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Feature Friday – Take Your Testing to the Next Level With PDF Generated Reports
What is it that’s so appealing about a Friday night? Is it because it’s the start of the weekend? Is it the smell of pizza and popcorn while watching a movie on the sofa, or is it the time that we get to spend with our families? However one might choose to spend it, we wait all week long just for the sweet release of the weekend. We here at Qyrus choose to kick it off with you all by sharing a bit more about our platform! Feature Friday wouldn’t be complete without a feature to present. So, without further ado, we’re going to pass it over to Adhiraj and Seema from our Qyrus team to share some info on our Qyrus PDF-generated reports for testing.
Tell us more about generating PDF reports on Qyrus and its use cases.
Adhiraj:
Reporting in Qyrus is of great importance. Often times, we’ve found that although some clients may not have issues with automation itself, they often do have issues when it comes to the reporting. One specific feature request that came up often was the ability to make these reports into PDFs that can then be downloaded and shared with others.
Seema:
Looking at these reports, we see a detailed step-by-step view of the test with pass/fail indicators as well as screenshots embedded into the report. It gives a great summarization of the health of your test. The PDF also allows people who might be on mobile devices to view the report in an easy-to-read manner. It also allows you to share results with those who don’t have access to Qyrus.
A simple feature, one that helps improve the reporting of test executions. But don’t let its small stature fool you, it’s definitely a heavy hitter! However, small features collated together prove for a robust platform that can handle just about any use case or scenario.
What is the overall impact on the testing process, and are there any potential improvements we can expect coming to this feature?
Seema:
I mean, overall, it just has an impact on the reporting aspect of testing. However, collaboration goes a long way, and colleagues who are on the same page about a topic work much more efficiently and effectively. One of the major driving points of Qyrus is to promote collaboration among colleagues.
Adhiraj:
Currently we are looking at a few improvements to PDF reporting, but nothing too major. Specifically, it only exists for the Web testing services. One future improvement would be to expand it to our other services like mobility, API, and component testing.
How might this feature help testers, developers, and business technologists? What value can this feature bring?
Seema:
Well, for testers and developers, it allows them to be much more collaborative with each other. If there is a bug detected by the tester, they can download a PDF version of the report and send it to the developer. Again, these reports are very in-depth, giving step-by-step analysis.
Adhiraj:
And with regards to business technologists, they have a much easier way to view the health of the application. The report provides screenshots for every step. We’ve seen some clients take advantage of these when it comes to auditing their testing. Additionally, this makes testing consumable to anyone in an organization – even a CFO, COO, or CEO.
As simple as this feature is, it brings a lot of value to the organization overall. It can significantly improve the collaboration between different departments ranging from the testing team to the development team and the management in between.
Does the same or similar functionality exist without Qyrus, and how do competitors address similar problems?
Adhiraj:
Well, firstly, prior to Qyrus, a considerable knowledge of some programming language would be required to set up reporting similar to this. But if we are speaking on the platform, before we had PDF reporting we allowed users to download an HTML version of the report. You still can download the HTML version, but not as robust in details or as easily readable.
Seema:
In terms of our competitors, some do have the ability to download PDF reports but most others provide the report just on the application itself. But not many have built the PDFs to be clickable making navigation of large reports easy!
How do you see this feature impacting day-to-day operations across organizations?
Adhiraj:
Well, the collaborative effect this has will make an impact on the day-to-day. Making the test report understandable for multiple parties and sharable with multiple parties makes day-to-day interactions easier. There is less confusion overall and people are on the same page.
Seema:
And, it’s really fast, too. The PDF report only takes a few minutes to generate depending on the length and complexity of the test report. However, we have found it to be fast and efficient.
The benefit that these PDF reports can provide is clear. If we haven’t said it enough, we’ll say it again, collaboration and simplicity. Now, I swear there’s that smell of pizza and popcorn again! It must be the weekend by now, so we won’t keep you any longer. Enjoy the weekend and I’m on a diet, so enjoy an extra slice of pizza for me! Happy Friday!
