How Do You Organize Xray Projects in Jira?

[Lena Wong]

Hi everyone,

I'd love to learn how other teams organize Xray within Jira.

Some questions:

• Do you have a dedicated board for Test Executions?

• Do you use swimlanes or quick filters to separate work on testing and implementation?

• How do you organize regression testing?

• How do you organize testing by sprint or release?

• Do you use dashboards or reports that have become essential for your team?

• Looking back, is there anything you would organize differently if you were starting over?

I'm interested in practical setups that have proven to work well over time.

Thanks in advance for sharing your experience!

[Carlos Garcia Navarro]

Hi @Lena Wong ,

• Do you have a dedicated board for Test Executions?
  
  • I'd suggest so, although it's a team preference.
• Do you use swimlanes or quick filters?
  
  • I like quick filters better.
• How do you organize regression testing?
  •  I'd recommend maintaining a dedicated Regression Test Set or cloning/updating a regression Test Plan for each release. Tips for Organizing Tests has an entire section on regression testing.
• How do you organize testing by sprint or release?
  • I'd recommend using Test Plans to represent a release and Executions for each execution cycle which could be a sprint or less, e.g. if you execute your tests daily.
• Do you use dashboards or reports?
  • I'd have both, but if I had to choose, I prefer a dashboard (check this Automation 101 with Xray.
• What would you organize differently?
  • Establish a good Test Repository structure early, use labels/components consistently,  and keep tests reusable. There are some good tips here.

[Viswanathan Ramachandran]

Hi @Lena Wong 

My experience was mostly with Data Center. We created a working group involving test managers, test leads and testers for common understanding on their requirement, usage and additional features, proposed changes they are looking for. 

To answer some of yours

To organise: Create a common standard requirement model for same development and test teams. We also created a dedicated model for cross-functional teams.

For Dedicated boards: We are Jira admins, platform owners. We discussed with our working group, came to understanding for recommended approach that satisfy team's requirements. Some teams used dedicated boards but some used same boards. The important advice was to not to load the board with complex JQL. 

Swimlanes or quick filters: Again team's decision, quick filters are easy to understand and they keep the board clean. Swimlanes can be used for Epics. If you have Scrum Master, they can guide.

Organise Regression Testing: We used the native test repository folders. 

How to organise testing by sprint or release? For sprints, use execution status directly within the active sprint's stories and for releases create a dedicated Test Plan linked to the Jira Fix Version

Essential dashboards or reports? Most of our teams used native two-dimensional filter statistics gadget (by priority)

My Best wishes