Tracking test execution status from within test plans or test suites

You can track test execution status from within a test plan or test suite.

About this task

Starting in version 4, you can view live test case and test suite execution status in a test plan, without the need to use any of the reporting tools. This status is managed entirely by the quality management tool, and shows live data.

There are four default execution progress status bars in the test plan overview, two for test cases and two for test suites. Two of the status bars show the relationship between test estimates and actual time spent. The other two status bars show test execution progress in relation to the weight (or point) values that are assigned to each test case or test suite. You can configure the display of the test plan to include two additional status bars that show test execution status in relation to the number of tests attempted. You can also configure the display so that none of the status bars are displayed.

Tip: Click the User Profile (); then click My Preferences for Quality Management > Test Plan Editor Execution Status to change the status bar configuration for test plans.

From inside of a test suite, you can see live test case execution status without using the reporting tools. There are two default execution progress status bars in the test suite overview. One shows the relationship between test estimates and actual time spent. The other shows the test execution progress in relation to the weight (or point) values that are assigned to each test case or test suite. You can configure the display of the test suite to include an additional status bar that shows test execution status in relation to the number of tests attempted. Like with test plans, you can also configure the display so that none of the status bars are displayed.

Tip: Click the User Profile (); then click My Preferences for Quality Management > Test Suite Editor Execution Status to change the status bar configuration for test suites.

For tracking to be useful, it is important that testers provide an Estimate and specify a Weight value when they originally create test cases and test suites. The Estimate and Weight values that testers assign are then propagated to the test case and test suite execution records, which then serve as input to the execution status bars in the test plan or test suite.

To use the status bars to track execution progress:

1. From an open test plan or test suite, hover over any of the execution status bars in the overview section.
   • Hover over the Progress Report: Estimate to see a summary of time spent versus estimate.
   • Hover over the Progress Report: Points to see a summary of test execution progress compared to weight. The summary shows Points Attempted, Pass, Fail, Blocked, Inconclusive, and Points Unattempted.
   • Hover over the Progress Report: Attempts to see a summary of test execution progress compared to the number of tests attempted. The summary shows the number of tests that are in each execution state, for example Pass, Fail, Blocked, In Progress, Inconclusive.
2. Click any of the status bars or click Details to open a list of test case execution records.
3. Use the filtering and querying features to narrow down the list as needed.
4. Use the list to help determine the up-to-the-minute status of your test effort.