How to Choose Test Management Tool (New 2024 Rankings)

With the broad range of choices available, when searching for modern test management tools, it is easy to get confused. This is an impartial guide to help you acquire the right tool according to your requirements. So, let’s first understand what a test management tool is.

What is a Test Management Tool?

Test management tools are used to process information about how testing is to be conducted, schedule testing tasks, and monitor the quality assurance activities status. The instruments have multiple research methods and hence have diverse sets of features. There are several professional and few free software test management tools available in the market that are accessible.

Whether you choose a remedy for a conventional phased development plan or an agile development of an incremental type e.g. Scrum, XP, Kanban, the system testing is essentially the same to make sure that the system does what it is meant to do and that it does not do unintentional things. Two types of testing are required; authentication that the specifications have been met and confirmation that they have not been outstripped in unacceptable ways. 

For example, encryption of website users that accurately needs 100 percent simple and effective user identification will still be deemed defective if it continues to provide typing lessons for those who improperly enter their name (apparently the criteria will not specifically state that the system does not do so.)

The cost of your license is the next thing you can measure. This can help you find out what template will fit with your plan, such as whether you want to pay as per system voter, simultaneous user, or continuous user, to calculate the length of the test completion and what method you choose for testing.

Importance of a Test Management Tool

Software quality assurance utilizes over 50 percent of the software’s overall cost, according to a study, and this number is even greater for critical software. So in your project, it is very important to use a test case management system that can enhance your test plans and monitor the overall testing cost.

Efficient and flexible test management software is a must-have for any enterprise due to the high degree of difficulty involved in testing activities. These tools help to visualize the health of the process being tested, thus integrating different testing operations and keeping the overall test process on track. 

To allow immediate access to information review, collaboration resources, and seamless & efficient communication between different project teams, these tools support the vision of rationalizing and improving the testing process. 

To align the test case design with the specifications, several modern test management tools have requirements management functionality. To optimize the testing process, monitoring defects and project activities are carried out in a single process.

How to Select a Test Management Tool?

After your budget-based choices have been refined, here are 5 very relevant criteria for comparison and selection of test management tools —

1. Productivity should Boost the Test Management Tool

To keep up with rapid technological changes and the need for testing on various platforms (both browsers and devices), testing teams face steep challenges. Since manual testing takes up much of the testing time, scaling up automation is one way to deal with this problem. But there are other ways to maximize the efficacy of a method that includes, among others, efficient test lab/data control, release management, informative reporting.

2. Agile Support Programs

Requests for agile services are rising in the current market, and it is growing every day. The agile approach must be enabled by the test management tool. In Agile, the specifications are malleable and the test management method should be able to fulfill these requirements gradually. Deep collaboration between developers, testers, and other stakeholders should be encouraged by the agile test management tool of your choice (basic agile principle).

3. The Agile Test Management Tool can Create the Support of Agile Test Management

• Creating myths
• Estimate
• Planning the Sprint backlog
• Graphs of velocity and other reports, etc.
• Kanban and Scrum

While in a Development approach, if you glance at improvements in defect rates perversion, test run correlation by test management tool will be efficient in an Agile environment. For Agile, the test management tool would also need to keep the product release record for each iteration and delay. 

4. External Incorporation

Automated operation of test cases will reduce a lot of the pressure on test engineers. You can pick a tool for test management that combines easily with automation software. Look for the ability to handle both local and remote host test scripts and plan and launch tests. Also, it is beneficial to be able to store automation test results in the test management instrument. Continuous integration must help your test management instrument.

The primary benefit of the qTest tool for test management with CI is that tests are automatically launched. The release can be activated by something like a source code commitment from a programmer or a test case with existing test automation or a planned project for a specific period. In time, information, direction, and granularity, the ongoing implementation differs.

5. Mobile Devices

Mobile devices and tablets should be assisted by your test management tool. For teams that are at the customer site, not at the desk, or for executives, collaborating with teams at various geographical locations, mobile assistance is immensely beneficial. The test management tool must have a complete range of functions accessible on mobile phones. Multiple devices and mobile support are essential as there are more complications such as position, gesture, accelerometers, and orientation issues with the increase in the number of devices.

6. Support 

The support staff of the supplier of test management equipment should be committed to assisting their clients in all possible ways. To draw more buyers, many test management tools are more oriented on producing a glossy website and advertisements. But they have to concentrate on providing the best help desk service for continuous and repeated business. To support their customers, the best test management tool should have features such as live chat, phone call, FAQ’s & online user guides, facility quality details, skillset, help desk ticket raising, etc.

To address client questions, several test management applications often enable live video conferences with tool experts. If the live conference is not possible, then test management tool-related demonstrations or captured videos should always be available online and usable at any time.

Also Read: 

Open Source Test Management Tools

Best Test Management Tools That You Should Know!

10 Automated Testing Tools For Web Applications

Test Automation Best Practices to Follow