How to create good test reports for software testing? Examples and best practices. 

Test report creation consists of multiple related stages. You can’t miss any of them, starting from requirements gathering until reporting the final test results. In this article, we will focus on this very last step. Test reports help teams spot issues early, and make decisions based on facts.

Documenting the entire testing process in these reports gives teams a formal summary of the overall test results. It details the testing activities performed and the application’s quality level. Let’s break down how to report tests to keep the software development process running.

A test report summarizes the results of testing a software application. It shows how well the software performed during testing. It is important to include information on both passed and failed tests. By this, you provide a comprehensive view of the testing cycle. Test reporting include details about the test cases’ progress, issues, and product quality. Reporting aims to help with decision-making and keep everyone on the project informed.

Test reports are important because they show if the software or a product works properly. The software testing team prepares the test scenario and verifies the product before the release to deliver the best quality from the start. Next, they write a detailed test report to explain if everything went as planned or if there were any problems. However, test reporting not only helps us know if functionalities are working correctly. They also help track testing progress every step of the way. Thanks to test reporting, managers can spot blockers at a glance and resolve them quickly.

A detailed test report should have 4 key pieces of information to be helpful:

Let’s dig into each element on the list:

Provide specific details such as the name and version of the project. This will help clarify which project your report is about. Mind this step, as the testing project information is crucial. It encompasses all testing activities conducted for the software application. Completing all this data results in a comprehensive test report.

Provide a brief overview of the testing process and results. Highlight key findings and whether software testing has met the objectives. Include regression tests in the test summary. It makes sure that new updates do not compromise existing application functionality. Include platform details and testing approach. Keep it concise but informative.

Provide a brief overview of the testing process and results. Highlight key findings and whether the objectives were met. Include platform details and testing approach. Keep it concise but informative.

The essential factors are: 

This report is created during the testing process, usually at specific milestones. It provides a snapshot of the progress, key findings, and mid-term results. It helps stakeholders stay informed about the ongoing testing activities.

Teams should generate the final test summary report at the end of the testing process. It summarizes the overall testing effort. Documenting the test environment helps understand the conditions and limitations that affect test results. The report includes an overview of the testing objectives and the methodologies used. It also covers the results obtained and any issues identified. The final test summary report can provide recommendations for future actions. It communicates the outcomes of the entire testing cycle.

List any issues or defects discovered during testing. Include details about each defect, such as its severity and steps to reproduce. This helps in understanding what went wrong and needs attention.

The basic template for a test report in table format might look like this: 

Here are 10 pieces of advice for effective test reporting:

Outline the objectives and key metrics of your testing. Make sure the purpose of the report is transparent and specific. 

Keep a standardized format for all your reports. This includes headings, sections, and terminology.

Customize the technical details in your report to match your audience’s understanding. Ensure accessibility for both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Provide detailed information about your test cases, including IDs, descriptions, and expected outcomes. This clarity helps in understanding the testing process.

Display testing results, covering both successful executions and identified issues. Use a structured format for clarity.

Describe defects with details such as IDs, severity levels, and steps to reproduce.

Make your reports easy on the eye with test case charts or graphs to represent data and trends.

Provide clear recommendations for addressing identified issues or improving the software. Guide future actions with valuable insights.

Prioritize delivering reports timely, right after completing software testing activities. Timeliness ensures stakeholders can act on the information promptly.

Establish version control, especially in larger projects with multiple testing phases. Ensure everyone works with the latest and most accurate information.

Last but not least, benefit from the lessons learned during the testing phase. Thanks to this, you get a full understanding of the project’s quality status for the team.

Why should you use Jira for testing? The main benefits are test reporting and progress monitoring. Jira with test management apps makes testing easier and transparent for everyone. They speed up the process and maintain quality. Additionally, using Jira for testing allows you to connect requirements, test cases, and defects to Jira issues like Epics, user stories, and Confluence pages. This helps stakeholders understand the context better.

Requirements and Test Management for Jira (RTM) and TestFLO are two examples of testing apps you can use. Thanks to their integrity with the Atlassian suite, the plugins provide teams with a familiar environment to work in. 

Both tools have different types of test reports. They let you gather requirements, tests, and defects altogether. We can also set up test plans, execute them, and verify our progress every step of the way. By checking if all the requirements are covered with test cases in Jira, you ensure that nothing is overlooked. It leads to the release of a comprehensive and functional product.

Our apps’ features allow us to track all possible relations between testing objects. These options prevent bugs, but if they still happen, the team can find and fix them early in development, before they impact the project.

The Requirements Coverage report in RTM allows us to check if all the requirements are covered by testing objects. We can filter the results in the report to easily find requirements that have too many defects.

The Requirement Test Coverage in TestFLO helps us check if all requirements have test coverage. You can access the feature by choosing Jira issues from the project you want to consider as requirements. You can also filter requirements using built-in or saved filters in Jira. 

The Requirement Traceability Matrix in Jira in RTM shows the connections between different issue types. It uses a many-to-many relationship comparison. You can customize the data shown on the X and Y axes using JQL. This allows for more advanced filtering if needed. With JQL custom functions, you can see connections from multiple testing cycles and development projects. The Traceability report shows the total number and types of connections for each issue.

TestFLO’s Requirement Traceability Report helps analyze requirements relations in a specific version. To access the report, choose Jira issues from the project that are considered requirements. You can export the report as a PDF file.

Requirements and Test Management for Jira (RTM) allows us to track the progress with the dedicated Test Case Execution report. The chart presents all the TCE’s statuses. Below, we’ll find the table with each test case and its result, possible defects, and other important elements. As in the case of the Traceability and the Requirements Coverage reports, we can export the final document to a .csv file.

Test Plan Execution Report in TestFLO shows the overall progress of test plans. Depending on the needs of granularity, we can check the progress based on the test cases’ status or test steps’ progress.  

The Test Execution report in RTM shows the overall testing cycles and test case statuses. It has the form of a column chart. The table provides detailed information if necessary. The feature estimates the remaining time for the testing process to finish. The report lets us select which Test Executions we want to see, helping us identify connections with improvements.

The Test Plan Iterations Report in TestFLO shows all executions from the selected plan. With this, you can easily analyze the actual state of each test case in a given iteration. The report consists of two sections: summary and test execution results. 

Each row in the report presents one test case and its execution in a given iteration of the test plan. Cells represent the status color of the test case execution in the given iteration. If the given iteration doesn’t include a specific case, the report won’t display the status color. Instead, the N/A will appear in its place.

RTM for Jira enables us to display all our Test Execution and Test Case Execution reports on a single screen. It’s possible through the Test Dashboard feature. Collecting the graphs makes your testing cycle more clear. It helps you quickly answer questions from customers or team members.

As TestFLO doesn’t have a built-in dashboard, we can still collect relevant information with the usage of TestFLO’s Test Plan Iteration Gadget. It shows the Test Plan Iterations Report. You can create a test and display the report in Confluence as well. Test managers, testers, and other stakeholders who don’t have access to Jira can use this gadget to see test progress.

For your customers and stakeholders, reporting is crucial. That’s why it’s so important to keep track of every change and be extremely careful about the details. As testing consists of many stages, having everything under control isn’t always easy. For that reason, bringing the whole software development process into Jira integrated with RTM or TestFLO is a smart way to go. With the support of dedicated reporting features, it won’t cost so much time and money to summarize tests anymore. Now, you can perform step-by-step analysis and test reporting with just a few clicks.