Test Management

Securing quality – from requirements to delivery

Test management makes sure products do what they promise. It keeps track of all requirements to make sure they're implemented—from the tiniest individual function to how components interact to the system as a whole. By means of structured planning, defining test sequences based on requirements, reproducibility, and documentation of test results, as well as their mapping to engineering artifacts and related requirements, quality becomes transparent, measurable, and verifiable.

Professional test management is essential for early detection and elimination of errors, identification of test gaps, systematic test execution, and complete documentation. This reduces costs, cuts down time-to-market, and increases product reliability.

Why test management is essential

The more complex a system is, the higher the risk of unexpected errors. Test management brings structure and security to this area. It defines clear test strategies, priorities, and release criteria—ensuring that testing is not random, but deliberate and targeted verification.

In addition to error avoidance, traceability also performs a critical role: there are one or more tests for each requirement, and each test result can be traced back to the original requirement. This makes sure that the functionality to be delivered is verified, rather than the functionality of the actual implementation.

This builds confidence – among your customers, auditors, and within your own development team.

Success factors for effective test management

Good test management begins even before the actual development works, when requirements are being defined. Each requirement must be defined in such a way that it can be verified whether it has been fulfilled. Successful teams therefore do not wait until after implementation to deal with testing. They plan their test activities alongside with the definition of requirements, with system design, and software development.

Transparent communication between testers, developers, and project management is crucial for setting priorities correctly, assessing risks, and making the right decisions if conflicts emerge.

Automated testing and continuous integration (CI) are further success factors: they shorten feedback cycles and increase test coverage.

The goal is to identify and correct errors early on, rather than stumbling over them later – this saves time, money, and reduces stress.

How test management interacts with other disciplines

Test management is closely linked to all other engineering disciplines:

  • In requirements management, test cases can be derived directly from requirements.
  • Test scenarios can already be simulated during system design with the help of models.
  • The same applies to software development when models are used which can already be tested by simulation.
  • Configuration and variant management enables the administration and correct assignment of different test configurations.
  • It also plays a pivotal role in quality and compliance management: tests provide evidence that norms and standards have been adhered to.

In short, test management is proof that engineering works.

Some examples of popular tools in test management

IBM Engineering Test Management (ETM)

A professional tool for planning, executing, and evaluating tests. Particularly strong in traceability to requirements and fully integrated into the IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management platform.

Test lab

A flexible test management tool that combines manual and automated testing in one environment. It offers clear dashboards, integrated reporting, and supports teams in managing test cases, defects, and results throughout the entire development process.

Xray

A modern solution for test management directly in Jira. Xray enables the management of manual and automated tests, supports agile and DevOps workflows, and ensures complete traceability between requirements, defects, and test results.