Quality Center 10.00 New Feature Blog
Entries:
<Back / Forward>
/ Tools / Help
Left Side Module
Buttons
Version Control
Libraries /
Baselines
Analysis Reports
& Graphs
Dashboard Pages
Business
Components
(BPT)
Test Resources
<Back / Forward> / Tools / Help
Overview: One of the first things I noticed with QC 10.00 is the
<Back / Forward> / Tools / Help button section is not in the same
location as in QC 9.2. With version 10.00 HP updated the design of
Quality Center at the very top of the screen. The control buttons
moved down below the title bar and have shifted all the way to the
left hand side. The Domain, Project, and User id info shifted up into
the space where the buttons used to be, right next to the Logout
button.
This may not seem significant but if you use the Tools -> Change
Project feature or other Tools and Help features a lot you will find
yourself moving the mouse to the right and having to change course
and move to the left. I found it annoying at first but you get used to it
after awhile. They also look less like buttons and more like plain text
with a smaller font size so they are not quite as visible as before.
My Assessment: I believe the position change is intended to make
the top section of Quality Center look more like some of the other HP
Software offerings.
General UI
Changes
Misc Usability
Improvements
Left Side Module Buttons
Overview: The module buttons running down the left side of your
screen have also changed with Quality Center 10.00 including one
module renamed from QC 9.2 (Management) and two new modules
(Test Resources and Dashboard).
Management Module: The top module button called Releases in QC
9.2 is now called Management but still contains everything from the
Releases module in its Releases tab. Since the module opens up to
the Releases tab it will look much the same as it does with QC 9.2
when you first enter the module. You will notice a second tab in this
module called Libraries which contains all of the new QC 10.00
Library and Baseline functionality.
Test Resources Module: A new module button appears in between
the Test Plan and Test Lab modules called Test Resources. This
module allows you to manage external test related resources. You
can upload resource files like shared configuration files, data tables,
and other items into this module like a shared repository. If you use
QTP in conjunction with Quality Center then the QTP Function library,
Recovery scenario, and Object repository items are stored here as
well instead of in the Test Plan BPT Resources folder. This module
appears to be mainly geared for automated testing at this time.
Dashboard Module: At the very bottom of the lineup is another new
module labeled Dashboard. All saved Public and Private Reports
and Graphs will now be located in the Dashboard module including
saved reports from your QC 9.0/9.2 projects after upgrade. If you
look for them in the Analysis menus in the Requirements, Test Plan,
Test Lab, and Defects modules you won’t find them. Each of those
modules still has an Analysis menu for out of the box Reports and
Graphs, but anything you customize and save as Public or Private
will now be configured, generated, and viewed from within the
Dashboard module. Two tabs in this module separate Analysis style
reporting (Analysis View) from Dashboard style reporting
(Dashboard View).
My Assessment: If HP adds any additional modules with the next
version of Quality Center we’ll need bigger monitors to see the full
lineup.
Version Control
What is Version Control? Version Control, or VC, is typically the
ability to keep track of the changes made to some type of
entity. Users check out entities when they are ready to make
changes to them. Once an entity is checked out it cannot be modified
by anyone else. When the entity is checked back in, it becomes
available for others to view and check out/change themselves. A
copy, or version, is saved with each check in allowing you to see what
the entity looked like at various times in the past. You can usually
compare prior versions against any other version and even restore
previous versions to recover from accidental changes.
Will all QC projects have Version Control? From a system
standpoint, Version Control is optional for projects. It can be enabled
on a project when it is created or at any time during a project’s
lifespan. Version Control can also be disabled on a project at any
time. If a QC 10.00 user only uses a few QC projects, none of which
are under Version Control, they might not encounter this feature at
all.
How is VC implemented in QC? If Version Control is enabled for a
given Quality Center project then all entities in the following modules
must be checked out and back in again each time a set of changes
is made:
o Requirements
o Business Components
o Test Plan
o Test Resources (new module)
That means Releases, Test Labs, and Defects are not covered by
Version Control.
What is using VC in QC like? Requirements, components, tests,
and test resources must be checked out before any changes can be
made. New entities are checked out automatically and existing
entities can be checked out via a button or menu option or in some
cases simply by starting to make a change. An additional menu
option in each module called Versions is available allowing you to
check out, check in, undo check outs, and more.
