Benefits and limitations of Zephyr
Jira is a great tool for project management and allows users to add user stories, define epics, versions and report bugs. Here, I’m going to discuss an important plugin for Jira for writing test cases.
Before installing this plugin, let’s consider its importance. As a software tester, if I want to write test cases, I could write test cases in Excel or any other tool. But here in Jira, we can write test cases using this plugin. As a project grows, we need more than spreadsheets and wikis to keep to track of the testing process. Zephyr for Jira is the most widely used test management solution.
It has added lots of value to Jira. With the help of the Zephyr, you can create test plans, write down test cases, update the execution of test cases, create test cycles and set traceability metrics. Defect logging is already available in Jira. So, you can manage the complete testing process with the help of the Zephyr plugin in Jira.
There are two versions of Zephyr. Zephyr for Jira is designed as a Jira plugin. That is the version available in the Atlassian Marketplace. Zephyr Enterprise enables test management and control in a way that can integrate with Jira but lives outside it. Zephyr Enterprise requires a different level of integration, but it is a good choice for businesses that have a mix of projects managed in Jira and other tools.
There are many advantages and limitations of Zephyr. First, let us look into few advantages of Zephyr.
Advantages
Stories, testcases and bugs should be linked together and traceable. Here, you can link a test case with a cycle and a cycle with a test plan, and link user stories with bugs. As an example, when the project manager/BA adds a user story, the quality engineer can report bugs related to the user story and link it in the same user story.
Zephyr shows the progress of executed test cases and other graphical representations of the results. This is helpful in analyzing the data easily. Test cases can be exported to Word or Excel formats using Zephyr and test case review process is possible through the agile board. A user can review test cases easily on the agile board after integrating Zephyr.
Another advantage is that multiple test iterations with multiple cycles can be created using Zephyr. Apart from that, it supports many languages in addition to English (ex: Russian, French, German, Chinese, Turkish, Japanese, Korean, Spanish) Users can configure the language as per their choice. Reporting is made simple and the user can create customized filters. The agile dashboard and traceability provides you with an end-to-end view of the entire process.
Those are a few of the advantages of Zephyr for Jira. Let us look at limitations.
Limitations
Although exporting data to Excel is easy, importing existing test cases from Excel is not so easy and one has to use an external addon for that. In Zephyr, it is impossible to import test results at a later date and it is not possible to export all the test cases and results to one file.
Another limitation is that the test case format is fixed and cannot be customized. Test cases only have 3 standard columns and reporting can be done for only one particular cycle of an iteration. A cumulative report cannot be generated for all the test cycles of the iteration. For Automation Suite Integration, we have to use Zephyr Enterprise Edition. The integration can be done with Selenium RC. Integration with Selenium Web Driver has not been implemented.
Those are the few of limitations of Zephyr. Now that we have identified a few advantages and limitations, let’s compare Zephyr with a few existing tools
Test trail vs Zephyr
QMetry vs Zephyr
TM4J vs Zephyr
Integrating Zephyr with Jira
First install the Zephyr for Jira plugin and then add the issue type ‘test’ to the project.
· Log in as the Administrator on your Jira Cloud instance
· Jira Settings — Find Apps/Add-ons — Search ‘Zephyr for Jira’ — Install
· Project Settings — Issue Types — Add ‘Test’ type to project
Above gif will show how to integrate Zephyr for Jira.
Conclusion
Zephyr for Jira is the most widely used test management tool that gives your project team control over every stage of the software lifecycle. Zephyr enhances test organization through a folder structure, by enabling logical grouping of test cases within cycles. In addition to that, Zephyr dashboards display specific testing metrics such as test distribution, test case execution, top defects impacting testing, test execution progress and more. Try a free trial for Zephyr for Jira and see for yourself just how easy it is. This will be a great tool to work with in your projects. Hope this will help you too.
References
Advantages and Limitations of Zephyr- Test Management Tool | Quality Crush (wordpress.com)
Assess TestRail vs. Zephyr test management tools (techtarget.com)
