SmartBear Software has emerged from its most recent hibernation by releasing its immodestly named ALMComplete 2011 product. This SaaS-based product sits alongside the company's standalone QA and test management tool, QAComplete 2011. In what is described as a "major release", SmartBear says it is providing software development and QA teams with "more granular control" over Agile test management and release management activities, while enhancing test reuse.
Features made available by the 2011 release include a new test management module designed to give development and QA teams advanced test coverage visibility and central control over manual and automated testing assets. These features, says SmartBear, promote consistency and test reuse. SmartBear also points out that a new release management module provides teams with more agility to manage and collaborate on software artifacts across releases.
According to SmartBear, a new "Test Management" module enables teams to approach testing more strategically so that they can visualize differences in planned-versus-actual test coverage, improving efficiency. Advancements include high-level and detailed views, the ability to centrally manage manual and automated testing assets, and the capability to drill down into supporting detail from a single interface.
The team Task Board enables Agile development teams to add and organize all of their own "to-do," "in-progress", and "completed" stories or tasks. Tasks are now viewable across the entire team, helping to identify critical or delayed items. The "drag & drop" interface lets teams reprioritize stories like sticky notes on a whiteboard to stay on track, whether in a local or virtual environment.
"The ALMComplete and QAComplete 2011 releases provide more actionable information to Agile development, QA, and project management teams, so they can quickly drill into release and test case details without having to navigate a myriad of screens. We've focused on visibility, efficiency, and usability for the end user, so they can integrate ALMComplete or QAComplete into their daily software delivery process," said Steve Miller, VP of ALM Solutions at SmartBear.
