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# Rule examples

Examples of creating rules are listed below.

In this topic:

## Count the number of times defects are re-opened

For the purpose of improving quality processes, you can track the number of times defects are re-opened after being set to Fixed.

1. In the Defect entity, create a Reopen Counter field of the integer type. For details, see Custom fields.
2. Create a new rule for the Defect entity.

3. Action details. Select the following values on the Action tab:

   Setting | Value
   --- | ---
   Action | Set field value
   Timing | When saving an entity
   Field | Select the Reopen Counter field.
   Increment value by | 1

4. Condition details. Define the following conditions on the Condition tab:

   | Field | Operator | Value
   --- | --- | --- | ---
   #1 | Phase | Current = | Opened
   AND
   #2 | Phase | Orignal ≠ | New

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## Record the Last Modifier of a manual test

It can be useful to know who made the last change to a manual test. You can create a rule to record this information in a user-defined field. The field is populated when specified changes are made to the manual test.

1. In the Manual Test entity, create a Last Modifier field of the User type. For details, see Custom fields.
2. Create a new rule for the Manual Test entity.

3. On the Action tab, select the following values.

   Setting | Value
   --- | ---
   Action | Set field value
   Timing | When changing a value Note: Select the fields for which a change to their values records a change to the Last Modifier field.
   Field | Last Modifier
   Set value | [Current User]

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## Combine lookup lists

Create a rule that adds additional lookup list values to a defect's Severity if the defect's release is 2.00.

For example, the available Severity values for release 1.16 might be 1-Low, 2-Medium, and 3-High. For release 2.00, additional severity values were added, so the complete list is 1-Low, 2-Medium, 3-High, 4-Very High, and 5-Urgent.

Prerequisite

Create a new Severity list that contains the values 4-Very High and 5-Urgent. Call it Severity2.

Define business rule for defects

Condition: Release = 2.00

Action: Use an additional lookup list for the defect's possible Severity values, in addition to the original lookup list's values. Select Severity2 in the List field and if relevant, select individual Sublist values.

Result:

- If you open any defect whose release is 2.00, you can choose from all five Severity values, not just from the original three Severity values.
- When filtering by Severity, all five values are available.

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## Use different lookup lists

Create a rule that uses a different lookup list for a feature's Customer, depending on the feature's release.

For example, if a feature is scheduled for release 5.1, the available Customer values are the customers signed up for a Beta program, instead of the standard list of customers.

Prerequisite: Create a list of customers named Beta_customers.

Define a business rule for the Feature entity as follows:

Condition: Release = 5.1.

Action: Modify lookup list for the field Customer. Select Beta_customers in the List field.

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## Set a subset of a lookup list

Depending on the current team, certain item origins for defects are not available. For example, if a certain team only works with ALM and ALM Octane, the item origin for that team's defects cannot be Service Anywhere or Jira. You can create a rule that makes only a sub-list of the current lookup list available, based on the team.

Condition: The Team field is a specific value.

Action: Select the Item Origin values that are relevant to that team.

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## Modify available values for a reference field

Available in versions: 24.3 and later

You can modify the available values for a reference field, such as Release or Team, to include only the items that match a filter you define. For details on reference fields, see Reference fields.

For example, if a feature's Product field is set to Product A, you can filter the available values for the feature's Team field to include only teams assigned to Product A.

Define a business rule for the Feature entity as follows:

Condition: Product = Product A

Action: Modify lookup list of the Team field to include only teams where Product includes Product A.

For details on setting up the filter, see Advanced filters.

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## Make fields required

Make the testing tool type required to prevent empty values for automated tests.

Condition: Testing tool type is empty.

Action: The Testing tool type field is required.

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## Set default field values (Set Field Value)

To make sure each manual test is assigned to an application module, set the Application modules field value to a default application module for all empty statuses.

Condition: If the Edit mode for the test is New, it means the test was just created

Action: Set the Application modules field to General.

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## Set a value when a related item changes (Set Field Value)

Automatically set a user story to Done when all its child tasks are done (DoD).

- Condition: The number of child tasks with the phase New or In Progress is zero. Use the following values to formulate this condition:

  Field | Value
  --- | ---
  Operand | Child task count
  Operator | {filter = Phase: ( New, In Progress ) }
  Equals | 0

- Action: Set the Phase field for the user story to Done.

Consider the following:

- The transition from current phase to Done is possible based on the workflow. For example, if the phase of a user story is New, it cannot be promoted to Done.

- The Set Field Value rule does not validate to make sure required fields have values. For example, if Severity is a required field when promoting to Done, the promotion rule still updates the phase to Done even if Severity is blank.

- The rule overrides manual changes. So once you define this rule, there are no exceptions. You cannot, for example, manually modify user story's phase if all its related tasks are done. The next time the rule runs, the phase is reset to Done.

- When the rule runs, its actions are performed by an internal system user.

