This topic applies only to the Quality Management (QM) application. In projects
enabled for baselines, you create baselines as needed to capture artifact versions at milestones or
critical points in a release. Typically, a configuration lead or application administrator manages
the baselines for your team, but team members might also compare baselines or merge content into the
current version.
Before you begin
- The QM project area must be enabled for baselines. For details, see the
related topic.
- To create baselines or modify their properties, you must be
assigned the corresponding permission.
- To merge the contents of a baseline into the stream, you must have
permission to merge configurations.
About this task
A baseline is a frozen collection of artifacts. Baselines are
useful for capturing the state of a project area at a specific time. Neither the set of versions nor
the artifacts can be changed.
You can switch your view to a baseline, but you can't delete any items
within the baseline. If you permanently delete an item in the Trash view, that item is deleted from
the baseline (as it is for snapshots).
A stream is a modifiable collection of artifacts.
In the QM application, baselines capture the version of many QM
artifact types, but some artifact types are unversioned, as shown in the following table. For
unversioned artifacts, there is only one version. The same artifact is used in all locations, never
a different version.
Artifacts that Are Versioned |
Artifacts that Are Not Versioned |
Test plans Test cases
Test suites
Test
scripts
Test Environments*
Keywords
Test case execution records
Test suite
execution records
Test case results
Test suite results
Execution
schedules*
Execution schedule results*
|
Build definition Build
records
Attachments
Category and category values
Custom attributes
Query
filters
Quality objectives
Risk types
Lab management:
Catalog (type
system)
Test cells
Test adapters
Lab resources
Lab resource groups
Lab
reservations
Requests
|
Procedure
-
Click .
-
Work with baselines:
For the following tasks, select the corresponding action from the Action
Menu.
- Delete (archive) a baseline
Select Delete Baseline. Deleting
(archiving) a baseline removes it from view and you can no longer use it. It is moved to the Trash
view, but not permanently deleted; you can restore it again when you need it.
Archived items
are not included in search and query results and Report
Builder
reports.
- Edit baseline properties
Select Baseline Properties. Then,
change the baseline name and description to make baselines easy to identify.
- Compare the current versions of artifacts with those in a baseline
- Click Compare with Current Version.
- In the Compare view, click an artifact type to
see which artifacts differ.
- To view the differences between specific artifacts, in
the list near the bottom of the page, click .
- In the Compare pane that opens, on the left, click
through each artifact section and look for the differences.
- Repeat steps b, c, and d as needed.
You cannot merge changes from this view; see merging in the next option.
- Merge entire artifacts or only specific changes
Example: You made incorrect updates
to a test case and you want to revert to an earlier version in the most recent baseline. Merge that
baseline and stream, but select only the artifact to replace. If you simply copy the artifact from
the baseline, you lose its history.
- Click Merge into the Current Version.
- In the Merge view, click an artifact type to merge.
- In the list near the bottom of the page, click Action
Menu beside the artifacts to work with, and choose an action:
- Replace with source: Replace the current artifact version with the
version from the baseline.
- Manually merge: Open a detailed comparison between the two versions of an
artifact. Review and accept differences or make manual edits. Save your changes when you
finish.
- Keep target version: No changes to the current version.
- Repeat steps b and c as needed.
- View artifacts in a baseline
Click Switch to This Baseline.
Browse the artifact versions that were used at a specific time, for example, at a milestone in a
release. You cannot edit artifacts in a baseline.
After you view a baseline, you might
discover you need to merge changes from a baseline into the current artifact version. To merge
differences, merge as in the previous option.
To resume working with
artifacts, click the current version link near the top of the
page.
- Comparing baselines
- Switch to a baseline: Beside one of the baselines to compare, click Switch to This
Baseline.
- Open the list of baselines again: Click .
- Beside the other baseline to compare, click .
- In the Compare view, click an artifact type to
see which artifacts differ.
- To view the differences between specific artifacts, in
the list near the bottom of the page, click .
- In the Compare pane that opens, on the left, click
through each artifact section and look for the differences.
- Repeat steps d, e, and f as needed.
- To resume working with
artifacts, click the current version link near the top of the
page.