How to Make Manual Testing More Efficient Using Micro Focus Sprinter

In this article, we will see how to make manual testing more efficient using Micro Focus Sprinter. HP Quality Center / ALM has now changed to Micro Focus Quality Center / ALM. However, the content on the page is valid for the new Micro Focus domain and tools as well. 

In the era of Automation Testing, automation is the first preference in almost every QA testing department. However there are a few QA departments where 70-80% of testing is carried out manually. Indeed, there are cases where quality is completely determined in a manual way as no automation is carried out.

One of the crucial reasons for companies to continue with the manual test is the inability of automation tools to cope with the changes that some applications face on a regular basis. In certain cases, the only option left with QA is that of manual testing.

How To Make Manual Testing More Efficient Using Micro Focus Sprinter

Manual testing, as the oldest form of testing, can be very laborious at times as it requires the tester to be very patient, creative, innovative, open-minded and skillful. The manual tester should be capable of thinking out of the box and always empathize with the customer while testing the application.

Exploratory testing, as a part of manual testing, is the area where manual testers can analyze their capability to think outside the box.

In case of thorough testing of the application, manual testing plays a crucial role. During the initial development phase, the smart way is to test the initial application developed manually rather than wasting time in writing test scripts.

While performing a manual test for any web application, desktop application or say mobile application, a manual test engineer is said to be working more effectively when tester can identify many critical, severe errors in the application within a short period of time.

Such skill to think out of the box is critical as often there is a time limit for every software development project and within the limited time period, it is necessary to ensure the quality of the product/ application. We have all heard “Time is Money”.

We often run for different tools to increase the test efficiency of automated scripts. There are many tools available also to support almost every scenario but the reality is there are still many cases where some test cases can’t or say should not be automated. The reality is, with Automation testing, many a time testers keep on struggling between test scripts, test data, different apps to analyze test reports, tracking defects, etc resulting or creating lots of opportunities for mistakes like entering wrong test data, missing some steps in a test script, etc.

Much has been done to increase the efficiency of Automation Testing but in contrast, little has been done to improve the effectiveness of Manual Testing.

Let us talk about a few factors which can be considered for making a manual test engineer’s work more productive and manual testing more effective.

Factors Making Manual Testing More Productive

• A thorough review of the Requirement document and understanding of each implementation and modification is first and foremost a requirement/necessity before proceeding for functional testing.
• While preparing the test cases, more emphasis should be given to such areas where critical or major bugs could be found out. For example, more emphasis should be given in areas where there is any integration to some other application or implementation of new feature, rather than, UI (User Interface) changes.
• Test cases must cover each and every detail for new implementation or modification describing every functionality.
• Priority of test cases can be set as per effectiveness on application so that in given less time limit at least only those test cases should be covered whose priority is high. Test cases covering some minor UI changes can be skipped when there is less time as there is little or no effectiveness of such test cases on the application.
• Test cases should be prepared such that all test data is mentioned clearly with expected test results corresponding to every test case.
• As per the application requirement, cross browser functional testing should definitely be performed. Cross browser functional testing involves testing applications on different operating systems with different browser combinations. Functionality may not differ but lots of UI errors are observed in cross browser functional testing.
• Sometimes previous project experience helps a lot in determining new test scenarios for understanding the application in different ways. Many a time such an approach resulted in extraordinary bugs which could not have been found out by normal test cases execution.
• Exploratory testing helps testers to use their thinking to take the application the way a customer might take it.
• Testing applications with every phase of development is the best practice as it can be cost effective as well as decrease the chances of finding severe bugs afterwards. Defects identified later are much more expensive to fix than the defects identified in the early stages of testing.
• Bug reporting should be such that it is clearly understood by the developer. Exact steps to reproduce should be given so that developers do not assume the scenario while fixing the defect. This will help in fixing the bug quickly.
• Proper Bug tracking tools like JIRA, Bugzilla, etc should be used to report issues.

Manual Testing Challenges

Manual testing, on the one hand, is very error prone, time consuming and laborious, while on the other hand, there are a number of challenges faced while performing manual testing. Enlisted below are a few of them:-

• Repetitive steps to be followed during test case execution.
• Manually enter large amounts of data.
• Works with multiple screens and tools. Perform cross-browser testing.
• A lot of time consumption in writing test cases and managing test data.
• Time wastage while recreating/ reproducing the issues once observed.
• No tracking is maintained for test actions performed during exploratory testing.

