The software testing tools can be classified into the following broad category.

Test Management Tools
White Box Testing Tools
Performance Testing Tools
Automation Testing Tools

 

Test Management Tools:

Some of the objectives of a Test Management Tool are as below. However all of these characteristics may not be available in one single tool. So the team may end up using multiple tools, with each tool focusing on a set of key areas.
* To Manage Requirements.
* To Manage Manual Test Cases, Suites and Scripts.
* To Manage Automated Test Scripts.
* To Manage Test Execution and the various execution activities. (recording results, etc)
* To be able to generate various reports with regard to status, execution, etc.
* To Manage defects. In other words a defect tracking tool.
* Configuration management Tool. Version Control Tool ( example - for Controlling and Sharing the Test Plan, Test Reports, Test Status, etc.)

Some of the tool which can be used along with their key areas of expertise are as below,

Uses of Telelogic/IBM Doors
1. Used for Writing requirements/Test cases.
2. Baseline functionality available.
3. The document can be exported into microsoft excel/word.
4. Traceability matrix implemented in doors. So the requirements can be mapped to the test cases and vice versa.

Uses of HP Quality Center.
1. Used for Writing requirements/Test cases.
2. Used for baselineing of documents.
3. For exporting of documents.
4. Traceability matrix. So the requirements can be mapped to the test cases and vice versa.

Some of the defect tracking tools are as below,
* IBM Lotus Notes
* Bugzilla (Open Source/Free)
A Comparison of different issue tracking systems.

Some of the other Test management tools are as below,
* Bugzilla Testopia
* qaManager
* TestLink

Configuration management Tool.

Roger Pressman, in his book Software Engineering: A Practitioner's Approach, states that CM "is a set of activities designed to control change by identifying the work products that are likely to change, establishing relationships among them, defining mechanisms for managing different versions of these work products, controlling the changes imposed, and auditing and reporting on the changes made."

In Software Testing, configuration management plays the role of tracking and controlling changes in the various test components (example - for Controlling and Sharing the Test Plan, Test Reports, Test Status, etc.). Configuration management practices include revision control and the establishment of baselines.

Some of the configuration management tools are,
* IBM Clearcase
* CVS
* Microsoft VSS