Topic: Test Director

It is a Global Test Management tool, the industry’s first global test management solution. It helps organizations deploy high-quality applications more quickly and effectively. It has four modules:

- Requirements
- Test Plan
- Test Lab
- Defects

These modules are seamlessly integrated, allowing for a smooth information flow between various testing stages. The completely Web-enabled TestDirector supports high levels of communication and collaboration among distributed testing teams, driving a more effective, efficient global application-testing process.

Web-based Site Administrator: The Site Administrator includes tabs for managing projects, adding users and defining user properties, monitoring connected users, monitoring licenses and monitoring TestDirector server information.

Domain Management: TestDirector projects are now grouped by domain. A domain contains a group of related TestDirector projects, and assists you in organizing and managing a large number of projects. Enhanced Reports and Graphs Additional standard report types and graphs have been added, and the user interface is richer in functionality. The new format enables you to customize more features. Version Control Version control enables you to keep track of the changes you make to the testing information in your TestDirector project. You can use your version control database for tracking manual, WinRunner and QuickTest Professional tests in the test plan tree and test grid.

Collaboration Module: The Collaboration module, available to existing customers as an optional upgrade, allows you to initiate an online chat session with another TestDirector user. While in a chat session, users can share applications and make changes.

TestDirector Advanced Reports Add-in: With the new Advanced Reports Add-in, TestDirector users are able to maximize the value of their testing project information by generating customizable status and progress reports. The Advanced Reports Add-in offers the flexibility to create custom report configurations and layouts, unlimited ways to aggregate and compare data and ability to generate cross-project analysis reports.

Automatic Traceability Notification: The new traceability automatically traces changes to the testing process entities—such as requirements or tests, and notifies the user via flag or e-mail. For example, when the requirement changes, the associated test is flagged and tester is notified that the test may need to be reviewed to reflect requirement changes. Coverage Analysis View in Requirements Module The graphical display enables you to analyze the requirements according to test coverage status and view associated tests - grouped according to test status.

Hierarchical Test Sets: Hierarchical test sets provide the ability to better organize your test run process by grouping test sets into folders.

Workflow for all TestDirector Modules: The addition of the script editor to all modules enables organizations to customize TestDirector to follow and enforce any methodology and best practices. Improved Customization With a greater number of available user fields, ability to add memo fields and create input masks users can customize their TestDirector projects to capture any data required by their testing process. New rich edit option add color and formatting options to all memo fields.

TestDirector Features & Benefits Supports the entire testing process. TestDirector incorporates all the following aspects of the testing process into a single browser-based application:

- Requirements management
- Planning
- Scheduling
- Running tests
- Issue management
- Project status analysis

Leverages innovative Web technology Testers, developers and business analysts can participate in and contribute to the testing process by working seamlessly across geographic and organizational boundaries.

Uses industry-standard repositories: TestDirector integrates easily with industry-standard databases such as SQL, Oracle, Access and Sybase.

Links test plans to requirements: TestDirector connects requirements directly to test cases, ensuring that functional requirements have been covered by the test plan.

Integrates with Microsoft Office: TestDirector can import requirements and test plans from Microsoft Office, preserving your investment and accelerating your testing process.

Manages manual and automated tests: TestDirector stores and runs both manual and automated tests, and can help jumpstart a user’s automation project by converting manual tests to automated test scripts.

Accelerates testing cycles: TestDirector's TestLab manager accelerates the test execution cycles by scheduling and running tests automatically—unattended, even overnight. The results are reported into TestDirector’s central repository, creating an accurate audit trail for analysis.

Supports test runs across boundaries: TestDirector allows testers to run tests on their local machines and then report the results to the repository that resides on a remote server.

Integrates with internal and third-party tools: Documented COM API allows TestDirector to be integrated both with internal tools (e.g., WinRunner and LoadRunner) and external third-party lifecycle applications.

Enables structured information sharing: TestDirector controls the information flow in a structured and organized manner. It defines the role of each tester in the process and sets the appropriate permissions to ensure information integrity.

Provides Analysis and Decision Support Tools: TestDirector's integrated graphs and reports help analyze application readiness at any point in the testing process. Using information about requirements coverage, planning progress, run schedules or defect statistics, managers are able to make informed decisions on whether the application is ready to go live.

Provides easy defect reporting: TestDirector offers a defect tracking process that can identify similar defects in a database.

