This article aims to explain some Xray Anti-patterns  that can lead to future constrains or even data integrity issues. Please use this information carefully and taking into consideration your own setup and team processes.



Anti-Pattern

 If you have a huge number of requirements and that are not covered by any Test, this may represent an anti-pattern.

As a general rule, each requirement should be covered at least by a Test.


Solution


It’s important to conduct regular audits of requirements and Test cases to identify gaps in coverage. You can review these audits in team meetings to address any issues. 


Xray Data Center

You can make use of the Agile boards and include as a field the "Requirement Status" which would allow you to see at a glance which requirements are covered or not (Figure 1).


Figure 1 - Agile boards

Figure 1 - Agile boards


Xray Cloud

Unfortunately, Jira Cloud does not allows us yet to assess the coverage status directly on the Agile boards; however it's possible to track it on the requirement/story issue screen among other places. The built-in gadgets/reports, like Test Coverage Report provide the ability to filter by UNCOVERED requirements. 


Collaborative Test Planning

Involve testers early in the requirement gathering and planning stages. It ensures they understand the requirements and can create relevant Test cases proactively.

However, if your organization is set up in a way that developers and testers are not in unison, then we suggest the usage of dashboards and reports to keep track of uncovered requirements in real time.


Reporting

Make use of existing gadgets and existing reports to track your requirement coverage.

Built-in Xray Report | Traceability Report

This report (Figure 2) allows you to see the lifecycle of your requirements and track related Tests and Defects.

Figure 2 - Report

Figure 2 - Report


Document Generator Report | Requirement Traceability Matrix

This document based report allows you to see the requirements, their status, and related Tests and Defects.

Figure 3 - Requirement

Figure 3 - Requirement


Gadget | Overall Requirement Coverage

Xray provides a gadget for viewing requirements and evaluating their completeness for a particular release.

"Requirement Status" = UNCOVERED AND createdDate < -7d


Figure 4 - List

Figure 4 - List


Learn More

We understand that company structure or training readiness may not be scalable in times of need. Nonetheless, we suggest you provide comprehensive training for team members on how to use Xray effectively, focusing on requirement coverage and traceability.

Xray Academy

Join for free our Xray Academy and take the Understanding Coverage Course to help you get familiarized with how to have coverage and traceability of your requirements.

Figure 5 - Xray Academy

Figure 5 - Xray Academy


In fact we encourage your team to go through all the courses → Xray Academy.


If you have questions or technical issues, please contact the Support team via the Customer Portal (Jira service management) or send us a message using the in-app chat.