Environments

This topic describes Environment entities, which allow you to represent properties of the system being tested.

Testing environments

An environment represents a resource, device, or venue. A common use an environment is to represent a testing environment upon which a defect was detected.

In addition to the environments, you can also use environment tags to further identify the environment that you are testing, such as a browser or OS version. Environment tags can be added to many entity types. For details, see Environment tags.

The following table describes when to use the Environment entity and the Environment tag:

Type	Use case
Environments	Use to indicate the exact environment on which a test was run or a defect was detected. For example, if you want to analyze the root cause of a defect that was only detected in certain environments, you select the environments in the defect's Detected in Environment field. Note: Environments are not unique attributes in the calculation of a test's last runs. Runs with different environments do not result in separate last runs. For details, see Last runs.
Environment tags	Use to analyze test coverage based on the tag. For example, if you are analyzing test coverage by a specific browser, choose the environment tag for that browser. In Grid view, you can filter the display by Environment tags. Note: Environment tags are one of the unique attributes of a test's last runs. As a result, different environment tags generate separate last runs. For details, see Last runs.

Type

Use case

Environments

Use to indicate the exact environment on which a test was run or a defect was detected. For example, if you want to analyze the root cause of a defect that was only detected in certain environments, you select the environments in the defect's Detected in Environment field.

Note: Environments are not unique attributes in the calculation of a test's last runs. Runs with different environments do not result in separate last runs. For details, see Last runs.

Environment tags

Use to analyze test coverage based on the tag. For example, if you are analyzing test coverage by a specific browser, choose the environment tag for that browser. In Grid view, you can filter the display by Environment tags.

Note: Environment tags are one of the unique attributes of a test's last runs. As a result, different environment tags generate separate last runs. For details, see Last runs.

In many cases, it is a good practice to use both indicators. For example, if a defect was detected on environment Lab1 using the Firefox browser, environment tags may describe the browser, but they will not provide other details, such as the client setup. To include this information, create an environment entity called Lab1 that contains all relevant details, and then in the defect, specify Detected in environment: Lab1.

Tip: Admins can define a business rule to auto-populate environment tags of a defect or manual run when a user selects an environment in the Detected in Environment field. For details, see Business rules.

Create an environment

You create environment entitles in the Release Management module. You can create an environment entity for the current workspace, or for all workspaces in a shared space.

To create an environment:

Open the Release Management module .
Go to the Environments tab.
Click + Environment to create an environment in your workspace.

Expand the dropdown and select Shared Environment to create an environment for all workspaces in the shared space.
In the Add dialog box, provide a name and description.
Select other options to make your environment unique, such as Environment tags, type, and stage type.
Click Add.

Tip: Instruct testers to select the environment in which a defect was detected, in the Detected in environments field of the defect. For details, see Additional defect details.