Generates customizable reports: TestDirector features a variety of customizable graphs and reports that provide a snapshot of the process at any time during testing. You can save your favorite views to have instant access to relevant project information.

Supports decision-making through analysis: TestDirector helps you make informed decisions about application readiness through dozens of reports and analysis features. Provides Anytime, Anywhere Access to Testing Assets Using TestDirector's Web interface, testers, developers and business analysts can participate in and contribute to the testing process by collaborating across geographic and organizational boundaries.

Provides Traceability Throughout the Testing Process: TestDirector links requirements to test cases, and test cases to issues, to ensure traceability throughout the testing cycle. When requirement changes or the defect is fixed, the tester is notified of the change.

Integrates with Third-Party Applications: Whether an individual uses an industry standard configuration management solution, Microsoft Office or a homegrown defect management tool, any application can be integrated into TestDirector. Through the open API, TestDirector preserves the users’ investment in their existing solutions and enables them to create an end-to-end lifecycle-management solution.

Facilitates Consistent and Repetitive Testing Process: By providing a central repository for all testing assets, TestDirector facilitates the adoption of a more consistent testing process, which can be repeated throughout the application lifecycle or shared across multiple applications or lines of business (LOB). Testing Process Test management is a method for organizing application test assets—such as test requirements, test plans, test documentation, test scripts or test results—to enable easy accessibility and reusability. Its aim is to deliver quality applications in less time. The test management process is the main principle behind Mercury Interactive's TestDirector. It is the first tool to capture the entire test management process—requirements management, test planning, test execution and defect management—in one powerful, scalable and flexible solution.

Managing Requirements: Requirements are what the users or the system needs. Requirements management, however, is a structured process for gathering, organizing, documenting and managing the requirements throughout the project lifecycle. Too often, requirements are neglected during the testing effort, leading to a chaotic process of fixing what you can and accepting that certain functionality will not be verified. In many organizations, requirements are maintained in Excel or Word documents, which makes it difficult for team members to share information and to make frequent revisions and changes. TestDirector supports requirements-based testing and provides the testing team with a clear, concise and functional blueprint for developing test cases. Requirements are linked to tests—that is, when the test passes or fails, this information is reflected in the requirement records. You can also generate a test based on a functional requirement and instantly create a link between the requirement, the relevant test and any defects that are uncovered during the test run. Test Planning Based on the requirements, testers can start building the test plan and designing the actual tests. Today, organizations no longer wait to start testing at the end of the development stage, before implementation. Instead, testing and development begin simultaneously. This parallel approach to test planning and application design ensures that testers build a complete set of tests that cover every function the system is designed to perform. TestDirector provides a centralized approach to test design, which is invaluable for gathering input from different members of the testing team and providing a central reference point for all of your future testing efforts. In the Test Plan module, you can design tests—manual and automated—document the testing procedures and create quick graphs and reports to help measure the progress of the test planning effort.

Running Tests: After you have addressed the test design and development issues and built the test plan, your testing team is ready to start running tests. TestDirector can help configure the test environment and determine which tests will run on which machines. Most applications must be tested on different operating systems, different browser versions or other configurations.

In TestDirector's Test Lab, testers can set up groups of machines to most efficiently use their lab resources. TestDirector can also schedule automated tests, which saves testers time by running multiple tests simultaneously across multiple machines on the network. Tests with TestDirector can be scheduled to run unattended, overnight or when the system is in least demand for other tasks. For both manual and automated tests, TestDirector can keep a complete history of all test runs. By using this audit trail, testers can easily trace changes to tests and test runs.

Managing Defects: The keys to creating a good defect management process are setting up the defect workflow and assigning permission rules.

With TestDirector, you can clearly define how the lifecycle of a defect should progress, who has the authority to open a new defect, who can change a defect's status to "fixed" and under which conditions the defect can be officially closed. TestDirector will also help you maintain a complete history and audit trail throughout the defect lifecycle. Managers often decide whether the application is ready to go live based on defect analysis. By analyzing the defect statistics in TestDirector, you can take a snapshot of the application under test and see exactly how many defects you currently have, their status, severity, priority, age, etc. Because TestDirector is completely Web-based, different members of the team can have instant access to defect information, greatly improving communication in your organization and ensuring everyone is up to date on the status of the application.