test cases – Elementool Blog

How to Link Different Parts of The Project Stages

Today I want to explain how to link between different parts of the project stages.

A project is never just one thing. It includes many tasks and items that – if you do everything right – come together to form a single whole and a successful end result.

Each project is performed in stages. You have to first define the requirements of the features that you want to develop over the course of the project. Then you have to break down each requirement into workable tasks. When the tasks are completed and the features have been developed according to the established requirements, you must run test plans to locate any potential bugs. If you find any bugs, you report them for fixing so that you can ensure that the entire project works according to plan.

Clearly this is a complex process and it requires you to keep track a lot of information along the way. And if all that information isn’t tracked correctly, your project can turn into a total mess very quickly. A poorly tracked project means you have a chaotic work situation, frustrated developers, massive delays, and, ultimately, an angry client. Needless to say, you want to avoid a nightmare like that.

To keep a project running smoothly, you want to make sure that every aspect of it is connected. That way, tasks and tests don’t fall through the cracks, get ignored, and create trouble in your development process. The best way for you to keep everything connected is to use Elementool’s record linking feature. Elementool makes it easy for you to link all of the various project components together, so you can track each item along the way.

Now let’s talk about exactly how you utilize Elementool to link those components.

As you know, Elementool offers a full set of tools that helps you run the different stages of the project.
We enable you to write feature descriptions using the Requirement Management system, then you can break down each feature description into workable issues and assign them to your team members. At the same time, you can define the testing plan by using Test Cases to write tests for the different features in your projects.
All these parts are linked together.

Let’s say for example that we build a shopping cart for the website.

We will create a feature description in Requirements Management that will describe how the shopping cart should work.
Then we define issues for the specific parts of the shopping cart. This way the developers can start developing it.
Finally, we write the test cases that we should run to make sure the shopping cart is bug free.

Using the Link Issue feature, we can link the Requirements to the Issues and Test Cases.
Under the feature list in the Requirements Management, we can see the issues and Test Cases that are part of each feature.
This way everything is grouped together and we can see the exact status of each part of the project.

If you still don’t have Requirements Management or Test Cases, you should click on the Update Now button below to add these services to your account to make sure your projects are run properly.

The Power of Integration

Hey Allison I have a question for you. Can you give me one reason why I should choose Elementool?

Sure, I can sum it up in one word: Integration.

What do you mean?

I’ll explain: Elementool offers you a full set of tools that helps you to take charge of each stage of the project. It includes:
• Issue Tracking – for assigning tasks to team members and developing them according to priority.
• Scheduling – for managing the project plan and schedule, and for making sure tasks are completed on time.
• Help Desk – for running customer support and making your clients happy.
• Requirements Management – for making sure the project is developed according to what your clients want.
• Test Cases – for making sure everything is tested and no bugs are slipping through the cracks.
Now, let’s assume that you have 20 people on your team and you buy these products from other vendors.
One vendor offers Issue tracking for $20 per month per user.
Another vendor offers Help Desk for $25 per month per user.
A third vendor offers Scheduling for $19 per month per user.
And so on.
You end up with a monthly expense of about $2000 for 20 people.

Wow, that’s a lot of money.

I know! And there’s more. You need to use the different vendor APIs to integrate between the different tools. So your developers have to spend their time working on tool integration instead of working on your projects. And after a while, your tool bundle looks like this.

Oh, boy, that’s not good. So what do you offer? I remember that you mentioned something about integration earlier.

Well, Bob, that’s exactly right. Elementool offers you all the tools as one integrated system. This means that you don’t even need to use any APIs to integrate them. They come together and work together.

That sounds really great. But, wait, how much does it cost?

The entire system, which includes Issue Tracking, Scheduling, Help Desk, Requirements Management and Test Cases, only costs $149.95/month with unlimited users.

Really, unlimited users? Do you mean that I don’t pay per user and can actually have as many users as I want?

Exactly.

