This chapter explained some of the new exploratory testing features in Microsoft Test Manager 2012. This is very useful if the team does not have any test cases defined. Exploratory testing also helps the tester to capture screenshots, log defects, and create test cases while testing. The exploratory session recording is very useful in retesting the defect area of the application after any code fix. Visual Studio in combination with TFS has built-in reports and queries to get the details from the TFS data store. Using a SQL Server reporting service and Visual Studio 2012, it is very easy to create and customize reports. The SQL Server analysis service is useful to create the historical data store and based on that the reports are created easily. Even if the user does not have Visual Studio or reporting services installed on the machine, the report can easily be created and customized using Microsoft Excel. New reports can also be deployed to the reporting server so that the reports are available for the other project team members.

The next chapter explains the Testing Center and Lab Center features in Microsoft Test Manager 2012. The Testing Center is useful for creating and maintaining the test cases under Test Plans and Test Suites, whereas the Lab Center is useful in simulating environments for testing.