A friend of mine took up a position as lead tester at iBurst a while ago. There were no formal test tools in place. I suggested a tool for test management and one for defect tracking.
Web-based
rth
I spent 1 afternoon setting up the tools. One criterion was that both tools run on the LAMP stack and I could share a server between them. All I needed was a disused computer. The machine was a Windows box - although it’s advisable to use Linux, there are other options. I used XAMPP, a Windows port of the Apache web server, the MySQL database server and a PHP distribution that will work in the environment. XAMPP replicates the Linux File System Hierarchy (FSH) so the software thinks an entire operating system is present. When Apache looks for the PHP libraries to load at startup they are in the expected place. It was a matter of installing XAMPP, unzipping the tools into the relevant locations, editing a few configuration files and restarting the web server. The task of initial administration of the tools was done with feedback from Quinton about site-specifics. The largest task in the deployment was learning how to use the tools. Maintenance is low and Quinton is learning about different ways in which to tweak the systems.
Working in a dynamic, fast-paced, young, quick-growing enterprise means there are many challenges. One of them is employing simple, effective and efficient structures within the company. There were a number of factors considered when choosing testing tools to assist with the QA process. The most important were cost, meeting our QA requirements and ease of use to ensure an efficient testing structure within the SDLC.
Mantis and rth met my needs perfectly. Being Open Source tools, there is no initial cost for the application except bandwidth for the download. The setup was painless and learning how the applications work took about a day of setting up test projects and data in Mantis and rth and then playing around with different options and deciding on the optimal setup and configuration.
Documenting all software requirements in rth, assigning them to a release and writing the necessary test cases against them means that:
I have a central repository that has all my testing information at my fingertips. It simplified my testing process, ensuring full traceability and test coverage. The ease of use and configuring means I‘m able to service the business quickly and efficiently.
Figure 1: rth hard at work
Using Mantis as defect tracking tool was easy and effective. The features in this effective tool are enough to allow me to communicate the defects logged to be fixed for a release between the developers and test team, adding notes, setting statuses and getting the bugs fixed quickly and correctly.
I don’t have development experience but with a a search through the Mantis website, I made configuration changes in the open source code, changing certain statuses to suit my needs.
Both tools have assisted me in getting a simple test process structure in place with little effort, one that fits seamlessly into the SDLC as a whole.
Figure 2: Mantis showing some defects, incidents and change requests
Bibliography and references:
Mantis: http://www.mantisbt.org
rth: https://sourceforge.net/projects/rth/
XAMPP: http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html
Walter Kruse & Quinton Schorr
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