My determination of writing this blog is to describe how we can use JIRA as a TC (Test cases) and bug management with the help of add-on JIRA Cli. Also, this document will help in analyzing the benefits & drawbacks of using JIRA as a test case management.
Previously, I had to depend on an Excel spreadsheet for logging test cases and JIRA for tracking bugs in my project. I needed a tool by which we can accomplish both test cases and bugs with using a single tool. Now I am using JIRA for Test cases and bug management in spite of some constraints as outlined in the later part of this blog.
Modification in JIRA
Modifications are required to use existing flow of JIRA as a Test Case management with the help of a JIRA administrator. Below are the steps to modify the existing JIRA workflow:
Here are additional detail explaining each of the steps below:
How to create issue type?
Add a new issue type in existing flow and name it “Test case.” This should be a top- level (standard) task (for this go to Administration > Issues > Issues Types and use Add Issue Type option).
How to create status?
Add new status (for this go to Administration > Status > Status Types and use Add Status Type option)
JIRA default workflow
JIRA workflow is the set of status and transitions through which an issue goes during its lifecycle.
Test case work flow after modification
After modification with the help of JIRA administrator below is the Test case workflow with different status:
Status in Test case workflow:
TC awaiting review: Default status when a Test Case is created and awaiting for Review from the QA lead.
TC Template: An approved TC that has not yet been scheduled yet.
TC-Ready to Run: TC that has been scheduled.
In Progress: TC that has been in-progress state
TC-Failed: After execution when TC fail status update to TC-Failed
TC-Passed: After execution when TC Pass status update to TC-Passed
TC-Invalid: A test that has become obsolete or cannot be run
Closed: This is the final status of the TC.
About JIRA CLI
One of the major challenge was how to import the TCs in JIRA because designing test cases one by one in JIRA was time consuming. A tool was needed by which I can upload the TC in JIRA from file (.csv, Excel, etc.). Finally, I found Add-on JIRA CLI (free tool ~Till version 2.6.0) to import the Test case’s from .csv
How to import Test case using JIRA CLI?
-Download jira-cli-2.6.0 from this link
-Save the Test cases file with name import.xls and convert into .csv format then copy import.Csv file under downloaded folder (jira-cli-2.6.0) .csv format given below
~In above import.csv file Description column consist merge data of (Prerequisites, Steps, and Expected Results)
-Under downloaded folder (jira-cli-2.6.0) there is a file with name import.properties
-Map column name for which we want to import the data in the properties file
field.Type = Type
field.Component = Components
field.Project = Project
field.Objective = Summary
field.Description = Description
File (~import.properties file format as seen above)
-Run the following single line command in command prompt
c://Jira-cli-3.8.0>jira.bat –server <URL of JIRA> -user kailash.pathak – password “xxxxxxx” –action runFromCsv –file import.csv –propertyFile import. Properties –common “–project SSPQA” — continue
(~Here “SSPQA” Is Project Key)
-Test case data is imported in JIRA against the particular components successfully
Process for Test case creation and allocation in JIRA
Below are the steps for test case creation and allocation in JIRA:
Test Case creation steps:
Create Test Case in excel sheet in the format which is acceptable by JIRA CLI (see below for example)
Test Case Allocation steps :
We can allocate Test Cases for execution using bulk change functionality. During the bulk change we can assign the user name to the Test Cases.
First search the TCs then assign user name in bulk by clicking on Assign to me link see below screen shot for more detail
Test Case Execution
Once the TCs are allocated next step is to execute the Test Cases in JIRA with updating their status with Pass, Fail etc.
Prerequisites:
After uploading and allocating the test cases next step is to execute the test cases. Follow these steps to execute it:
In case of Test case FAIL
E.g. Sprint26-Cycle1-IE-Fail as Comment
Linking of Fail Test case with Bug ID
To link the test case with Bug ID Open Particular Failed TC and Click on “Link” from menu following screen open to link the Test Case with Bug ID after clicking on link button Fail TC link with the Bug ID
In case of Test case PASS
If Test Case Pass in first time or in second cycle in that case update the comments with Pass status and with respective Cycle Below the screenshot when TC pass in second cycle
*Note:
Entered above comments help us to pull out the report.
In case of Test case INVALID
In case of invalid test case that has become obsolete or cannot be run. We will update the status as shown below:
*Note:
Same transition screen open to enter comments in case of other status (Closed, TC-Template, TC-Ready to Run etc.)
Report in JIRA of Test Cases
We can generate execution report using different criteria (We can use the entered comments during execution of TC as search criteria).