So how much would I pay if I had 200 users, or 2,000 users, or… 25,674 users?

$149.95/month.

That’s awesome! How can I start using Elementool?

I’d like to let you try Elementool for 30 days for free. Just click on the Free Trial button below to get started now.

How to Create Test Cases

Hi, I’m Allison.

In this short clip I’m going to talk about test cases. I’ll explain how test cases can save your company’s reputation and show you how you can create test cases in just a few minutes.

So why do we need test cases in the first place?
Test cases have an important role in protecting your company’s reputation.
We’re all familiar with software products that are released to the market with critical bugs that are later being discovered by the clients. This can be very embarrassing but also can cost your company a great deal of money and even hurt people’s lives.

Let me give you two examples:
• The infamous iPhone 4 bug was estimated to cost Apple $175 million for free cases in addition to multiple class action lawsuits filed by thousands of disgruntled users.

• The 2003 Northeast power blackout was caused by a software alarm system failure. 50 million people lost power for two days; the event caused 11 deaths and cost $6 billion.

These kinds of events can be prevented by using a test cases system.

A test cases system is the backbone of the software testing process and enables you to define a list of tests to make sure every part of your software is properly tested before it is released to the client.

You don’t want to leave anything to chance. I’m sure your team is a group of highly trained professionals, but we are all human. And humans sometimes forget things.
You want to make sure that everything has been tested during software testing and nothing has been forgotten.
As a manager, people won’t remember how many bugs you have found. Even if you caught a thousand bugs during the testing process, what people will always remember is the one bug that slipped through the cracks and was found by your client.

Elementool enables you to create a closed circuit system that locks the bugs inside and prevents them from slipping through the cracks.

The process of writing test cases is as follows:

You start by creating a test list tree and defining the different features for each requirement.
Then you break down each feature into a list of tests. When you’re doing this, you want to think about all the ways that people might use each feature and then look for places where it could potentially fail.
You create a list of tests for correct behavior that the system should support, to make sure that the product does what it’s supposed to do.
Then you create a list of tests of incorrect behavior that the system should not support, to make sure the system can handle events that don’t follow its business rules.

I’ll give you an example:
Let’s say you build a credit card payment page.
You want to create a list of tests that check if the page can accept valid credit card details of the different credit card companies.
You also should create a list of tests that check if the page rejects invalid credit card details, such as credit cards that have expired, characters instead of credit card numbers, and so on.

Each test needs to have a defined list of steps for the tester to follow in order to complete them. Remember, you don’t want to leave anything to chance, and you want to make sure nothing is overlooked. The tester will mark the status of each test as Passed or Failed and then submit the test results into the system. Doing this allows the testing manager to keep track of the progress of the testing.

Make sure to give a priority to each test, running the highest priority tests first before working your way down to the lowest priority. You want to focus on first finding those high priority bugs, the ones that do major damage like crashing the software. If the schedule allows, you can then move on to the lower priority issues.

In the event that a bug is discovered during testing, the tester should submit a new issue to the issue tracking system that describes the bug. The new issue should be assigned to the project manager that needs to add it to the iteration plan and schedule, and then it will be assigned to the appropriate team members for fixing.

Elementool enables you to link bugs to tests, this way it’s easy to track the progress of the bugs that have been reported. It also prevents testers from submitting duplicate bugs, if a similar bug has already been reported for this specific test.

So that you can protect your company’s reputation by always finding bugs before your clients do, I would like to offer you the Tests Cases and Issue Tracking software right now for only $119.99/month.
Added to this, I’m going to give you two extra services for free:
• Scheduling – for making sure your project is developed according to plan.
• Requirements Management – for making sure the project is developed according to what your clients want.

So click on the button below and upgrade your account now!

How To prevent Bugs From Falling Through the Cracks

Hi, I’m Allison.

Today I want to talk to you about bugs and how to prevent them from falling through the cracks and getting ignored.

