OLE QA Guide - Intro to Jira
- Jain Waldrip (Unlicensed)
- Nora Roggeveen-Sams (Unlicensed)
What is Jira?
Jira is a web-based Issue-Tracking Software application. Issue Tracking Software (ITS) is primarily used in software development to track the progress of issues related to the software's function. The issues tracked could be tasks to complete in order to establish a given function, requests to repair bugs in existing functions, requests from users to add new features, and a number of other development related tasks.
Jira is highly configurable, and can be customized to track a number of issue types in each installation. All of the above issue types are used in Kuali's Jira installation, as well as a number of others, largely tailored to the type of development process used by a given software project.
Jira is Not An Acronym
We've wondered, and been asked a few times, what Jira actually stands for, since it's often represented in all capitals like an acronym. According to the official Jira FAQ, Jira was actually the working title of the software, a shortened form of "Gojira," the original pronunciation of "Godzilla." The design team are apparently fans of the original series of monster movies, and decided to give the name their monster bug-tracking software.
Jira Projects
In a single installation, Jira can host a number of projects. Each project roughly represents a single software development effort, with a myriad of issues being tracked independently, divided by type. Each Kuali application has its own Jira project, and some applications have multiple Jira projects. Issues can be interrelated across Jira projects, which is helpful for a community like Kuali, where our software often depends on other Kuali components, like Rice (for document routing and workflow control) or Kuali Financial System (for purchasing and invoicing functionality).
OLE (Jira Project)
The OLE Jira project is the main project for tracking the tasks we've marked out that define how the OLE application should function. The core team uses the OLE project to track functional specifications, and the development team uses the project to track coding progress.
When a task, called an "issue" in general Jira terms, is ready for testing by functional users, it enters "Testing" status in OLE, and is linked to one or more issues in the OLE Testing Scenarios (OLETS) projects. Because there is a difference in workflow between development and testing, we track the progress of testing issues separately.
OLETS (Jira Project)
The OLE Test Scenarios (OLETS) Jira project is used for tracking issues from the main Jira project which have been designated as ready for testing. Software testing is tracked both for progress and posterity: we run reports on the completeness of overall software testing, and we keep testing materials in the OLETS project so that we can access them again later.
Common Jira Issue Types
This section provides a detailed introduction of the four most common types of Jira issues involved in QA Testing: the Bug/Defect, the Enhancement (PP), the Enhancement, and the Test Case.
Bug/Defect
The Bug/Defect issue type serves as a "to do" for developers. In this case, the "to do" is to notify programmers that an already-established, previously tested piece of functionality is no longer working.
Enhancement (PP)
The Enhancement (PP) is the main OLE Jira issue type used for the development of new features, and appear on the Project Plan for each OLE release. Enhancement (PP) issues are the main focus of development, and will generally contain the Functional Specification documents used to develop Test Cases.
Enhancement
The Enhancement is the OLE Jira issue type that allows users to suggest improvements of OLE environments. Enhancements will be considered by the appropriate SME team and/or Functional Council who will then determine any actions to be taken and for which release.
Test Case
The Test Case is the basic OLETS issue type. Test Cases tend to represent one item from the Acceptance Criteria of a Functional Specification document. At the time of testing, a Test Case should include a descriptive statement of what is to be tested (purpose statement), as well as a set of general instructions (steps) for how the test should run. Each Test Case will have a "Parent Jira" field with the Enhancement (PP) containing the specification from which the test was drawn.
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