Search Criteria:
Sprint Wise Report
1. Complete Sprint wise report (Sprint26-*)
Example:
Enter Sprint26-* in the Comment window after selecting Project, Components as shown in the screen below:
End Result:
This search criteria displays all executed TCs (Pass, Fail, Invalid etc.) with a consolidated list as shown below:
We can convert this report data (in Two Dimensional and Pie Chart illustrations as well)
See two dimensional and pie chart report for the above documented criteria
*Note:
For each of the below mentioned search criteria we can create a similar report
2. Sprint with cycle wise report Sprint26-Cycle1-*
End Result:
This search criteria display all executed TC of Cycle1
We can convert this report data in (Two Dimensional and Pie Chart
3.Sprint with Cycle and Browser wise (Firefox, IE, Chrome) report
End Result:
This search criteria displays all executed TC of Cycle1 for different browser
We can convert this report data in (Two Dimensional and Pie Chart)
4. Sprint with (Cycle, Browser and Test case Pass) wise report
Search by criteria Sprint26-Cycle1-IE-Pass
End Result:
This search criteria display all Passed TC of Cycle1 for Browser IE
We can convert this report data in (Two Dimensional and Pie Chart)
5. Sprint with (Cycle, Browser and Test case Fail) wise report
Search by criteria Sprint26-Cycle1-IE-Fail
End Result:
This search criteria display all Failed TC of Cycle1 for Browser IE
We can convert this report data in (Two Dimensional and Pie Chart)
*Note:
Similarly we can generate report for Cycle2 #
JIRA – Pros
JIRA – Cons:
Conclusion
I wanted to know if we can write the TC’s as we can write in the HP ALM tool which was previously known as Quality centre. So just a simple question
Can we write TC’s in JIRA , append them add in between delete the redundant and add again ??
please do reply.
Regards
Aditya
Thanks for sharing , it is really helpful.
Thanks for sharing
Hi. This looks great and I’d love more detail on the TC workflow. Is it possible to get a copy of the WF? I want to try to build this today.
Thanks,
ejs
Very good article, I have implemented the same in my project and its help me a lot.
Thanks!
Great article! Couple of questions:
1. What type of project did you set up? Scrum, kanban, basic software dev?
2. Is it possible to get a copy of the workflow? I’d like to specifically see the transitions.
Great article and tip, Kailash.
Don’t you think using an add-on for JIRA which specializes in Test Management work-flow out-of-the-box would make it much more straight-forward?
I am referring to add-ons like Zephyr for JIRA which add Test Case writing and Agile work-flow abilities within JIRA maintaining the same JIRA look and feel.
There are some benefits which I felt using Zephyr (there are a lot other available but this is the one I use and find it fit for purpose for my needs) –
1. Helps you create test cases, plan execution cycles and execute test runs from within JIRA maintaining JIRA look-and-feel
2. Helps you track metrics and reporting using Dashboards (gadgets) withing JIRA
3. Integrate CI and automation tools using ZAPI (Zephyr API)
I hope this information helps the readers – happy to discuss how we are using it in my team 🙂
Cheers
Aman
Hi…We need a test case management tool which is integrated with JIRA, as per your artical about JIRA CLI..it seems this this will be useful for me. Could you please guide us how we can configure this add-on to use.
Regards,
Ravi
I don’t see a file import.Properties. Does it mean I have to add that file with the fields indicated? There is no such file Under downloaded folder (jira-cli-2.6.0) there is a file with name import.properties
yes.. true.. there is no such import.property file in the downloaded folder…
I am unable to run the Command even after adding the import.csv and manually adding the import.Properties, the out put i have been getting is “The System cannot find the file specified’
Jira-cli-3.8.0\Jira-cli-2.6.0\jira.bat –server -user admin – password “abcdee#@” –action runFromCsv –file import.csv –propertyFile import.Properties –common“–project EX” – continue
I am unable to run the Imports for Test cases. When executing the command
c://Jira-cli-3.8.0>jira.bat –server -user admin – password “******” –action runFromCsv –file import.csv –propertyFile import.Properties –common “–project EX” – continue
I get an error System cannot find the File specified. I m able to open the import.csv from cmd.
Same with me.. so how did you resolve this…
Please help
Really good article and very useful. good thing is I have understood how to update test case status after importing to JIRA. great work.
please clarify my doubt
if we create test cases in excel can we import all these test cases from excel to jira using jira cli (if so, with ? the extension) . Is jira used for both test cases preparation and bug tracking and defect reporting ?? please clarify i am confused…
Answer to your first question: Yes, you can import Test Cases from CSV file to JIRA using JIRA CLI. The file extension is .csv
In JIRA everything is issue. When you create issue in JIRA, you can select Issue Type as – Bug, Test case, User Story, Feature, Task etc. . Yes, You can create Test Cases and report bugs as well in JIRA.
What is the formula you used to merge the data in excel file with the column header info included?
Thanks.
Hi,
My question is that when we plan our test cases in test cycles , we execute it and on successful completion we pass it but then why the test cases are still shown with status backlog if we open any of test case.
Only if we scroll down and check the linked cycle, we go to know the cycle where its planned and whats the actual status.
Is there any automatic status update done at the test case level? or we if want to do it how should we go ahead?
Hi, thank you for this post I agree with you that we have to depend on an Excel spreadsheet for logging test cases and JIRA for tracking bugs in my project. I needed a tool by which we can accomplish both test cases and bugs with using a single tool
Thanks for the article. Please need ur advice in these:
1- Can i create issue type in any project regardless its template (the one i choose while creating the project)?
2- Can we customize the fields of the issue type, and then write the test case directly in Jira ?
Can we get test cases execution count data based on Steps mentioned in Tests? If yes, How?