Entities checked out by you appear with a green padlock in your tree
views. Entities checked out to others have a red padlock along with
their user id.
Each module also has a History button or tab used to view prior
versions of entities and select any two for a detailed side-by-side
comparison to see the differences. Other useful features include
ways to see everything you have checked out and the ability to
perform mass check ins.
What are the pros? The ability to lock entities until you are finished,
easily identify all changes that have been made and recovery from
mistakes can be a big plus in some situations.
What are the cons? Having to check out and in entities even for a
one word change does involve extra steps and a little extra wait time
although it is usually pretty quick. People may find it frustrating when
they want to update an entity but are unable to because someone
else has it checked out. To help minimize this issue, users should try
to check things back in before they leave for the day unless they have
good reason to keep it checked out.
Can VC be used for Requirements only? Unfortunately no. If
Version Control is enabled for a project it impacts everything in the
Requirements, Business Components, Test Plan, and Test Resource
modules. It cannot be enabled for one or two modules and not the
others. This is an often requested enhancement so maybe a future
version of Quality Center will permit this.
What is captured with a Version? Nearly all fields are captured with
each version and all attachments associated with the entities are
captured as well. See the Quality Center user guide for information
on specific items not captured. It is important to note that
attachments are however duplicated every time an entity is checked
in for any change and not just when the attachment itself changes.
This could end up consuming a lot more data storage so be aware.
My Assessment: Quality Center’s provision of adequate Version
Control capabilities has been a long time coming and except for the
duplication with attachment storage I think they did a nice job with the
implementation. Some projects will struggle with the fact that you
cannot enable per module. If Version Control is desired for
requirements then it will be forced on tests, components, and test
resources as well so the trade-offs need to be weighed.
Libraries / Baselines
What are Baselines? Baselines have some similarities with Version
Control but they typically operate on a much larger scale and occur
less frequently. Version Control automatically saves a snapshot of a
single entity every time it is checked in while Baseline snapshots are
typically initiated by an admin and save a copy of all entities within a
specified list of folders.
What are Libraries? Libraries identify the folders that contain the
entities to snapshot with each Baseline. You can create multiple
Libraries each with different configurations of folders from the
Requirements, Business Components, Test Plan, and Test
Resources modules. You may notice that these modules are the
same ones covered when Version Control is enabled for a project
and as with Version Control, Releases, Test Labs, and Defects are
also not captured by Baselines. Each Library can contain folders
from only one module or from multiple modules.
Do projects need Version Control enabled to use Baselines?
No. Baseline functionality is available to all projects regardless of
whether they have Version Control enabled or not. Entities that have
been captured by a Baseline are stored in database tables separate
from Version Control information.
When might a Baseline be used? Baselines are typically used to
snapshot the key entities involved in a project at specific
milestones. For example you might define a Library to include your
project’s key Requirement, Component, and Test Plan folders. As
phase 1 of your project completes you could capture a Baseline
snapshot of those entities at that point in time. At the end of phase 2
you could capture another snapshot of the same entities (plus any
new ones) and so on. Then you can perform comparisons between
any two Baselines to see which components changed from one
snapshot to the next and what those changes were. You can also
compare any Baseline snapshot against the entities as they currently
exist.
Can I execute tests from Baselines? Absolutely. Once your Test
Plans for a particular phase are complete you can capture those Test
Plans in a Baseline snapshot. In the Test Lab you can then point
your executable tests to a Baseline so that it uses the Test Plans
saved in that snapshot instead of the current Test Plans. This is
called pinning your tests to a Baseline. This technique can be used
to free up the current tests for updates with the next phase.
What is captured with a Baseline? Nearly all fields are captured by
Baselines including all attachments associated with the entities. See
the Quality Center user guide for information on specific items not
captured. If Version Control is enabled on the project then just the
current checked in version of each entity is captured. If you specify
high level folders within a Library that contain many sub-folders with
many entities then they are all captured with each Baseline
snapshot.
When defining Libraries it will be important to make sure only folders
containing the most essential items are selected and to avoid
including unnecessary folders. Baseline snapshots that are no
longer needed can be deleted to help conserve space. Baselines are
another feature that could cause substantial increases in storage
consumption so closely monitor this as well.
