We are happy to announce that we just released TestRail 2.1, a new version of our web-based test management software. The new release introduces major new features such as scheduling and time forecasting, progress reports with burn down charts and integration with external requirement management and user story tools. Many other small improvements, scalability enhancements and bug fixes are part of this release as well. Please see below for detailed feature descriptions and information on how to get the new version.
Improved Time Tracking
TestRail already comes with functionality to enter time estimates for test cases and to record actual execution times for tests. TestRail even has a handy test timer that automatically tracks execution times for you. To make it easier to enter time estimates and test times, TestRail supports new formats for entering times and introduces an option to highlight test cases that don’t have an estimate yet. To highlight all cases without estimates, simply click the Show link in the Estimates section of a suite’s sidebar.
Scheduling & Time Forecasting
TestRail 2.1 comes with new reports and statistics to highlight estimates and test times. However, TestRail goes beyond simply listing the recorded times and estimates: as tests are usually executed multiple times over the lifespan of a project, TestRail can use the historical execution times to generate forecasts for upcoming test runs, plans and milestones.
We’ve developed a sophisticated algorithm to generate those forecasts based on entered estimates, historical execution data and averages. Our tests show that the forecasts get very accurate over time as you enter more and more data. TestRail’s new scheduling and forecasting system is a unique feature not found in any other tool we know of.
Progress Reports
To highlight the progress of test runs, plans and milestones, TestRail’s new release introduces Progress reports with detailed statistics about estimates and forecasts. To visualize the progress and projected completion dates, a burn down chart shows the remaining tests, effort and the ideal progress. The burn down chart and metrics included in the progress reports make use of the sophisticated forecasting algorithm explained above.
Requirement & User Story Integration
We often get asked about the best way to link test cases stored in TestRail to requirements or user stories managed in external systems. You could already define a custom field for this, but we’ve found that having a general built-in field to link test cases to requirements, user stories or specifications would be so useful, that we decided to add the new References field to test cases.
The References field can be used to link test cases to almost any web-based system (you can also use it with desktop-based tools). This includes dedicated requirement management tools, agile project management software (user stories) or even Wiki systems. As the new References field is also compatible with the existing Defects field, you can also use the existing Defect Urls to link test cases to your defect or issue tracking tool. A coverage report for references is also planned for a future release.
Reporting Enhancements
Besides introducing the new Progress reports, the new TestRail release also makes the availability of printing, exporting and the activity reports more consistent. A new Activity report has been added to test plans and a print and export feature was added to milestones.
Other Improvements
As with every new TestRail release, many smaller enhancements, changes and bug fixes are included in the new version. For example, new Next/Previous links were added to test cases after we received very positive feedback about the links we added to test pages in the previous release. The new version also comes with search improvements to allow you to search for entered defects and to specify search terms via GET arguments. Other enhancements include improvements for installations with many test suites (such as moving the test suite selection on test plan pages to a popup dialog), improved session handling and other changes.
Getting the new version
Existing customers can download the new version from our customer portal. New users can download TestRail or request a hosted trial on our website. If you want to update your existing TestRail trial (download or hosted), please contact us and we will provide you with the necessary details.
To view the complete list of changes for TestRail 2.1, please see our announcement forum. Please refer to TestRail’s Admin Manual on how to upgrade an existing installation. If you have any questions about the new version, please let us know.
