As a software quality engineer, I constantly need to manage product development cycles. From requirement definition to testing to release.

Any QE out there will know this usually involves tons of documentation! On top of that, standards such as the "IEC 60601-1 3rd" edition now enforce it more rigorously. A complex piece of software can have hundreds, even thousands, of requirements that translate into... a lot of testing. At the end of the day, the QE needs to make sure that all requirements are tested in what is referred to as a "trace matrix".

Especially with software, a trace matrix subdivides into different layers, such as "User Needs", "System Requirements", and "Interfaces". Each of these have their own requirements and related testing procedures.

In summary, all of this can be a nightmare.

That's why I have been working on Validation Manager. Validation Manager is a tool to handle all of the cumbersome paperwork of regulated environment validations, including validation plans, protocols, executions, and exceptions, while keeping everything in one place and, best of all, paperless.

The client is built on top of the NetBeans Platform:

The above is the requirement hierarchy. Colors show how much coverage (tests) are present, with red indicating 0 and green indicating up to 100%, while support is included for projects and subprojects.

A web application is also in development, created via Vaadin to handle the database and clients via web services:

Right now, the implementation is in an early phase. Development is on an "as needed" basis. So far, you can create projects and subprojects, define requirement specifications (each with its requirements), test plans, and tests. You can then link requirements to other requirements and then to one or more test steps that cover them. Most of the data can be imported from MS Word and/or Excel spreadsheets.

The client right now connects directly to the database because the web service is not fully implemented yet. I have reports already existing on the iReport platform and I'm currently working on having them available from the client itself and in the future from the web application.

On the Validation Manager project page, you can get access to more details and gain access to links to the sources. If interested, help is more than welcome!