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## Copy values from fields for related items (Set Field Value)

You can create a business rule action to automatically populate system and user-defined fields, based on the fields for related items. For example, fields for backlog items can be automatically populated based on the corresponding fields for their parent feature.

Note: You can copy field values from related items that are single and multi-value reference fields.

When copying from multiple related items, consider the following:

Use case | Details
--- | ---
Copying from a multi-value cross field to a multi-value field | The target field is populated with source field values from all the related items. For example, you need to copy tags to a defect from its related requirements. When the rule is triggered, the defect's Tags field is the collection of tags defined for all the related requirements.
Copying from a single-value cross field to a single-value field | The business rule is triggered only if the source field has the same value in all the related items. For example, you need the defect's Owner field to be auto populated with the Author value of related application modules. In this case, the rule is triggered only if all the application modules, defined for this defect, have the same author.

Create a rule action

Define the rule action as follows:

Field | Value
--- | ---
Action | Set field value.
Timing | Select any suitable timing option.
Field to set | Select the field whose value you want to populate automatically.
Change > Copy value from field | Select a related item's cross field whose value should be copied to the Field to change. Note: The Select field dialog box includes the following fields: The fields that are compatible with the target field type. The fields of other types whose values ALM Octane can convert to correspond to the target field type. For example, the target field is of a memo or string type, and the source field is of another type. When the business rule is triggered, the source field value is converted to a string to correspond to the target field type. If necessary, you can create compatible user-defined fields. For details, see Custom fields.

When the business rule is turned on, the source field value is copied to the target field of a related item. If the target field is already populated, a new value replaces the original value.

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## Trigger webhooks (call a URL)

For webhook integration with another application when an entity is created, deleted or updated, you can use a Trigger Webhook rule to POST a request to an endpoint URL. The service at the URL receives the call and processes the request.

Condition: <None>

Actionable upon: New, Update, Delete

Action: POST ALM Octane entity information to the endpoint URL: http://myServer:8081/myAPI.

For details on setting up Trigger Webhook rules to POST information to endpoint URLs as a result of an event, see Trigger webhooks for other applications.

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## Switch forms

When a tester creates a defect to report a bug, organizational policy dictates that the tester should be able to view and edit the following fields: Description, and Severity.

Similarly, when a developer starts fixing a defect, the developer must be able to view and edit the following fields: Fixed on, Fixed in Build, and Owner.

Define two rules:

- Rule 1: Sets a form for developers.

  Condition: If the team is the Developer team...

  Action: The form for developers is used.

- Rule 2: Sets a form for testers.

  Condition: If the team is the Tester team...

  Action: The form for testers is used.

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## Send an email when an item is updated

When a user story, defect, or other item changes its status, you may want to be notified that such an item has been updated.

To do this, define a business rule in one the following ways:

- If you want to be notified of any change in a specific field, such as the phase of an item, select the field and set Is Modified as the operator for the field.

- If you want to be notified of a change in a specified field to a specific value, such as a defect moving from Opened to Fixed, select the field and set the operator Original = for the previous value. Then, add another line using AND, select the same field, and set the operator to = for the new value.

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## Prevent developers from closing a defect

You may want to prevent developers from closing defects, to ensure that the defect solution is reviewed by other stakeholders before the defect is closed. You can create a workflow rule that blocks this transition.

Create the rule from the Workflow tab for the entity. This way, the From and To phases for the transition are already entered for you. Select the transition between Proposed Closed and Closed, and add a rule using the Rules pane.

Condition: If the Current User Role includes Team Member...

Action: Block transition from Proposed Closed to Closed.

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## Allow testers to open defects on some releases but not others

Testers work on different releases.

First, ask your space admin to make sure that the tester has create/edit permissions for defects. For details, see Roles and permissions.

Then we add an Alert User rule with a condition that lists the releases for which the tester cannot update defects.

If the condition in the rule evaluates to true, the rule alerts the user that the updates violate the specified condition and prevents all updates to the defect.

Action: Alert the user when creating, modifying or deleting a defect if the condition indicates a problem (meaning, the condition evaluates to true).

Condition: If the Current User Role includes Tester, and Release equals a forbidden release, the condition evaluates to true. The user is alerted and updates are prevented.

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## Notify the assigned tester when a test is ready to run

When the run order of manual tests in a test suite is enforced, a test in the suite cannot be run until all preceding test runs have been completed. For details, see Enforce manual test run order.

You can create a rule to automatically notify the assigned tester when a test in the suite is ready to run. Add a rule for the Manual Run entity and set the fields as follows:

Action tab

Field | Value
--- | ---
Action | Send email
Submission mode | Update
Send to | Run by
Email subject | Test run is ready for execution. Note: Modify this text as needed.

Condition tab

| Field | Operator | Value
--- | --- | --- | ---
#1 | Blocked by previous run | is modified
AND
#2 | Blocked by previous run | Current = | No

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See also:

- Design business rules

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