SmartBear Collaborator version 8.2 arrives with options to now allow testers and quality assurance teams to collaboratively peer review test plans and all artifacts in Microsoft Excel documents.
In addition to adding peer review of Excel files, the new version of Collaborator provides a capability that enables teams to create a checklist of items they want to ensure are looked for in review and to record who checks off each item and when.
It also includes eSignature enhancements that ensure its compliance with FDA and other regulators, further Git enhancements that include "ensured reviewed" and "ensure started" triggers as well as enhanced integration with IBM) Rational Team Concert (RTC).
A Cisco Systems study, "Best Kept Secrets of Peer Code Review," suggests that code review can be conducted within one-fifth of the time with SmartBear code review when compared with more traditional, heavyweight reviews.
Facilitating improved communication and collaboration among software project teams including developers, product managers, QA, support, documentation, and marketing is the cornerstone of Agile methodologies. It has also been proven to increase productivity, improve software quality, and reduce development costs.
"One of the great features of Collaborator by SmartBear is the inclusion of artifact review into the peer review process, a capability that no other product in the industry delivers," said Mark Hammer, senior product director at SmartBear. "We've seen how development teams — particularly fast paced Agile teams — improve performance when product management, development, and QA are all involved in multiple stages of the development process."