What is the Import Library option? If you have the Quality Center
Premier edition this option allows you to import baselines from other
projects into your project for cross project asset sharing, comparison,
and synchronization. If you have the Quality Center Enterprise
edition this feature is unfortunately not available.
My Assessment: The compare functionality for Baselines is feature
rich and well implemented but can take a LONG time to execute
across a large number of entities. Pinning tests to Baselines is an
interesting concept that could provide flexibility in test writing for
multiple phases.
For those fortunate enough to have the Premier version, the asset
sharing and synchronization capabilities can really help maintain
repositories of tests that are copied into other projects. With Premier
you can also import Baselines back into the same project in separate
root folders making a more exact copy to use with concurrent project
phases.
Analysis Reports & Graphs
Overview: The following modules each have an Analysis menu used
for standard reporting:
o Requirements
o Business Components (new with QC 10.00)
o Test Plan
o Test Lab
o Defects
In QC 9.0/9.2 the Analysis menu provides two entries: Reports and
Graphs. Selecting either entry presents a list of standard reports and
graphs along with any Public and your own Private ones. Within
each report and graph you can customize many of the reporting
elements and save them to create additional Public and Private
reporting selections.
In QC 10.00 those modules still have an Analysis menu containing
the same standard reports and graphs however users may be
alarmed when they realize:
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Public and Private reports and graphs no longer display in
the Analysis menu (only the standard items display).
None of the standard reports and graphs provide any
customization options for the input values.
At first glance this appears to be a serious omission but be assured
that these features still exist, they have simply been relocated.
Where are my Public and Private Reports and Graphs? Public
and Private reports and graphs for all of the modules are now
centrally located in the new Dashboard module in the Analysis
View tab. In this tab you will see two high level folders: Private and
Public. When your project is upgraded to QC 10.00 all existing
Private and Public reports and graphs for all modules move here
under a Requirement, Test Plan, Test Lab, or Defect sub-folder. You
can create additional sub-folders, reports, and graphs and rearrange
everything in this location for all of the modules as needed.
How do I customize standard Reports and Graphs? Before the
standard reports and graphs in the Analysis menu can be customized
they must first be saved to the Dashboard module. Select the
desired standard report or graph and click on the Save button at the
bottom. This will display the folder structure from the Dashboard
module allowing you to save it in the Private or Public folder of your
choice. Once saved the report opens in the Dashboard module and
you can select the Configuration tab to make changes. You can
also create new reports and graphs in the Dashboard module itself.
How can I create new Reports and Graphs? New reports and
graphs can be created by going to a module’s Analysis menu,
selecting a standard report or graph, and saving it to the Dashboard
module. They can also be created by going to the Dashboard module
directly and using the New Item button.
Other changes to the Analysis menu: In all modules the Analysis
menu item Report Selected has moved into the list of standard
Reports. Also in all modules in addition to the report and graph lists
is a new list of items called Recently Used. Other noticeable
changes include:
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Requirements: Report Selected with Children also moved
into the list of standard Reports.
Business Components: Now has an Analysis menu with a
set of standard reports and graphs.
Test Plan: New standard report: Business Process Tests
with Script
What is Recently Used: In the Analysis menu, Recently Used is
now an option and it is populated with reports and graphs that you
save to the Dashboard module.
What are Excel Reports? The Excel Report Generator was a new
feature introduced with Quality Center 9.2 that permitted users to
create reports pulling real time data into Excel tables. Only users with
Excel Report permissions were able to get to the Excel Report
Generator through the Tools menu. In QC 10.00 all Excel Report
Generator reports in a project are located along with the regular
reports and graphs in the Dashboard module. Users still need Excel
Report permissions to be able to build and generate Excel Reports
however.
What is Cross Project Selection? In the Configuration tab for
graphs there is a section labeled Cross Project Selection. If you have
the Quality Center Premier edition users with the correct permission
can use the Select Projects button to include data from other
projects for cross project reporting. If you are on the Quality Center
Enterprise edition the Select Projects button will not be available.