I don’t like bugs. Bugs cause problems. But bugs are a part of the programming game. I hate it when you think that the product is ready for release and after it’s out clients call to report bugs. That can be pretty embarrassing.

But you know what can be even worse? When a bug is discovered by the client, and then you find out that this bug was actually known to the team before the release — but because of a weak reporting process, it fell through the cracks and was never fixed.

It’s like when you make a grocery list for a big meal. You buy everything on the list, but then when you’re in the middle of making the meal, you realize you’re missing an ingredient. You look over your list and realize you did include it – it’s just that you scribbled it on the back of the paper instead of putting it neatly on the front with everything else, so it was overlooked.

That’s annoying enough in cooking, but it’s really bad news in project management, because the stakes are much higher. For instance, I was once working on a project that we had just finished and released, only to discover afterwards that there was a significant bug. Well, when my team and I re-traced our steps to try to figure out what went wrong, we discovered that someone had found the bug and simply didn’t report it correctly. As a result, a problem that could have easily been fixed long before the software release was overlooked.

That’s why Elementool utilizes the Bug Life Cycle model, an effective method for preventing bugs from falling through the cracks.

The cycle starts with new bugs and enhancements being submitted into the Elementool account by Quality Assurance as new issues.

Next, team leaders assign priority to new issues, and those issues are assigned to developers in the Elementool account.

After that, R&D fixes issues according to priority, and the issues’ status is changed to Fixed in the Elementool account. The issues are then assigned back to the QA for testing.
Following that, R&D releases a new internal version with fixed bugs and new features.
Then QA checks fixed issues in the new release, using the Elementool report engine.
Finally, fixed issues are closed in Elementool by QAand non-fixed issues are reopened in the Elementool account, allowing the cycle to resume.

By using the Bug Life Cycle model, Elementoolis able to keep bugs in check, making sure that any reported bugs are fixed before software is released.

You can get Elementool’s Issue Tracking with unlimited users.
I would like to offer you to add three more services to your Issue Tracking account. Any combination of three additional services from the following:
• Help Desk – for running customer support and making your clients happy.
• File Sharing – for sharing files on the online and saving time.
• Test Cases – for making sure everything is tested and no bugs are slipping through the crack
• Requirements Management – for making sure the project is developed according to what your clients want.
• Scheduling – for managing the project plan and schedule and making sure tasks are completed on time.
• Conference – for running online meetings and improving communication.
Pick three of these services for only additional $30 a month.

Yes, that’s right.

And it gets even better.
You can try Elementool for 30 days for free.

So there is nothing for you to lose.

Open a free Elementool trial account. Use the system with all its features for free for 30 days. If you like it, keep it.

If not, don’t use it. No strings attached and no questions asked.

Very simple.

So click on the Sign Up button below now!

Website Facelift

In the next few weeks, we’re going to be making some design enhancements here at Elementool.com. But don’t worry, these changes will not have any affect on the way that you utilize our site.

During the redesign process, the application functionality will remain completely the same throughout the website, so you can continue using it without interruption. Here’s a sneak peek at the changes we have in store for Elementool.com.

Elementool Test Cases Manual

Hi I’m Allison, and I am going to show you how to use Elementool Test Cases. Test Case is so easy, even your grandma can do it.
Let’s begin!
On the top of the screen are tabs that correspond with each action in Test Cases. Click on a tab to perform that particular action. As you can see, you have the option to edit tests, view tests, display test reports, and access the control panel.
The account is divided into two sections: The Control Panel and the application section.
The Control Panel is where you setup the account. It can be accessed only by users that are part of the Admin group.
The application section consists of “edit tests”, “view test”, and “display test reports”. Users of all groups can access the application portion of Test Cases by logging in to their Elementool account.

Now that we have a feel for ‘Edit Accounts’, let’s go back to the main control panel screen and click on ‘edit test form’.
Here, you can customize the test form to work exactly the way you prefer. You can customize the existing fields or create unlimited new fields. Let me show you how to do this. Click on the caption you wish to change or click “add new” field. Here, you can change field caption, type, width, or create a value list.

