Users of Rational Quality Manager 2.0 might want to download the latest fix pack which is available from Jazz.net.

There are a significant amount of updates and changes in this fix pack, many introduced for backward compatibility reasons.    As with all Rational Quality Manager updates, the easiest way to download and install is through the Update Packages wizard in the IBM Installation Manager.  Enjoy!

Still running Rational Quality Manager v1.x?  If so, a new fix pack just went live for users of Rational Quality Manager 1.0, 1.0.1, or 1.0.0.1.  The fix will bring Rational Quality Manager up to v1.0.1.2.   The fix addresses about 10 reported issues, full details of which can be found on the announcement page.

For additional information and to download the fix, please see the Rational Quality Manager 1.0.1.2 announcement page.

Just a heads up that this week, on Wednesday and Thursday, IBM Rational will be at the STAR West testing conference demoing Rational Quality Manager.   The conference this year is in Anaheim, CA at the Disneyland hotel from October 5 to 9.

IBM Rational will have a booth on the EXPO floor, and on top of Rational Quality Manager, you’ll be able to get a look at Rational Requirements Composer, Rational RequisitePro, Rational Functional Tester, Rational Service Tester and Rational Performance Tester.

There are various packages to attend the conference, but if you just want to pop in and say hello to IBM Rational, you can get a free expo pass which gets you into the hall on Thursday.  See you there!

The 2008 inaugural release of Rational Quality Manager introduced a new approach to test case management.  The Rational Quality Manager dynamic test plan allowed test cases to be associated to a test plan in a non-hierarchical nature.  There are many benefits to this approach, the main being that in a distributed test team, where many people are working off a test plan, having tests tied to a hierarchy often makes them difficult to find.  While the categorization, of filing of test cases in folders of folders of folders might seem logical and simple to the person who originally created and organized the structure might seem logical and obvious, for anyone coming in new to the structure, navigation is much more difficult.

You can think of this as similar to the way Google and Yahoo took to indexing the web.    Yahoo originally, and still available today, used hierarchical directories to categorize web content.   Google of course simply put all websites into one group, and enabled you to find what you were looking for with a powerful search facility.  Both valid approaches, but how do you find what you want on the web?  Exactly.

What made Rational Quality Manager approach possible was the advanced tagging and searching mechanism.  Using a paradigm similar to the Google approach, all test cases are stored in one bucket, with a very powerful and fast search feature that enables you to find what you are looking for based on all the common identifying properties of a test case such as names or tags.  Rational Quality Manager’s web 2.0 sytle dynamic filtering further enhances this, enabling you to see search results returned as you type.

Hierarchies, however, are not without their benefits.   Viewed from above, they provide a good graphical representation of content.   You can quickly see relationships between artifacts and get an idea of the number of artifacts in a certain area, such as the number of test cases for a given requirement.

Accordingly, new in Rational Quality Manager 2.0 is a hierarchical view of assets.   In this tree view you can see how the Viscosity Defect is attached to the Viscosity Execution of the Viscosity Test, attached to the Viscosity Test Case of the Viscosity Requirement in the Red Test Plan in the Paint Shop project.

This powerful new view enables testers to visualize relationships while still being able to leverage the powerful searching and tagging facilities for finding test cases.  Two approaches to viewing your data, with two different benefits makes this one of Rational Quality Manager 2.0’s most powerful features.

If you were at the Rational Software Conference 2009 you got wind of some of the new features headed our way in Rational Quality Manager 2.0.  With the arrival of Beta 2.0 you can now download the latest and have a look at some of the key features:

• Risk Based Testing
• Productivity Boosters
• Reporting and Closed Loop Analysis

Over the next few weeks we’ll look a little closer at these features, and dive deep into how you can use these features to manage the risk associated with your quality management projects.

Get the Rational Quality Manager 2.0 Beta Here

]]> http://qualitymanager.wordpress.com/2009/06/08/rational-quality-manager-2-0-beta-2-is-now-live/feed/ 6 Brian http://qualitymanager.wordpress.com/2009/05/01/rational-quality-manager-four-steps-to-enlightenment/ http://qualitymanager.wordpress.com/2009/05/01/rational-quality-manager-four-steps-to-enlightenment/#comments Fri, 01 May 2009 19:46:06 +0000 Brian http://qualitymanager.wordpress.com/?p=115 ]]>

“What is Rational Quality Manager” and “How do I get started”.  Those are two questions that we hear on a daily basis.   The answer is pretty simple, but nothing we’ve ever documented, so accordingly, here is how we suggest you get to know, learn and love Rational Quality Manager.

