Audits are demanding, recurring, and often time-consuming processes, especially for QA teams and developers.
But it doesn’t need to be like that. When testing processes are well-structured from the start, with clear traceability between requirements, tests, executions, and results, being prepared for an audit is no longer a race against time. In this blog we'll cover all the useful features you can leverage from Xray Enterprise to aid you and your team in staying audit-ready.
The audit challenge: visibility and traceability
As the time for the audit approaches, many teams face challenges when it comes to providing evidence of their testing processes. A common issue is the difficulty in connecting requirements to test results, which frequently leads to gaps in the audit journey. Besides that, the manual effort to collect evidence from several sources is time-consuming and prone to errors.
Without real-time visibility surrounding the history and test status, it is almost impossible to give auditors updated information about test coverage and results. This lack of visibility can become a bottleneck when the audit is almost starting.
Well-structured traceability - where every test, from initial requirements all the way through execution and results, is linked and registered in a centralized system - solves these issues. However, this traceability is frequently nonexistent in many testing workflows, making teams unprepared when the moment to conduct the audit arrives.
Continuous traceability that holds up to scrutiny
The foundation of a solid preparation for audits is complete traceability between different elements of the product development lifecycle: from requirements, through test cases, results and defects. This direct connection between each component allows your team to demonstrate, in a clear and factual way, what was tested, how it was tested and the obtained results.
With Xray Enterprise you can access full traceability, which is possible due to the linked test artifacts, such as Test Executions, Test Runs, and defect links, which are created during structured workflows. While some level of configuration or user action is required (e.g., mapping tests to requirements), the process can be automated, especially with CI/CD tools (like Jenkins, GitHub Actions).
Automated and manual tests are included in the process: test executions are automatically logged, capturing detailed records such as logs, attachments, and execution evidence, ensuring a continuously updated and accessible audit trail.
Built-in evidence collection that doesn’t add work
The automatic collection of evidence during test execution eliminates the need to increase work efforts and additional manual tasks, ensuring that all the artifacts and relevant information are always available when necessary:
Xray Enterprise’s main functionalities:
- Automatic logging of testing artifacts: Xray Enterprise automatically records test results, execution history, and defects that are linked to those tests. There’s no need for an additional manual record of each execution.
- Attachments and step-by-step logs: when doing manual tests, you can add attachments (e.g., print screens) in detailed logs that include each executed step. This allows a clear record of every action your team does.
- Detailed execution results: Xray Enterprise gives you detailed execution results, with status information of every test, so that each step and result are well-documented.
Xray Enterprise’s main benefits:
- Nothing is lost or forgotten: every execution data is automatically registered, which minimizes the risk of information being forgotten or lost. Traceability is ensured for each team.
- Minimizing human error: the automation in collecting evidence reduces significatively the human error risk in documentation, ensuring consistency along the product development lifecycle.
This continuous data collection system allows audits to be conducted effectively and without interruptions, without requiring additional effort to gather all necessary information.
Full change history and version control
Knowing “the who”, “when”, and “why” regarding alterations is crucial to ensure control and responsibility in every step of the development process.
Main functionalities:
- Version tracking across test cases and requirements: Xray Enterprise allows version control for test cases and requirements. Each alteration is made and registered, allowing teams to easily follow the change history along the way.
- Change logs: Xray Enterprise also allows alteration logs, which shows when and who made the alteration, as well as the reason behind it if that person places it there. This provides more transparency and traceability in every testing chain.
Stay ahead of the audit game with Xray Enterprise
The success of your audits is not about last-minute effort; it’s about well-implemented processes, clear documentation, and integrated traceability throughout the product development lifecycle. When teams follow a planned and structured process, they’re better equipped to handle audits and make them less stressful.
Instead of getting stressed out before an audit, teams can trust that they have a complete record of everything, ready to be analyzed at any time. If you need to improve your processes, especially in regulated industries, Xray Enterprise is the right choice for you.
