TestPlant announced the launch of eggPlant Manager, a powerful new solution for the control and management of eggPlant test environments. Power users will gain greater productivity from their existing use of eggPlant, the world’s leading graphic user interface – or GUI – automated test tool. With its patented image recognition technology and non-invasive architecture, eggPlant can “see” any screen on any device in any computing environment: “legacy” system, MAC, Linux, Windows or mobile. Acting as a robotic tester, the software can be trained to recognize icons, fields, text, colors and images. eggPlant spots bugs, sending test failure reports with screen images back to developers for repair before system or version release.
The software testing function is becoming ever more significant as the complexity of systems and their integration into other equally complex systems increases. Bugs and crashes cost money and compromise business reputations. The testing of the functionality and usability of software is traditionally a manual task which is inherently expensive, error-prone (by nature of its repetitiveness) tedious and time-consuming. The automation of user interface testing helps reduce system delivery times, improve quality and cut costs by making test engineers more productive.
With some 500 user organizations around the world, the eggPlant community grows with the emergence of power users deploying tens and hundreds of licenses in test sites and across enterprise networks. This has created challenges for test engineers in keeping track of and sharing the number of eggPlant licenses under their control. Furthermore, there have been user and management calls for a central reporting system on test automation cases being executed by eggPlant. In a recent TestPlant user poll, 69% of respondents stated that a “dashboard” was of pressing relevance to their circumstances. Finally, as pressure and delivery deadlines mount on software QA teams, there is a need to be able to schedule tests to run “24/7” or to “follow-the-sun” in different time zones.
eggPlant Manager solves all these problems and challenges
1. Control. eggPlant Manager allows users to make maximum use of all the development and execution eggPlant licenses under their command. Tests can be set to automatically run at scheduled times.
2. Management. eggPlant Manager, with secured access, allows inspection of the tests being run, a view of the resources deployed and to the details of passed or failed tests. Historic statistical analysis is provided on test cases and their results. With remote access to eggPlant Manager geographically dispersed QA, development and test teams team can collaborate and have access to test performance KPIs.
3. Productivity. eggPlant Manager acts as a store for precompiled test cases or scripts. Test engineers can share scripts and licenses making best use of eggPlant development resources while deploying lower cost execution licenses on repetitive scheduled tests.
TestPlant will begin shipping eggPlant Manager in May 2011. This follows an extensive user evaluation and test period beginning in the summer of 2010 with a prototype installation in Ireland and two beta installations in the USA this year. The system, delivered as a web application on customer infrastructures, is easy to deploy and available to, for example, QA managers in New York City with test engineers in London and Beijing. TestPlant extends its current utility or term pricing model to this solution and charges are based on the installed number of eggPlant licenses under management. eggPlant Manager offers cost and productivity benefits to users with as few as 6 licenses.
George Mackintosh, Chief Executive and President of TestPlant, said: “This is a big move forward for us reflecting the rise and scale of eggPlant adoption and the importance our major commercial and public sector users place on how system testing is professionally managed”.
TestPlant’s New Product Development Director, Jason Noble said: “eggPlant has grown-up since the days in 2003 when some bright guys in Silicon Valley started using it. We had to come up with a solution to our current customer demands for a management system to allow shared and disciplined control over eggPlant assets while increasing the efficiency of their engineers.”
