Agile Test Management - Zephyr for JIRA

Written by
Last updated on:
October 1, 2025
Written by
Last updated on:
October 1, 2025

Business and technology need to work together at a rapid and dynamic pace to meet the demands of next-generation software and solutions. Continuous Integration, Continuous Development, and Continuous Testing are integral to this IT adoption.

In today’s agile environment, we face multiple challenges during software development and validation. Lack of proper testing, unavailability of testing tools, inability to do testing in an agile mode, and lack of proper regression testing are just some of the challenges faced during software validation. 

The ability to execute Quality Assurance validation while the clock ticks closer to the committed release window is a common scenario. An effective test strategy always starts with proper requirements laid out with absolute clarity. Very often testers find their “tickets” with no proper documentation. The test cases derived often rely on the information provided in the ticket as requirements, use case, and acceptance criteria. A poorly written ticket can result in poor test cases and coverage. A more elaborate/descriptive ticket will help the QA Engineer to write the test case fully including edge cases, boundary analysis, cross-browser compatibility, multi-device testing, and web application responsiveness. This is where the significance of solutions like “Zephyr for Jira” comes in.

Zephyr for Jira

Zephyr is a testing solution that improves the quality of your software by managing and monitoring end-to-end testing. Its key capabilities include:

  • Test-case creation
  • Organization of tests by product releases and components
  • Assignment of tests to the Quality Assurance team
  • Test case automation
  • Monitoring of test execution and results.

How Zephyr works

Zephyr for Jira enables you to manage your tests directly in Jira. You can add Test items as tickets to your Jira projects, link them to other Jira issues, plan your testing efforts by using test cycles, and track your testing efforts via metrics and reports.

Zephyr simplifies the testing process as test cases are organized under Jira tickets. A user typically adds a test case by setting the ticket type to ‘Test’. Once the ticket test is added with the appropriate title, description, and other relevant information, the user has the opportunity to update Actions, Details, and Execution.

zephyr

Users can execute an added test case or add to the test cycle directly from the test case. In ‘Details,’ users have the ability to edit/update the test steps. ‘Execute’ will display all the past executions related to the test case.

zephyr
zephyr

Zephyr as a test management tool

Additionally, Zephyr helps QA in planning and executing upcoming releases and keeps testing records organized and easily accessible. Completed test executions are searchable and users can search the releases at any given point in time.

zephyr

Zephyr Reporting helps to create a test summary, test metrics, and traceability matrix for each release, ensuring test coverage and tracking the test results.

zephyr

Conclusion

Usage of agile test management solutions is critical for effective Quality Assurance. If the QA solution you use is integrated with issue tracking solutions, you’ll be able to iterate quickly and meet your schedule’s demands. Zephyr is a perfect fit. Here at FullStack Labs, our team includes many Quality Assurance professionals using several different tools, such as Zephyr with Jira. If you are passionate about Quality Assurance and interested in joining a progressive software-development organization, please visit our Careers page.

Learn more

DevOps

Frequently Asked Questions

Zephyr for Jira is an integrated test management solution that allows QA teams to create, organize, execute, and track test cases directly within Jira. It simplifies managing testing efforts by linking test cases to Jira issues, automating execution, and providing real-time reporting.

‍

In agile environments, testing must keep pace with fast-changing requirements and short release cycles. Zephyr helps QA teams stay organized by enabling them to manage test cases alongside development tickets. This ensures better collaboration, faster feedback, and improved test coverage for each sprint or release.

Zephyr provides several capabilities that streamline the QA process, including:

  • Creating and managing test cases
  • Organizing tests by product releases and components
  • Assigning tests to QA team members
  • Automating test execution
  • Monitoring test progress and results
  • Generating detailed metrics and reports for tracking coverage

Zephyr operates inside Jira, allowing QA teams to add test cases as Jira tickets. These test items can be linked to other Jira issues, organized into test cycles, and executed directly within the platform. All results are stored and easily accessible, making it simple to track testing history, monitor progress, and confirm when a product is ready for release.

Zephyr includes built-in reporting tools that help teams track testing performance and coverage. QA professionals can generate test summaries, metrics, and traceability matrices for each release. This visibility ensures stakeholders understand progress, identify potential gaps, and make confident, data-driven decisions throughout development.