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Amen brother: Mercury Quality Center "software turd"
I will try not to add too much profane additional commentary, hopefully it will suffice to say that I am at my second gig now where "Quality Center" is in use - and it is just about the worst of all worlds.
Even if you can get past the IE only ActiveX nonsense (really, at that point, just make it a desktop app, what the hell - and they probably do have a desktop version right? - not that I checked, or care - but betcha if that does exist it costs even more), and the prohibitive cost, the end result product is still a horrible interface. Not a single one of the use cases is well thought out, the UI is abysmal, and I can't even set my preferences for email and the like (no, it just spams me with every defect for every project, without even the courtesy to put the PROJECT NAME in the SUBJECT, result, all email direct to trash).
I could go on, but promised to avoid profanity. Anyway, I could not agree more: Mercury, the god of profit.
Do yourself a favor and use BugZilla, or Mantis, or JIRA, or hell a goddamn spreadsheet (whoops, couldn't help it).
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Or...
...you could integrate the two applications (JIRA/Mercury) with a tidy plugin:
http://www.go2group.com/Go2Group-JaM-Plugin.html
:)
Thanks!
+1 to JIRA/Mercury integration
I begged for that when "QC" came down the proverbial pike. Our QA dept said they would implement something with the JIRA APIs on their own. Then, when that quite expectedly never happened, we suggested they just use the JIRA email interface, to at least get the issues automatically IN JIRA (even if not synced, etc) - and that was blown off too.
Our problems are obviously bigger than the tools. And yet, even with the mild spam posting, I am going to check out JaM-Plugin.
I say that with a HUGE disclaimer though - if you are even considering Mercury, don't. A plugin for JIRA that shows Mercury issues is only advisable when you get rammed with Mercury in the first place, far better off to just stick to JIRA if you can.
Another option..
Jira, is an obvious one, what may not be obvious, is that you can also get plugins for jira that provide test case, requirements and defect tracking.
While most are commercial packages, they appear to cover 90% of QC's features, the only thing they naturally dont provide, is Winrunner/Quicktest Pro integration.
If you can live without that though.... you're peaches.
Mercury Test Director is the
Mercury Test Director is the worst thing I have ever seen working in IT in 20 years.
I have no idea how much it costs in dollars, but in terms of frustration, morale, and man hours wasted on this piece of crap it is way too much.
I would rather write test plans in MicroSoft Word and maintain a spreadsheet of successes or failures. In the past 6 months that we've been forced to use it, everyone on our development team has been frustrated by it.
Sure, nobody likes testing software - we like to code, but the interface is so horrible that it wastes time. My favorite "feature" is when I type something in and want to edit it. I naturally hit - and instead of moving to the left of the previous word, I am taken to the previous test step.
And then of course, those of us who like to use vi are apt to hit . Nice - I just hit and wiped out everything I just worked on.
And can I highlight text and hit to make it bold? NOOOOOOO - I must constantly move my hand from my keyboard to my mouse to make this happen.
Why do we use Mercury where I work? Well, the concept was great - let's test new code before we push it out to production, but NOBODY who has to actually use it had an opportunity to test-drive it and all our complaints about it go unsupported.
Quality Center is a Pile o' Junk
And that's about the nicest thing I can say about it.
I can't believe that after moving to a new major version (from TD to QC) it still shuts you off after it times out with the message "Your session is expired. You need to log out." Uh, no, YOU NEED TO LOG ME OUT, don't TELL me to log out.
That, and its constant crashes. It just crashed on me now, and I can't access the issue I was editing. Why? Because it's locked, BY ME. I have to wait N hours now for it to be unlocked so I can continue with my work.
And what the hell is the point of an ActiveX app that runs in the browser? Worst of all worlds. The people who wrote this software need to be strung up by their testicles. Alongside the authors of Perforce, another stinking pile of pooware.
I completely agree. I never
I completely agree. I never understand why people make giant ActiveX only "web applications." Just get over it and make it a desktop app, it's not a web app. If you have a web app and add one small component using ActiveX, that's different (still stupid, but different), when the entire thing is a giant collection of ActiveX atrocities, just make a desktop app already and admit you are Windows centric (also dumb to make apps like these, when you want to reach a broad customer base, that can't be run on different platforms).
