the session, like issues raised, and notes taken.

Completing Sessions

At the end of the testing, you can complete a test session in the JIRA web interface clicking on the "Complete" link. At this stage, you can finalize the testing and summarize the testing, including picking the issues raised during the test session to link to the original issue(s), or logging the time worked during testing.

If there are other active participants in the session, they will be forced to leave the session once the session is completed.

View raised issues in the Issue Navigator

A test session's summary page gives a quick list of all issues raised during that session. There is also a quick link to view those issues in JIRA's issue navigator for any triage needed, such as closing duplicates.

View details of Test Sessions on an issue

Each issue will have a panel on the issue page that will show all the Test Sessions that have a relationship with the issue.

You can also configure the columns in the JIRA Issue Navigator to show Test Sessions.

You can also view these details in GreenHopper (as of 6.0)

Integrating Test Sessions into your workflow

Bonfire includes a 'Bonfire Complete Session Condition' and a 'Bonfire Complete Session Validator' that prevents transitioning of an issue until all Bonfire Test Sessions related to that issue are complete. Both the Condition and the Validator prevent the same thing except the Condition will hide the transition, and the Validator will give an error when the transition is attempted.

For information on how to add the 'Bonfire Complete Session Condition' to your current workflow, visit here.

For information on how to add the 'Bonfire Complete Session Validator' to your current workflow, visit here.