An important element of the software testing procedure is to use a superior test management application that enables you to track the various configurations that are included within the quality assurance procedure. Modern applications must be compatible with different browsers, operating systems, and platforms. Therefore, new applications need to be run on multiple platforms, which makes it cumbersome for the QA team members.

It’s a challenge to fully check an application on just one platform. To know it has been covered several times over, across different platforms, can be a real drain on resources. Couple this with the fact that repeating these checks is a pretty repetitive soul destroying task for even the most hardened QA engineer. Yet knowing exactly which platforms a check has, or has not been run on, is essential to providing good coverage data prior to a release. Often the only way to track this information effectively is with one of the many test management applications available on the market today.

One of the key characteristics of a superior test management program is tracking the various platforms on which the program is tested. It is essential to test the application with multiple configurations. Testing on various platforms and environments may result in the different results amongst the various environments. Keeping an accurate record of all this data is complex especially when the average testing projects require up to five thousand unique tests. Consider this information on only a limited number of platforms assume it to be five, and you are talking about 25,000 data points that need to be recorded.

So whilst it’s straightforward to repeat a check against different platforms it’s not so simple to track that information and report on it. Maintaining the validity of the cases as you modify them adds to the complexity of this too. For example, you’ll have Quality Assurance engineers that start the execution. Then an analyst may modify the record. Should you go back and re-run this on all the previous environments just to make sure it still passes? Decision like this are important and can have a big impact on the release quality of your product. At the same time are you going to waste all of your time re-running checks which don’t need to be re-run? You’ll be doing this at the expense of running other more important checks that could find serious defects in your application before release. It’s a judgement call that even the best QA engineers can find difficult to get right. Those that do get it right find that a good test management application helps enormously.

The minimum required includes recording the information related to the platforms and environments. Further, you will require the abilities to record the numerous cases of the same tests with various platforms and environments. This provides the capability of viewing the distinct results arising from the same checking. Although, it seems like an easy task, executing the same in practicality is an extremely complicated task. This is more so when you are testing several thousand checks at the same time.

Under several circumstances, it is advisable to make use of a good test management application. This enables you to prioritize the various checks, which ensures you conduct the lesser important checks within the environmental subsets. You can then check the application on the important environments and platforms. Here too, the application-testing engineer needs to make a choice on the high-priority tasks, which is a very subjective issue. Moreover, this is a very tough choice for the less experienced quality assurance personnel. Often, experienced QA engineers who are new to the application or the project find it difficult to make a choice on the high-priority tasks list. Therefore, most of the quality assurance personnel prefer to utilize a good test management software program, which reduces the complexity of these subjective decisions.

Get more information and details about the benefits of using tracking configurations as part of your test management process today! Learn how you can build a successful and thriving system more easily and quickly by visiting http://www.TestManagement.com now.