My Assessment: HP is centralizing the reporting and Dashboard
functionality into a single module to help focus on providing basic
reporting and Dashboard needs. Having the reports and graphs
centralized into one reporting module may take a bit to get used to
but I think overall it makes sense. However, we weren’t so keen on
labeling this new module Dashboard. We felt that the Analysis
reporting features would be used much more than Dashboard
reporting so Analysis or even Reporting made more sense to us. In
the end we decided to rename the Dashboard module to Analysis
using the REPLACE_TITLE Site Configuration parameter.
Dashboard Pages
Overview: The new Dashboard module also contains a tab called
Dashboard View that provides a dashboard style display of graphs
stored in the Analysis View tab.
Old Dashboard? For some the word “Dashboard” might evoke
memories of the old QC 9.0/9.2 Dashboard application - a product
installed separate from Quality Center. It maintained its own
database populated on schedule with Quality Center project data
extracted by standard and/or custom KPIs. Extracted data was used
to efficiently produce a variety of Dashboard specific graphs for
Requirements, Tests, Runs, and Defects. The graphs could be
positioned onto page displays and published (pushed) to Dashboard
users. Users could also create their own custom page displays of the
available Dashboard graphs a la carte.
New Dashboard: The QC 10.00 Dashboard View tab is built into
Quality Center so it pulls directly from project data in real time which
is good for your data but maybe not so good for system
performance. The graphs used for the Dashboard pages are
selected from the customized graphs already established in the
Analysis View tab. To “publish” a Dashboard page you simply save
the page into a Public folder accessible to all project users. You can
also create your own custom page displays and save them in your
Private folders.
Dashboard page configuration itself is very simple to
operate. Several graphs can be displayed on a page at one time
stacked on top of each other or positioned side by side. A system
configuration can be used to limit the number of graphs on a single
page to help with performance concerns. Graphs can be single or
double width depending on what looks best. Pages can be displayed
full screen and individual graphs can be expanded to full screen as
well. Expanded graphs can be saved and printed just as if you were
viewing them in the Analysis View tab. The full Dashboard page itself
however cannot be saved, printed, or linked to directly. Right now it
is online view only from within Quality Center.
My Assessment: To simplify the installation and administration of
the old Dashboard product HP decided to build Dashboard page view
capabilities into Quality Center itself. The implementation is rather
minimal at this point but I know HP has more improvements and
features in mind for later versions of Quality Center. Most users
probably won’t get much use out of it unless they have a need to
display several project graphs on a page for comparison purposes.
Managers will see more value but may be disappointed that they
cannot create PDF’s or link to the views from other online resources.
The old Dashboard missed the mark for many customers but in all
fairness it did also have its share of redeeming qualities. I really liked
having it populate a separate database with data specifically
extracted for the desired reports. This helped shield Quality Center
from some of the performance problems that could be encountered
with the new “real time” data approach. Ultimately a hi-bred of the
two is what I would like to see. A separate reporting database with
controls and access built into Quality Center.
Business Components (BPT)
Overview: The Business Components module is a separately
licensed product. BPT (which stands for Business Process Testing)
is what the Business Components module is all about. It’s a way
of taking your system and breaking it down into its various functional
processes. Processes can be defined by one or more BPT
components each with specific testing information. Then in the test
plan module multiple components can be stacked together to create
functional tests. BPT can be used for manual testing and since it also
integrates with QTP, it is a great way to structure automated tests as
well.
Enhancements: In QC 10.00 the Business Components module
received several key functionality enhancements.
These
enhancements help bring this module up to speed with the other
modules and provide some nice features as well including:
o
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Flows
Convert manual tests to BPT components
Parameter promotion
User defined fields & workflow scripting
Choices when copying components between projects
Dependencies tab
BPT Resources folder
History tab
Dynamic dates
Analysis reports and graphs
Cross filtering
Send mail
Flows: When creating tests in the Test Plan module there is a new
Test Type item called Flows. Flows are used with Business
Components when building Business Process Tests. They can
define smaller scenarios that can be combined into more complex
business processes. For example say you have the following
components that are executed at the beginning of several tests:
1) Load application
2) Login
3) Select Hyperlink
These three BPT components could be set up in a Test Plan as a
Login Flow and any Business Process Test could add this Login
Flow along with other regular BPT components and even other Flows
to formulate a complete test. When adding items to Business
Process Tests you can select components from the Components tab
and Flows from the Flows tab. If a component in a Flow is updated,
all tests containing that Flow will also be updated with the new
version. Flows can also specify advanced Run Condition settings in
the test plan.
