Stop copy-pasting acceptance criteria into your test cases. A properly connected Jira workflow means test coverage and ticket progress always stay in sync — without any manual effort.
Why most Jira + QA setups fall apart
The classic pattern: a developer closes a Jira ticket, but the corresponding test cases are still sitting in a spreadsheet or disconnected test management tool. QA doesn't know which tickets are ready to test. Developers don't know which test cases cover their work. Everyone wastes time chasing status updates.
The root cause isn't process — it's tooling. Most test management tools treat Jira as a read-only reference, not an active integration partner. Arqo takes a different approach.
What a real Jira integration looks like
A proper integration does three things automatically:
- Pulls ticket metadata (title, description, acceptance criteria, story points) into test case creation
- Links test cases to Jira issue IDs so you can always trace coverage back to requirements
- Optionally pushes test run results back to Jira as comments or status transitions
Connecting Arqo to Jira
Go to Settings → Integrations → Jira. You'll need your Jira domain (e.g. yourcompany.atlassian.net), your email address, and an API token. API tokens are generated from your Atlassian account settings under Security.
Note: Use a dedicated service account for the API token, not a personal account. This prevents access issues if team members leave the organisation.
Generating test cases directly from a Jira ticket
Once connected, open the AI Assistant and enter a Jira ticket ID (e.g. PROJ-123). Arqo fetches the full ticket content and generates a test suite based on the acceptance criteria. You can choose Steps or BDD/Gherkin format, review the output, and save directly to a test set.
“Generating tests from a Jira ticket used to take 45 minutes. Now it takes 3. And the coverage is actually better because the AI finds edge cases we'd have missed.”
— QA Engineer, fintech startup
Linking existing test cases to Jira tickets
For test cases already in Arqo, open the test case and add the Jira ticket ID to the 'Linked ticket' field. This creates a bidirectional reference — from Arqo to Jira, and a backlink visible in the Jira issue's testing panel.
Best practices
- Name your test sets after sprint epics or feature areas, not individual tickets — it keeps things organised as tickets evolve
- Use BDD format for acceptance-criteria-driven stories and Steps format for regression or exploratory tests
- Review AI-generated tests before saving — they're 90% accurate but domain-specific nuances sometimes need a human touch
- Set up a test run per sprint so you can track pass rates over time and spot regressions early
The result: complete traceability
When every test case is linked to a Jira ticket, and every test run is linked to a sprint, you gain something invaluable: full requirements traceability. You can answer 'which test cases cover PROJ-450?' and 'which tickets have no test coverage?' in seconds — not hours.