The Solution

To attain both speed and quality, to increase effectiveness and efficiency of Manual testing, Micro Focus has introduced a manual software testing solution, known as HP Sprinter, that speeds agile testing maximizing the impact of exploratory testing. HP Sprinter is often also referred to as HP ALM/QC Sprinter.

Advantages of using HP ALM/QC Sprinter

Key Features of HP ALM/QC Sprinter include the following:

• Enhance and improve exploratory testing by better determining the cause of defects or test outcomes.
• Deliver results faster.
• Record user actions while performing test cases in a detailed manner resulting in thorough test results.
• Eliminates the repetition of test cases – Data Injection
• Run test cases simultaneously on multiple machines for increased coverage in different environments to determine application compatibility
• Mirror Testing – Test multiple environments at the same time.
• Increase in Productivity with defects resolved at a faster rate.

Micro Focus Sprinter download: You can download the trial version of HP Sprinter on this page.

Watch a short HP Sprinter demo video here:

Detailed Steps to Run a Basic Test Using HP Sprinter

Let us understand with the help of multiple screenshots “How a basic test is run” using HP Sprinter.

1) The Hp Sprinter has two modes: Plan and Run. Plan mode for test answering and Run for test execution.

(Note: Click on any image for an enlarged view)

2) Now, to open a test in HP Sprinter, first click on the ‘Open’ button present in left panel and then select ‘Open HP ALM test’ from the dropdown.

In the example given below, the ‘Order a flight’ Test is selected.

3) The Next screenshot describes ‘Test workspace’ which provides access to the test details that contain all the information.

4) “Steps” contains the design steps that are included in the test.

5) We can also add any manual test steps by clicking on the ‘Add’ button. As you can see in the screenshot below, step 6 is added by clicking on the “Add” button.

6) After writing the step description, a screen capture can also be added to the step.

7) Using test sprinter, we can automatically document test cases as we navigate through the application. Click on Step Capture to open the application window.

8) Under the Run tab, where test execution is done, all sprinter functionalities are available as side bars. Click on the Run button to initialize the run.

9) Tabs around applications are available like: Tools, Macros, Scanners and Run Control.

10) Defect Reporting: Sprinter enables you to create detailed and documented details to add defect scenario information (under the Smart Defect tab)

11) When we submit a defect, Sprinter can add test steps to the defect description; can also attach screen capture or a test video to the defect.

12) Can also edit the screen capture to further clarify the defect or help in validating the major elements in the user interface to the developers using the tools.

13) Sprinter can also automatically detect defects under scanners, click on scan when we are about to scan for the defect.

14) Data Injection: Testing applications that contain all forms of many input fields may become tedious, time consuming and error prone. Data injection automatically injects pre- defined data into the application. This leads to saving a lot of time spent in tedious manual testing activities.

15) When we click the inject button, data is automatically injected into the form as is displayed in the application.

16) Data mirroring: Test multiple environments at the same time. Provides huge value to the customers through localization and different backend configurations.

17 ) After that a detailed Run Report will be created. The report includes the Run summary, all the steps that have been performed, submitted defects, and all the actions performed.

18 ) Another way to review the run results is Storyboard.

Conclusion

Sprinter is an easy-to-use desktop application, which increases the speed of test case execution, results in cost reduction and improves productivity, and ultimately helps in increasing the efficiency of manual testing.

Suggested reading =>> What is Efficiency Testing?

The impact and effectiveness of exploratory testing are not only maximized by Sprinter but it also reduces the time taken in completing the test life cycle. It accelerates application delivery. Thus by including HP sprinter while performing manual testing for any application, the manual test can be proved as a very efficient way of testing.

About the author: This is a guest post by Sushma S. She is having 4+ years of software testing experience and currently working as a Senior Software Test Engineer in an MNC. She has expertise in QA processes and manual testing with timely delivery against aggressive deadlines.

Let us know if you have any doubts or queries about using HP Sprinter. You can post them in the comments section below. We would love to hear from you. 

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