How Arcane Technologies Traded Spreadsheet Chaos for Structured QA with Tuskr
The Challenge
Arcane Technologies was tracking every test by hand in spreadsheets, with no shared format, no history, and no way to tell if one release was actually better than the last.
- Every team member logged tests differently, so there was no shared format to rely on
- A single, sparse testing file, too thin to show what had actually been tested
- No pass or fail counts, no coverage, and no view of testing progress
Key Results
Moving to Tuskr gave the team a centralized, structured way to plan, run, and track QA, without adding overhead a small team couldn't afford.
Of test runs now centrally tracked
up from no shared test history at all
Test cases tracked in a single run
coverage visibility a spreadsheet never gave them
About the Client
Arcane Technologies
Founded 2007 · Quebec City, Canada
Builds software and hardware for virtual reality, augmented reality, and real-time 3D visualization. Its clients range from manufacturers to global brands looking to bring products to life in interactive 3D. As the team's release cycles grew more complex, their QA process hadn't kept pace. Tracking what had been tested, and what hadn't, was still running through spreadsheets
Software & Hardware Engineering
30–50 employees Quebec, Canada
The challenge: spreadsheets couldn’t keep up
Before Tuskr, Arcane’s QA lived through Excel and Google Forms without a shared format and test result history. Developers logged their own testing by hand: test date, build number, and any bugs found in that build.
The problem was consistency. Every team member filled it out differently, so there was no shared structure to rely on.
On top of all that, there was no real test hierarchy to organize by. Arcane struggled to separate different types of QA sessions, and had no single consolidated view of results across their own services.
“Maintaining consistent quality standards was difficult because the testing format often varied. We wanted to standardize QA process.”
Sasha William, QA Analyst at Arcane Technologies
The Key Challenges
Inconsistent reporting
Every team member logged tests differently, so there was no shared format to rely on.
Sparse, hard-to-gather history
One single testing file, with results too sparse to build any meaningful view of what had been tested.
No way to compare releases
Spotting whether quality was improving or slipping from one build to the next was guesswork.
Unclear testing progress
No way to see, at a glance, how much of a release had been tested and how much was outstanding.
No statistics
No pass or fail counts, no coverage view, nothing to show the overall health of the product.
Delayed escalation to development
Logged issues weren’t always escalated further down to the dev team in time.
The solution: evaluated, then adapted to fit
Arcane didn’t choose Tuskr by default. They evaluated several test management tools, including Testmo, Testiny, and Azure DevOps’ built-in testing features, before deciding.
Day to day, the team uses Test Runs to plan, organize, and track their manual test executions, keeping a running record of progress on each task. They lean on Tuskr’s customizable statuses and results to match their own QA pipeline rather than forcing their process to fit the tool.
More recently, the team has started using Test Plans to organize different waves of QA around each release, giving them a clearer schedule for testing ahead of launches.
Tuskr features used
- Test Cases
- Test Runs
- Test Plans
- API Integration
We chose Tuskr because of its competitive pricing and the availability of an API that we can leverage for our internal workflows.
What Arcane needed
Simplicity, not bloat
As a small team, they wanted a tool built for their scale, not a heavier platform with features they’d never use.
A highly customizable tool
Something flexible enough to adapt to their workflows rather than forcing them into a rigid structure.
A real test hierarchy
Structure for organizing test cases and runs by type, rather than one long undifferentiated list.
Easy-to-read results
A clear, user-friendly way to review pass and fail outcomes without digging through raw data.
Room to scale
Something that could grow with the team without forcing a switch later.
API access
The ability to connect test data into Arcane’s own internal tools and workflows.
The results: QA time that actually counts
Arcane doesn’t measure success in hours cut. Before Tuskr, they had no reliable way to measure QA effort at all, so there was no baseline to compare against.
What changed is where that time goes. “If anything, we’re now spending more time on QA, but in a way that adds value,” Sasha William said. “Tuskr has enabled us to invest the necessary time in quality assurance while reducing the overhead associated with managing and tracking test data.”
Adopting Tuskr has saved us a significant amount of time when it comes to maintaining test results and gathering statistics on the application’s overall health and stability.
The switch wasn’t without a wish list. Sasha William noted he’d like more flexibility in customizing UI layouts, quicker filtering on test runs, and clickable links inside test plans. It’s the kind of detail-level feedback that comes from a team using a tool daily, not from the sidelines.
That shift shows up across the team's day-to-day view of quality. QA sessions are more organized, with clearer scheduling. Regressions are easier to spot. And for the first time, the team can pull stats on test coverage and failure rate to get a real picture of the product's overall health, something a spreadsheet never gave them.
Even so, the recommendation is clear. “I would recommend Tuskr for smaller teams as well as teams that need a basic and simple QA interface that just gets the job done,” Sasha William said.
Moving to Tuskr gave the team a centralized, structured way to plan, run, and track QA, without adding overhead a small team couldn't afford.
After Tuskr
- QA sessions are more organized, with clearer scheduling.
- Regressions are easier to spot from one build to the next.
- Less time is spent managing and tracking test data.
- For the first time, the team can pull stats on test coverage and failure rate for a real picture of product health.
- Test data now feeds Arcane’s own internal workflows through the Tuskr API.
- Built-in reports give the team clear visibility at a glance.
Want QA that scales with your team instead of slowing it down?
Start a free Tuskr trial or book a demo to see how Test Runs and Test Plans can replace your spreadsheet.