Manual test conversion: With QC 10.00 you now have the ability to
take any manual test in the Test Plan module and convert it into
a component in the Business Components module. You can
convert a single test or an entire folder of tests at a time. The test’s
Description, Comments, Design Steps, and Test Parameters are all
carried over to the newly created component. Make sure you refresh
the display in the Business Components module to see it. The
original test is left intact and can still be used if desired. It does not
appear to do anything special with “Call to Tests” however. To
account for that you would need to also convert the called tests and
then make sure to assemble everything in the correct order in a new
Test Plan Business-Process test.
Parameter promotion: When you add a BPT component with
defined parameters to a Test Plan a dialog box opens prompting to
promote none, all, or some of the parameters to the test level.
UDFs & workflow scripting: New fields can now be added to the
BPT Details tab. Workflow scripting can also be added if desired to
change fields based on other field choices and so on.
Copy project to project: If you copy/paste a component or
component test into another project with two browsers open, you now
have several choices for handling any items associated with those
components and component tests.
Dependencies tab: A new Dependencies tab replaces the Used By
tab. It displays dependency relationships between entities such as
components, tests, test resources, and application areas. Application
area resources such as function libraries previously visible only from
QTP can now be viewed from this tab within Quality Center.
BPT Resources folder: In QC 9.0/9.2 when you connect QTP to a
Quality Center project for the first time a BPT Resources folder is
created in the Test Plan module. In QC 10.00 this folder is created
in the new Test Resources module instead. A QC 9.0/9.2 project’s
BPT Resources folder will be copied to the Test Resources module
when you run the QTP Asset Upgrade Tool for Quality Center on
that project after it has been upgraded.
History tab: BPT components now have a History section in which
to view field value changes as with Requirements and Defects.
Dynamic dates: You can now specify run-time date parameters as
date strings relative to the current date. When the test runs it
resolves the date and Last Run Results will show the actual date
used. Examples:
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[Today + 3 days]
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[Today – 6 days]
[Tomorrow – 2 weeks]
[MonthFromToday]
[YearAgo – 1 month]
Analysis reports and graphs: Reports and Graphs can now be
created for BPT components just like with Requirements, Tests, and
Defects. A selection of standard reports and graphs is provided.
Cross filtering: The BPT module’s filter feature now has a cross filter
option similar to Requirements, Tests, and Defects. The Test Plan
module also now includes BPT components in its cross filter section.
Send mail: There is now a Send by Email option similar to the
Requirements, Test, and Defects modules allowing you to easily
send information about a BPT component to another Quality Center
user.
My Assessment: The new additions will be very useful to those
currently using the BPT module and may help encourage others to
start using the module. Since it can be daunting to manually redo all
of your project tests as business components the test conversion
feature is a big plus.
Be aware that Business Component Test Plans in projects with
Version Control enabled show all the BPT component related buttons
in the Test Script tab as disabled until the component is checked out.
This can make it look like you do not have permission to update the
tests even when you do. After manually checking out the test, the
buttons become available so you can’t click on a button and have it
prompt you to check out the test like you can in other modules.
Test Resources
Overview: Test Resources is a new module in which you can store
certain test related items independent of your tests. The primary
purpose at this point appears to be storing test related artifacts and
associating them with automated test scripts using external tools like
QTP. This allows a user to better manage the relationship
dependencies between these artifacts and analyze the overall impact
when entities change.
Resources: For example, when QTP is used with Quality Center
9.0/9.2 it stores function libraries, object libraries, and recovery
scenarios as attachments in the Test Plan module’s BPT Resources
folder. Quality Center 10.00 now stores these items as resources in
the new Test Resources module. Other types of resources can be
added as well. QC 10.00 provides the following defined types into
which you can upload one file with the indicated extensions:
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Data table (.xls)
Environment variables (.xml)
Function library (.qfl, .vbs, .txt)
Recovery scenario (.qrs)
Shared object repository (.tsr)
Test Resource (*.*)
The module includes a Resource Viewer tab which conveniently
displays the contents of some of the Test Resources right in the tab
itself.
