Merging configurations in the QM application

In the Quality Management (QM) application, you can merge test artifacts from baselines to streams. Streams are configurations that can change, whereas baselines are configurations that do not. You can merge content from a static baseline to a stream to incorporate changes that were made in another version or variant of your test assets.

Before you begin

About this task

When you merge test artifacts from a baseline into a stream, some sections of test artifact editors do not support the Accept section and Merge section operations. The following tables show the support for each test artifact type.

Table 1. Test plan
Section Accept Merge
Summary Yes No
Business Objectives Yes No
Test Objectives Yes No
Formal Review No No
Requirement Collection Links Yes Yes
Development Plan Links Yes Yes
Risk Assessment No No
Test Schedule No No
Test Estimation Yes No
Test Environments Yes No
Quality Objectives Yes No
Entry Criteria Yes No
Exit Criteria Yes No
Test Suites Yes Yes
Test Cases Yes Yes
Test Case Execution Records Yes No
Test Suite Execution Records Yes No
Resources No No
Attachments No No
Application Security No No
Associated E-Signature No No
Child Test Plans Yes Yes
Instruments and Test Equipment No No
Normative and Informative Documents Yes No
Sampling Strategy Yes No
Software Test Environment Details No No
Test Bed Yes No
Test Case Results No No
Test Suite Results No No
Test Conditions Yes No
Test Data Yes No
Test Identification Yes No
Test Plan Scope Yes No
Test Scripts No No
Test Strategy Yes No
Test Team No No
Table 2. Test case
Section Accept Merge
Summary Yes No
Test Case Design Yes No
Formal Review No No
Development Items Yes Yes
Requirement Links Yes Yes
Risk Assessment No No
Pre-Condition Yes No
Post-Condition Yes No
Expected Results Yes No
Test Scripts Yes Yes
Test Case Execution Records No Yes
Attachments No No
Execution Variables No No
Associated E-Signature No No
Normative and Informative Documents Yes No
Notes Yes No
Test Case Scope Yes No
Test Description Yes No
Test Preparation Yes No
Table 3. Test script
Section Accept Merge
Summary No No
Formal Review No No
Manual Steps Yes No
Execution Variables No No
Associated E-Signature No No
Keyword Coverage No No
Remote Script No No
Table 4. Test suite
Section Accept Merge
Summary Yes No
Test Suite Design Yes No
Formal Review No No
Risk Assessment No No
Pre-Condition Yes No
Post-Condition Yes No
Expected Results Yes No
Test Cases Yes No
Test Suite Execution Records No Yes
Attachments No No
Execution Variables No No
Associated E-Signature No No
Normative and Informative Documents Yes No
Table 5. Keyword
Section Accept Merge
Summary Yes No
Detailed Description Yes No
Test Scripts No No
Table 6. Test environment
Section Accept Merge
Description No No
Coverage No No
Lab Resource Description No No
Table 7. Test case execution record
Section Accept Merge
Summary Yes No
Blocking Defects No No
Previous Result Details No No
Table 8. Test suite execution record
Section Accept Merge
Summary Yes No
Test Case Execution Records No No
Previous Result Details No No
Table 9. Test case result
Section Accept Merge
Weight Distribution No No
Test Environment No No
Defects No No
Notes Yes No
Categories No No
Execution Variables No No
Custom Properties No No
Previous Results No No
Result Details No No
Formal Review No No
State of Test Artifacts No No
Associated E-Signature No No
Table 10. Test suite result
Section Accept Merge
Summary No No
Test Environment No No
Categories No No
Weight Distribution No No
Result Details No No
Associated E-Signature No No
Execution Variables No No
State of Test Artifacts No No
Formal Review No No

Procedure

  1. Open a stream that you want to be the target of any merged differences. You cannot select a baseline as the target of a merge.
    For information about how to switch configurations, see Selecting a configuration to work in.
  2. On the menu bar, click the current configuration.
    The current configuration is the target of any changes that result from a merge operation.
  3. Under Local Configuration, click Merge Configuration.
  4. If your role has the permissions to restore from a baseline, select your merge option and then click OK.
    • Custom merge: Select this option to control the changes to accept from the source configuration, and manually merge any conflicting changes. This merge option is the preferred option, and is useful if you want to skip a merge or merge conflicting changes manually.
    • Restore from baseline: Select this option to automatically accept all the changes and additions from the source configuration and apply them to the target configuration. You can review the changes before you commit them. This option is useful if you want to replace the shared content in the target configuration with changes and new content from a baseline configuration.
    Note: Artifacts that exist only in the target configuration are not altered or removed.
    Users without the permissions to restore from a baseline proceed automatically to a custom merge operation. For more information about the required permissions for restoring from a baseline, see Allowing a team member to restore from a baseline during a merge operation.
  5. If you selected Restore from baseline, complete the following steps to restore the target configuration:
    1. To review the results from the restore operation, select the artifact types with differences. You can then select one or more individual artifacts, click the Action menu, and select Show Details of <Test Artifact> Comparison.
    2. To save the changes to your target configuration, click Commit.
    3. To cancel the merge operation, click Close.
    After you click Commit, the artifact changes are saved to the target configuration and the merge operation is complete.
  6. If your role does not have the Restore From Baseline permission, or if you selected the custom merge option, a comparison editor opens that shows a summary of each test artifact in that type. To complete a merge operation, in the summary, select a type of artifact with changes and complete any of the following steps:
    1. Optional: To accept all non-conflicting changes for the artifacts listed, click the Accept all non-conflicting <arifact types> icon (Accept all non-conflicting artifacts).
      The center column displays an arrow decoration, which indicates that these artifacts are pending to be merged when you click the icon. Artifacts that display an exclamation icon in the center column will not be automatically merged.
    2. Select one or more artifacts, click the Action menu, and then select a merge option:
      • Replace with source: Select this option to capture history entries or events from last update or modification from baseline, which was originally done by user who actually modified the artifact and not the user who is merging the configuration. Since, this entry talks about source artifact from baseline, entry details are exactly similar to baseline artifact.
      • Manually Merge: Select this option to open a detailed comparison between the source and target configurations of an individual artifact. It captures username and time from the user who is doing manual merge and actually changing the record in merge session. Entries are for artifact which is manually merged. You can review and accept differences or make manual edits. When you are finished, save your changes.

        For more information about the actions you can perform on target artifacts during a manual merge, see Manual merges.

      • Keep target version: Select this option to reject changes from the source configuration. It captures history entries/events from last update of that artifact in current stream who has done the actual changes and not the user who is merging the records. For example: If changes to artifact is done by "User1", however "User2" has done the merge, then the entry will talk about artifact modifications done by "User1" and not about merge done by "User2".

Results

As the merge operation proceeds, the merge status, the number of items to merge, and the success merging individual artifacts is indicated.