To make it even worse, in terms of QC there is no real reason it couldn't be a genuine cross platform web app, it's not doing anything particularly special (in the browser based versions I have used - actual DHTML-Ajax would be much better, or even Flex or Java). Heck, if they did make it a real web app, they might even accidentally fix some of the stupidity in the way the UI works.
I guess you are one of those
I guess you are one of those still stuck in their old ways of using spreadsheets.
I like QC because it saves me alot of time,as opposed to spreadsheets
Imagine a scenario of 250 bugs all on a congested spreadsheet. How to do prioritize and coordinate with the Dev. Team. Also how the hell do external project auditors cope with all that paper work.
My advice is get with the times its 2008
Cheers !!!
Spreadsheets
The "use a spreadsheet" part was tongue in cheek, of course, there are much better options. JIRA is one of them. Nevertheless, I would NEVER condone/recommend Quality Center. If the choice was the QC (with it's interface, cost, and limited install base), versus a spreadsheet with 250 items - I would still choose spreadsheet. That's an indication of how bad QC is, not how good/bad a spreadsheet may or may not be.
It's not that bad
If a company buys Quality Center/TestDirector to use as a defect tracking system I have to congratulate the saleman. It does so much more.
To use an automobile analogy, why by a car with a 6 speed gearbox and only drive it in first.
I have been using it since 1998 when it was a desktop app. Defect tracking was never it's main purpose in all the places I have worked. We currently use TD for test planning, manual script development and control of both manual and automated (QTP) tests.
Text input is not vi so don't make out it is. To use another automobile analogy, if you normally drive a manual left hand drive car (US) don't complain that you can't change gear with your right hand when driving a car with the wheel on the correct side (right hand drive - UK)
i know your frustrations, but
i know your frustrations, but DONT ask for an application rather than a web interface, if its anything like loadrunner or qtp then it will be a complete heap of s@~t. this company seriously sucks and since its takeover by HP, they are charging 10k's of $'s for a support service that doesnt exist. i would urge EVERYONE to dump these sad excuses for products and look more towards open-source. HP/mercury.....i wouldn't s*%t on them if they paid me
Mercury "Quality" Center?
This is absoutely the worst POS I have ever used. Somehow this crap software package fooled the evaluation process here at my job and I have regreted it ever since. The UI is horrible, it's slow, crashes frequently, logs you out AND when it does, you have to kill the IE process because the same logout message appears over and over. Everything about this software is clunky, unintuitive, and unstable.
Today I am trying to print a report of selected PCRs and the piece of crap just locks IE. Doesn't work after three tries. This absolutely the worst piece of junk I have ever used.
You said it!
Relative to spreadsheets or word, I actually like QC. With that said the price, service and interface pretty much suck. Mercury isn't the only one missing the mark here. Visual Studio 2005 came out with a test case managment tool too. It's a repository of word documents (sucks). Anyone ever tried Testopia? Same thing there.
I'd been considering developing my own system for years and finally did when I saw was VS2005 offered. One thing led to another and before you know it I have my own company (SQA Design)! I'm not saying that I've solved all the problems or that the tool we offer (Qualify) is even "better", although most agree that it is.
Check it out at http://SQADesign.com. I'll even give you a free license if you tell us whay you like or dislike about the tool. Write us up online and I'll give you 5!
Uh Oh
Hey guys,
Just accepted a job for a software testing company that uses and sells QC. As I come from a sales marketing background, I read the previous posts and my heart sunk.
Just to confirm we are working with HP, who bought Mercury last year I believe..
Could anyone please tell me any reasons at all why large companies would purchase QC over ClearQuest or just use Bugzilla??
Again, sorry for my ignorence.. But in my 3rd day i'm struggling to understand all the differences..
Any responce would be much appreciated
Iain
QTP trashes Windows applications tests
Trying to convert manual tests into QTP automated tests for a Windows based application is a mind numbing horror! Only the most simple steps can be captured. If you have complex objects, changing data, or need validation for pop-up Dialog boxes, you'll be banging your head against the wall for a long time. Project cost skyrockets while otherwise capable developers struggle to pioneer a way through this massive pile of garbage. I have not seen one example of a team who has reached the holy grail of end-to-end application testing with this "tool" yet. If you're excited about the cutting edge of discovery, be my guest. However, we need to produce an automated testing solution and this Quick (Trash) Professional with Quality Center just isn't cutting the mustard!