Step 1:  Learn the basics of quality management.  Some great resources to get started with are:

• Video: Quality Management in 3 Minutes explains the basics of Quality Management at a high level.  No big words, so this one is safe for managers.
• This Blog:  http://QualityManager.wordpress.com, which covers all sorts of topics related to Quality Management.
• Our Brother Blog, the Rational Tester: http://RationalTester.wordpress.com, which covers all sorts of topics related to automated software quality

Step 2: Learn the basics about the product.  I’d suggest 3 things in the following order:

• The Rational Quality Manager Demo gives a great overview of how the tool works
• The Rational Quality Manager Tidbits series on our YouTube channel drills one level deeper on some of the key features of Quality Manager.  Each tidbit is only a few minutes long, and explains one interesting feature about the tool
• Finally, go get the Trial Version of Rational Quality Manager, which is a full featured trial you can explore for 60 days.

Step 3: Now that you’ve got the basics down, dig a little deeper on Rational Quality Manager

• There is a series of articles on Using Rational Quality Manager for the First Timeon developerWorks.  This series will guide you though all the major phases of managing a quality assurance project with Rational Quality Manager

Step 4: Now that you have a good understand Quality Management and Rational Quality Manager, the following will help you go even deeper in the topic and our portfolio

• Rational Quality Management Thought Leadership White Paper Series.  Here’s where we keep our library of in depth topics on Quality Management
• Streamline Software Delivery to Gain Market Advantage: Series Overview.  A webcast by the Rational Vice President of Product Development.
• Additional Rational Podcasts.  A general site with various Rational podcasts – including one about this blog entry! 
• Keep up to date with the development team.   jazz.net is the development site for the Rational Jazz initiative, the foundation upon which RQM is built.  Follow development projects and milestones, interact with development teams, get the latest product betas, and join the community discussions. 

There you have it – everything you need to know about Rational Quality Manager in 4 steps!

The Rational Software Conference Spring Fever discount ends today! If you’re thinking about attending the conference this year – this is your last chance to get the discount. You won’t get a better offer than this. Now is the time.

Save $300 on the Rational Software Conference
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/rational/rsdc/register.html

Every once in a while, I get a sneak peek into to Rational Quality Manager and Rational Test Lab Manager development shops to see what’s going on.  The other day, this is what I saw…

Quality Manager and Lab Manager Google Maps Mashup

What is it?

It’s a Google Maps mash up with Rational Quality Manager and Rational Test Lab Manager.  It’s still in the early phases, but some of the thinking is for large distributed organizations, it gives you a way to visualize your lab assets from a geographic location perspective.  How cool?

What could possible be next?  Twitter integration for live test execution results reporting?  Nahhhhh…

The Rational Software Conference team has just announced a new promotion code to save $300 off of your conference registration.  Register for the conference and enter in the promo code APRIL, and you’ll get the discount.  Not surprisingly, this offer expires at the end of the month.  

The conference will have a ton of Rational Quality Manager content, and we’ll be previewing some of that here over the next two months.   Stay tuned – next up, info on migrating to RQM.

Save $300 at the Rational Software Conference 2009.

For the unfamiliar, Jazz.net is IBM Rational’s foray in open commercial development.  In simple terms, we’re opening up the door to our back office.  On Jazz.net you now have visibility into the inner workings of the Rational Quality Manager and Rational Test Lab Manager development team.   How open is the door, here’s a sample of what’s now available according to project manager Brian Massey:

• Rational Quality Manager 2.0 Beta 1 available for download
• Draft 2.0 release plan
• RQM forum in the Jazz.net forums where you can submit feedback and ask questions
• rqm-dev mailing list for development team communication

Take a close look into that post for a hint about what’s coming for HP – Mercury users.  We’ll blog about it shortly!

Rational Quality Manager on Jazz.net!