O.K, great! That sums up the control panel. Now let’s move onto the application section.
When you sign in to your account, you see the “Welcome Screen” where your automated dashboard is displayed. This will show all test cases assigned to you.
Notice how the top of the screen displays the account name that you are logged into currently. You can switch accounts by clicking on the dropdown menu and choosing the account of your preference. On top of the left hand side of the screen, below the Elementool logo, is a display that shows the current online users who are accessing the account. If you drag your mouse over the display, it will show you the actual users. Clicking the display will enable you to instant message online users in a chat room setting.

Edit Tests

Editing and creating test cases is very easy using Elementool Test Cases. To create a new test, group, or subgroup, or to edit any of these, click on the “edit tests” tab. To create a new test group, click “new” on the left hand side and choose “group” from the dropdown. If you would like to add a subgroup to an already existing group, click on the group to highlight which group you would like to add a sub group to, and on the left, click “new” and choose “sub group” on the dropdown.

To add a test case to a group or subgroup, click on the group to highlight which group you would like to add a test case to, and click “new test” on the right hand side. Fill out the test form and you will be set!
To edit a test group’s name, highlight the test group you wish to change, and click “edit” on the left. To edit a test case, click on the particular test group or subgroup that the test case is associated with, and click on the test case you would like to edit on the right. It’s really that easy!
You can do some other nifty things on the “edit tests” screen, such as copying test templates to new test groups and importing test cases from Excel. To learn how to utilize these more advanced features, check out our blog and watch the tutorial videos!

View Test

Now that we covered the “edit tests” tab, let’s examine the “view tests” tab. After you click on the “view tests” tab, you will see all of your test groups on the left. Clicking on a test group will reveal all associated test cases along with their priority, severity, completion percentage, and expected execution date. Clicking on a particular test case will allow you to edit it. Easy, right?
Let’s move on the last section, “test reports”.

Test reports

To run reports, simply click on the “test report” tab. You can customize the test report by title, description, status, severity, assigned to, and much more. You can also customize the fields that appear in the report by clicking the ‘customize report’.

The customize report option enables you to select the columns that are displayed on the report, the report’s sorting order and the query filters.

Next to the “customize report” tab is the “View type” tab. There are several view types: Normal, which displays the report on the page; Excel, so you can export the report to excel; and Print View, to create a printer friendly report.

There you have it! Test Cases is so easy, even your grandma use do it!

Multiple File Upload

The multiple file upload features enables you to upload and attach multiple files to an issue instead of one file at a time.
Click on the file attachment button.
Click on the Browse button and select all the files that you wish to upload. You can use the keyboard’s Control button so select multiple files.
The files that you selected are displayed on the screen.
You can remove files by clicking on the red X button and you can also type a short description to each file.

Clicking on Upload will upload and attach the files to the issue.
The progress bar shows you the upload progress.

So easy!

Elementool Mass Update

Janet Smith got married last week and just got back to the office from her honeymoon in Paris. She’s changed her last name to after her husband’s name and now she is called Janet Michaels.

She wants also to update her name in the company’s Elementool accounts.
Over the years she has submitted over 200 issues and now she needs to update each one of them.

She calculated that it takes about 30 seconds to open and update each issue. So she figured that it will take her almost two hours to update all her issues.
That’s a lot of work.

Instead of doing that, she decided to use the Mass Update feature.
Mass Update enables Janet to update her issues with her new name in a single update that takes less than a minute.
What a time saver!

I love how Elementool makes my work easy

The thing I like most about Elementool is my open issues report. It makes things so easy to just follow the report. I like file attachments when opening issues. The files are just there and there is no need to search for anything. I love how Elementool makes my work easy.

Elementool Integrates Tools

One of the key features of Elementool is the integration between the different tools.
Using different vendors is a mess. Elementool makes everything seamless and easy to use. So simple to access everything when logging in to the account.