Dependencies: The Dependencies tab provides a list of what tests
and resources use each resource as well as the resources that it
uses. Tests in the Test Plan module also have a Dependencies tab
which shows these relationships. Attempts to find ways to establish
these relationships through Quality Center itself will be in vain as they
can only be set up through QTP and other 3rd party testing
tools. There are however APIs that can be used to create
dependencies so someone with the appropriate programming skills
might be able to come up with something to create these as well.
Known Issue: When creating new Test Resources there is a known
issue that we found rather annoying. In most cases you have to press
Submit or Cancel twice before it takes effect. The issue has been
reported to HP Support. Until it is fixed you can either press Enter,
click twice on Submit, or sometimes holding your mouse button down
a couple seconds until you see the button depress works too.
My Assessment: QTP users will get the most bang for the buck with
this module. The ability to version QTP related resources and view
dependency relationships will be a plus and I’m sure more
advantages are on the way with future versions.
Non QTP users can still create test resources and upload files to them
but other than central storage, version control, and baselining they
can’t do much with it. The resource viewer will show Excel docs (if
type is Data table) and .txt files (if type is Function library) but other
types of files cannot be viewed in the module itself. Since you can’t
create dependencies in QC for test resources either, non QTP users
might decide to continue to store their test assets as attachments in
the other modules for now.
General UI Changes
Module Tab Changes:
o
Requirements module / Details view – To give the Rich Text
pane more initial room to display, the QC 9.2 Rich Text tab
moves from the bottom tab bar (where it was next to Description
and Comments) up to the top tab bar next to Attachments. All
modules covered by Version Control and Baselines also get a
new History tab on the top tab bar as well. In the
Requirements module the History tab includes the same info as
the History button on the Requirement Details pop-up window.
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Requirements module / Risk Assessment view - Business
Criticality and Failure Probability are now included as sub-tabs
of the new Risk Assessment tab. A new Functional
Complexity tab has been added to provide more info on risk
calculations.
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Business Components module / Tree view - The Used By
tab has been renamed to Dependencies. This tab contains the
information from the old Used By tab as a sub-tab along with
two new sub-tabs: Resources and Application Area. A new
History tab has been added next to the new Dependencies tab.
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Test Plan module / Tree view - A new Test Parameters tab
has been added next to the Test Script tab. This replaces the
Test Parameters button in the Design Steps tab. A new
Dependencies tab has been added next to the Linked Defects
tab and a new History tab has been added next to the
Dependencies tab.
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Test Lab module / Tree view - The Test Set Properties tab
was removed and its sub-tabs relocated. The Notifications
and On Failure sub-tabs became the new Automation
tab. The Details and Attachments sub-tabs moved out to the
main tab bar. The repositioned Details tab is now the first
tab. Selecting a test set will default the display to the Details
tab until the Execution Grid tab is selected. THIS CAN
INITIALLY BE VERY CONFUSING TO EXISTING USERS
BECAUSE THE SELECT TESTS BUTTON IS ALWAYS
DISABLED ON THE DETAILS TAB!
Module Menu Changes:
o
The Requirements, Components, Test Plan, and Test
Resources modules gain a new menu called Versions in
projects with Version Control enabled.
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Business Components module - The Components menu
has a new Send by E-Mail option that can be used to send
details about a component to a user. A new Analysis menu
has been added to the menu bar providing standard reports and
graphs.
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Test Plan module - The Tests menu has a new Convert to
Component option and a new Convert to Component button
now appears on the menu bar. The Test Parameters button
on the Design Steps tab has been replaced by the Test
Parameters tab.
Miscellaneous Usability Improvements
Overview: The following improvements are also available with
Quality Center 10.00
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You can update a field value for more than one record at a time
in the Requirements, Test Plan (grid only), and Defects
modules.
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Manual test parameters are considered properties of a test
instead of part of a design step making them easier to manage
and reuse in multiple design steps.
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Performance is improved over WAN networks due to
compression of HTTP traffic between the client and the server.
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Functional Complexity information can now be captured in the
RBT (risk based testing) assessment for requirements.
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The tool bar on several modules now spans all panes making
more of the tool buttons visible.
Mark Ford | IT System Analyst - Sr | Principal Financial Group | http://www.linkedin.com/in/markeford