Upload data from Excel add-in to ALM

After you define requirements, tests, or defects in your worksheet, you can upload them to ALM.

Considerations for uploading data to ALM

  • To upload data to ALM, you must first map ALM fields to the Excel worksheet columns. You can manually map ALM fields to worksheet columns, or the Microsoft Excel Add-in can map fields automatically. For automatic mapping to succeed, the column headings in your worksheet must be identical to the field names in ALM.

  • When you upload a new or existing requirement, test, or defect to ALM, it is created with the user name that you use to upload it.

    Example: If you upload a defect to ALM with alex_alm as the user name, the defect’s history shows alex_alm as the person who changed the defect.

  • You cannot upload the following ALM fields from Excel:

    Module Name Field Name
    Requirements Date, Time, Modified, ReqID, Direct Cover Status
    Test Plan Modified, Test Step Actual, Test Step Exec Date, Test Step Exec Time, Test Step Source ID, Status
    Defects Defect ID, Modified

  • You must have full create and modify permissions in ALM for the type of record that you are uploading.

    Example: If you are uploading tests, you must have permissions for adding and modifying the test plan tree, design steps, and folders.

  • You cannot upload automation tests from Excel.

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Version control considerations

You can upload requirements or tests from Microsoft Excel to a version control enabled project in ALM.

Consider the following when uploading to a version control enabled project:

  • When you upload a new requirement or test, it is created in ALM, with a checked in status.

  • When you upload an existing requirement or test that is checked in, it is automatically checked out and then checked in during the upload. ALM adds a comment to the version history specifying that the requirement or test was updated by uploading from Excel.

  • If you upload an existing requirement or test that is checked out by the same user that you use to upload the data, the data is uploaded. If the requirement or test is checked out by another user, the upload fails and an error message is displayed.

For more information on version control, see Version control.

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Upload data to ALM

Log in to your ALM server, map ALM and Microsoft Excel data, validate the data, and then upload your data to ALM.

Log in to ALM

To log in to ALM:

  1. Open Microsoft Excel. Go to the Micro Focus ALM Upload Add-in tab, and click Login. The ALM Login dialog box opens.

  2. Enter your credentials and click Authenticate.

    Standard login

    Enter the following:

    • Your ALM server

    • The virtual directory name in the format of http://<ALM server name>[:<port number>]/qcbin

    • Your user name

    • Your password
    Single sign-on

    Enter the following:

    • Your ALM server

    • The virtual directory name in the format of http://<ALM server name>[:<port number>]/qcbin

    After clicking Authenticate, you are redirected to your corporate credentials (at a URL belonging to your corporate domain). If your company set up Single-Sign-On with ALM and you already logged in to another application with your corporate credentials, you may be redirected to the ALM application without needing to log in again.

  3. Enter your domain and project.

  4. To set your proxy settings, click Show Proxy Settings.

    By default, the connection is done via the Internet Explorer proxy settings. To use a different proxy server, click Use a Proxy Server and enter the proxy details and credentials.

  5. Click Login.

Note: To enable access to an ALM server configured with a web server that requires client certificate authentication from the add-in, perform the following steps:

    1. Locate the file ExcelAddIn.dll.config in the Excel add-in installation folder:

      • If the Excel add-in is installed for Only for me, this file is located in %localappdata%\Programs\Micro Focus\Addins.
      • If the Excel add-in is installed for Anyone who uses this computer (all users), this file is located in C:\Program Files\Micro Focus\Addins.

    1. Open the file, change the value of the following key to "Y" (default value is "N"), and save.
      <add key="CLIENT_CERTIFICATE_REQUIRED" value="Y"/>

    2. Restart Microsoft Excel.

Map data

You can manually map ALM fields to worksheet columns, or the Microsoft Excel Add-in can automatically map them.

To map your data:

  1. Select the cells in your Excel worksheet that contain the data that you want to upload. Do not include the column headings row in your selection.

  2. Click Mapping. The Field Mapping dialog box opens.

  3. Click Open to open the file explorer and search for existing mapping files that you can use to map your Excel data. The file contains the entity type and the field mapping to use.

  4. Select the entity type (Requirements, Defects, or Tests) to which you are mapping your data. The ALM fields for the selected entity type appear in the lower left pane. The required fields appear in red in the lower right pane.

    Note: If you select Requirements, you can apply a requirement type to assign to all requirements you are uploading.

  5. Map your Excel columns to the ALM fields:

    • Manually. Move the non-required ALM fields to which you want to map from the left pane to the right pane, and then enter the Excel column letter that corresponds to each ALM field.

    • Automatically. Click Auto-map and enter the column headings row number.

      Note: The column headings must exactly match the ALM field names.

  6. Unselect Add ALM field label as header to Excel if you do not want to create a header row in Excel.

    Note: If you click Auto-map, you will be prompted to unselect Add ALM field label as header to Excel.

  7. Click Save if you want to save your field mapping for future use.

  8. Click OK to apply your mapping to your Excel worksheet.

Validate data

Once you have mapped your data to the ALM fields, you must check that your data is valid for its mapped field. For example, if the ALM field allows only certain values, your data cannot contain other values.

To validate your data:

  1. Select the cells that contain your data and click Validate. Do not include the column headings row in your selection.

    The ALM Microsoft Excel Add-in validates your data against the requirements for each ALM field.

    Any invalid cells are marked in red, and an error message is displayed when you put your cursor on the cell.

  2. Correct any invalid cells and click Validate again.

Note: If you subsequently add or modify your data, you can validate again, selecting only the modified or added cells or selecting all the cells. If you do not validate prior to uploading your data, the ALM Microsoft Excel Add-in validates your data before uploading.

Upload data

You upload data to ALM from your Excel worksheet.

To upload your data:

  1. In your Excel worksheet, open the Micro Focus ALM Upload Add-in tab and click Upload to ALM.

    Note: If you click Upload to ALM without first clicking Validate, the ALM Microsoft Excel Add-in validates your data before uploading. Any invalid cells are marked in red, and an error message is displayed when you put your cursor on the cell. If there are no errors, the data is uploaded to ALM.

  2. Refresh the view in ALM. Review the uploaded data and make the necessary additions and adjustments.

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