iPhone 14 Pro Max or old-fashion Nokia 3310? Yes, the second one has lots of advantages. However, with a high probability, you choose the first one or something with comparable functionality. A similar situation can be observed in the software quality domain. Google spreadsheets as well as open-source solutions have a lot of benefits. But the market imposes its requirements. In most situations, we should use a comprehensive tool to meet these requirements. The Zebrunner team figures out why an all-in-one platform is more beneficial.
How an all-in-one software quality platform looks like
Quality assurance is a pretty complicated process. It includes everything relating to manual and automated testing, QA & development team communications, test reporting & analysis, etc.
Depending on your project’s difficulty level you can work with two to ten solutions. Suppose, you work on a small project and there is no test automation. In this case, you will need at least two solutions. First, the place where you store your test cases, suppose Google Docs. Second, you need a task management tool like Jira or an alternative solution. Most QA teams also need a reporting tool, a test case management solution, a tool for team communications, an environment for code & automated scripts storage, source control tools, and CI/CD solutions. It’s difficult, time-consuming, and sometimes counterproductive to use a lot of single-point tools. So a one-stop platform here is the ideal option for how to optimize and structure your QA efforts and processes.
A comprehensive testing platform provides you with functionality for manual & automated test creation, execution, and maintenance, has smart reporting capacity, and syncs with the entire toolset the QA team usually uses. Let’s explore in detail the key reasons why an all-in-one testing platform is a much more beneficial single-point solution.
#1. Team synchronization
Manual and automated engineers work as a team but have distinct responsibility areas. It’s difficult to synchronize their work when engineers use different solutions. The all-in-one testing platform provides you with such a possibility. In addition, it gathers both manual and automated testing data in one place giving all project stakeholders clear project status information.
#2. Reporting
Smart reporting is a crucial benefit for most testing teams. The all-in-one testing platform gathers the information from all testing tools your team uses and generates reports automatically. Yes, it can sound like an advertisement but it works in reality.
The test results page contains all the details of the test run. You can see statistics and trends in a clear format. This way you get insights about bottlenecks in your QA workflow. Moreover, you can share reports with all project stakeholders to keep them informed about the QA state. Graphs and diagrams are understandable even for people without a technical background. Furthermore, customizable dashboards and widgets allow you to explore your test data in terms of a period, platform, browser, milestone, etc.
#3. Resource savings
Small projects often don’t require huge costs for quality assurance. It’s a common thing when such a team doesn’t have a QA engineer. You do all validations and checks using your team resources. However, developing your product you need more and more resources. Thus, after Google Workspace tools and group chat in messenger, you will need additional tools. There are a lot of open-source ones, but sometimes just commercial solutions can solve some of your issues. Nevertheless, the main problem here is not the money you can (or can’t) spend on tools. The main problem is tool synchronization & setup. A single platform provides you with a set of solutions you need and has in-built integrations with other popular testing/development/project management & communications tools.
#4. A global QA ecosystem creation
In the follow-up, a single platform helps you to build a global QA ecosystem for your project. An advanced all-in-one QA platform simply integrates with other systems and solutions. When you find a bug, you can link it with the corresponding issue in Jira or create a new issue directly from your testing platform. What’s more, a platform easily syncs with popular team communication tools like Slack. Thus, you ensure instant feedback. As a result, your QA and development teams get a notification whenever your tests fail.
#5. Visibility & traceability of your QA process
A platform often has an in-built test case management solution or provides integration with this. You can create and manage your manual test cases and sync & connect them with automated scripts. It allows you to create a logical QA workflow and cover critical functionality. It guarantees simple navigation throughout test cases, ensures impediment access to the status of tests, and provides you the possibility to track the project’s quality progress.
What is the risk of not using the all-in-one software quality platform?
Small companies and startups are unlikely to face any problems using just single-point QA solutions. At the same time, a single software quality platform is a necessity for medium and large enterprises. Without it they encounter a list of problems:
Asynchronous team’s work. As far as your manual and automated QA engineers work with different solutions, there will be a lack of data about the current QA status of the project. You can miss serious issues and delay the release.
Issues with the integration of multiple solutions. A platform ensures integrations with all popular QA, development, CI/CD, project management, and team communication tools. It also provides a lot of in-built solutions. Using a list of single-point tools you spend time setting and integrating them.
Lack of traceability & clear reporting. With a platform, you know exactly what is the current state of your testing. You can monitor test runs, failures, and their root causes. A platform collects all test information in one place, processes it automatically, and creates understandable and interactive reports. Without a platform, you collect test information and create reports manually. It takes time and doesn’t ensure comprehensive QA state coverage.
