Manual testing

In addition to helping manage the development process, ALM Octane helps you manage your testing and quality efforts with a complete manual testing framework.

The testing process

Traditionally, test management follows a standard process:

First, you design and develop tests, and then run and analyze the test results.

Repeat this process as many times as you need to test the quality of your development and product on an ongoing basis.

Test types

ALM Octane has the following types of tests:

Type	Details
Manual tests	Manual tests are the most basic and efficient way to start tracking quality. These tests contain a list of actions (steps) that a user might perform when using the application. Running the test means you perform each action as written in the test step.
Automated tests	Automated tests are created and edited in external testing tools and added to a build in your CI server. ALM Octane discovers the test results in the build results and creates the automated test entity inside ALM Octane. Use these results in ALM Octane as part of your product and release quality.

Type

Details

Manual tests

Manual tests are the most basic and efficient way to start tracking quality. These tests contain a list of actions (steps) that a user might perform when using the application. Running the test means you perform each action as written in the test step.

Automated tests

Automated tests are created and edited in external testing tools and added to a build in your CI server. ALM Octane discovers the test results in the build results and creates the automated test entity inside ALM Octane.

Use these results in ALM Octane as part of your product and release quality.

Create tests

Create tests at any of the following stages:

When creating the backlog, create the tests to verify backlog items.
As you add application modules, associate new or existing tests with application modules.
When you open defects, create a test to verify the defect fix.
Associate tests with backlog items using a test's Backlog coverage field.

For details on working with the Backlog module, see Build the backlog. For details on working with application modules, see Quality.

Test development

To develop tests, add steps to target the specific actions to test. In manual tests, the test steps explain action-by-action what to do in the application. For Gherkin tests, the test script is a use-case scenarios instead of an action-by-action list.

For details on creating manual tests, see Create manual tests.

For details on creating Gherkin tests, see Create Gherkin tests.

Test execution

Run manual tests with the Manual Runner or using Sprinter.

For details on running tests with the Manual Runner, see Run manual and Gherkin tests.

For details on running tests in Sprinter, see Run manual tests in Sprinter.

Test analysis

After you run manual tests, analyze the results. ALM Octane compiles the test or test suite run results into a single report. View this report, step-by-step, to see the run details.

ALM Octane also provides many useful graphs for release and product quality analysis. Use the standard preconfigured widgets or design your own by configuring custom widgets.

To analyze cross-release quality, use the Dashboard module. To analyze release-, sprint-, feature- or application module-specific quality, use the Overview tabs in the Backlog or Quality module.

For details on test results, see End the run and view its results or View the suite run results. For details on analyzing quality, see Dashboard.

Next steps: