News

Seapine Upgrades Testing and Configuration Tools

• By Michael Desmond
• December 12, 2006

Seapine Software is releasing new versions of its ALM products TestTrack Pro and Surround SCM 5. The company is also launching TestTrack TCM, a new tool for test case planning and tracking that integrates with TestTrack Pro. Seapine announced the new products last month.

"The majority of work that went into TestTrack Pro 7.6 is really about updating the application to be a container for technologies that go into lifecycle management," says Rick Riccetti, president and CEO of Seapine Software.

Riccetti says that many development shops use Excel to document what tests are run on applications. TestTrack Pro integrates into the production environment, letting managers track results, assign tests to analysts, and keep tabs on where tests are in the process. Detailed reporting enables managers to more precisely plan test operations and optimize assignments to staff.

"If you know who your most effective testers are, you might assign larger blocks to them or maybe more critical aspects of the application to test," says Riccetti.

Version 7.6 adds a SOAP-based SDK for integrating TestTrack Pro with other applications and a Web-based issue submission module called SoloSubmit, which lets stakeholders add requests directly to TestTrack Pro project. Also new is support for MySQL backend databases and single sign-on support.

The new TestTrack TCM product automates the testing process and provides critical planning and management tools for QA managers. The software can schedule a batch of tests, and have blocks of work automatically assigned to developers based on the results. Failed tests can roll directly into the defect management workflow, speeding resolution and preventing expensive misses. TestTrack TCM integrates tightly with TestTrack Pro.

"TCM for us was kind of that next strategic piece that we need to have in our product to round out the QA portion of our product line," says Riccetti. "It was such a natural integration with TestTrack Pro that it became clear to us that we need to address that space."

Surround Sound
Surround SCM 5 addresses software change management, employing user-definable workflows, custom metadata, and programmable triggers to streamline the difficult task of managing code changes during software development. Version 5 increases both the granularity and visibility of the management tool set, so developers can key in on the state of individual files. SCM 5 also adds a robust workflow engine, critical for routing changed files and preventing unapproved code from leaking into the build stage.

"Many things must happen for an individual file to be released. Once it goes from one state to another -- say, through the edit process -- you don't want additional changes without going through the process again," Sadowski says. "Surround SCM 5 becomes really valuable because you can look at that list of files and say I really need to do something with these five because they are in this state."

Surround SCM 5 integrates with TestTrack Pro, as well as with popular IDEs like Visual Studio and Eclipse. It also adds CVS-style check outs and single sign-on to the SCM package.