For restoring projects, Jira offers the built-in "Project Import" tool which allows partial, project imports (i.e. importing a specific project from a previous backup). 

This tool has some limitations though; it cannot transfer apps/add-ons related data between instances unless apps are prepared for it.

Fortunately, since v3.3, Xray is able of taking advantage of this mechanism; on previous versions, issues would be restored but the testing data wouldn't.

Thus, you can now use built-in backup&restore facilities of Jira:

• for copying a project from one Jira instance to another Jira instance (e.g. from staging to production, or from internal to a DMZ instance)
• to restore a project upon some mistake/data loss has been done in that project within an existing Jira instance

Learn more here.

SCREENSHOT TO DO

Xray now provides a built-in migration utility for Zephyr for Jira, so you can easily migrate to Xray and take advantage of the many features Xray provides over Zephyr.

As you may still have some projects using Zephyr for Jira, you may now inline migrate the Tests and related data to Xray following a wizard.

This specific utility is available in Jira administration, under System > Import and Export > External System Export.

Learn more here.

Besides adding time based filters to the Test Runs Summary gadget, the Test Evolution, Test Runs List, Test Runs Summary gadgets where improved so that you may see results for the last X days.

This will allow you to see and assess only the most recent information based on the information of the past days.

Learn more about these and all other gadgets here.

If you're using Structure app to view and manage Xray related entities right from a "structure", the enhanced Xray extender now provides the ability to:

• see and manage associations between Test Plans and Test Executions
• choose to synchronize Tests to Test Plans whenever adding/removing Tests from the related Test Executions (e.g. if you add a Test to Test Execution, it can automatically be added to the related Test Plan(s))
• choose whether to manage or not Tests directly under Test Plans

Learn more here.

As part of our continuous performance improvements, we've improved several areas from reports/gadgets to functions.

The most intensive task related with calculation of coverage is now pre-calculated, which should provide quite noticeable performance improvements.

In sum, we improved performance on:

• Test Lists gadget;
• Overall Requirement Coverage gadget & report;
• Historical Requirement Coverage gadget & report;
• requirements() and requirementsWithStatusByTestPlan() JQL functions.

Improving performance is an ongoing effort, so expect additional enhancements to come ahead.

We know that the editing of Tests is quite dynamic. Some users want to get notified upon every change in the Test/Pre-Condition specification, while others don't.

Since Test cases are abstracted as Jira issues, you can also have changes on all the standard fields at the issue level.

On the other hand, Jira's notification schemes don't allow you to define notifications on a per-issue-type basis, and you may want to get updates on Stories and Bugs but not on Tests, or vice-versa.

Thus, we have created a specific event that will be triggered whenever the specification of a Test/Pre-Condition is changed, giving you the ability to define notifications for it.

It will be triggered upon:

• adding/removing/updating steps in Manual Tests
• updating the "Generic Test Definition" of Generic Tests
• updating the "Cucumber Scenario" of Cucumber Tests
• updating the "Conditions" of Pre-Conditions.

Learn more here.

Welcome to our new area of the triple T: Tutorials, Tips & Tricks 

We have created a specific section in our documentation with tutorials, tips, recommendations and some articles so that you deepen your knowledge of Xray.

All available from within one place, easing the task of finding useful information to you.

Learn more here.