Hp-QC Tutorial: Quality Center - Common Functionalities

Commonly used Functionalities:

HP Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) displays data in infragistics grid view or in a tree structure and users can manipulate the data in various ways, such as rearranging columns, filtering, sorting, and grouping.

One can also attach files to those grid records, search for specific text in records, and view history of various entities. The following features are to be understood to ensure that users are able to work with Quality center seamlessly.

Click on each one of those links to know more about the common functionalities.

Common Functionality	Description
Filter Dialog Box	Enables user to perform filter ALM data based on defined criteria.
Users Dialog Box	Enables users to choose a user name from the list of users.
Find Dialog Box	Enables users to search for a particular record in a tree view or grid view
Replace Dialog Box	Enables user to find and replace a specific field value in a tree or grid.
History Tab	Enables user to view a list of changes made to the currently selected workitem.
Send Email Dialog	Enables quality center users to send an email about the details of an entity to other users.
Attachments Dialog	Enables users to add and manage attachments to a specific record.
Snapshot Dialog	Enables users to capture and attach screenshot of your application under test to an entity in ALM.
Column chooser Dialog	Allows users to select the columns that they wish to see in the grid view.
Set Defaults Dialog	Enables users to set default values for certain fields in ALM.
Alerts and Flags Dialog	Enables users to view a list of alerts for a selected record and also allows them to create, view, and modify a follow up flag to remind themselves to follow up on an issue
Favorites Dialog	Allows user to create and organize favorites.

Filter

Filter functionality in ALM helps user to view a specific data based on certain criteria. Filters are applicable across all modules viz - Requirements, Test Plan, Test Lab and Defects.

Let us understand how it works in requirements module. User can specify one or more criteria in filter dialog box.

Select a Field, "select Filter" dialog box opens. Specify the Filter and click "OK". User can use combination of filters - use "OR" or "AND" etc.

Upon clicking "OK" after selecting the filter criteria, the main filter dialog displays the selected filter.

The Filter would be applied for the selected entity and can be traced what filter is applied by looking at the filter status bar.

Users:

Users dialog box enables ALM users to choose a user name from the user list. One can sort the users list, search for users, group users by user groups, and select users from the list.

Users list is present in all major modules such as requirements, Test Plan , Defects.

Users can also be listed based on the groups. Users can also search the user by exactly keying in the user name.

Find

This dialog box enables ALM users to search for a particular record in a tree or grid. Users can search records based on the value of a particular field, a folder or a particular subfolder or record.

Find dialog can be accessed either by pressing ctrl+F or by navigating to "Edit" >> "Find"

Users can enter the field name and value that they would like to search and press enter or click "Find". Results would be shown in a small search results dialog.

Replace

This dialog box enables users to find and replace specific field values in a tree or grid. Users can replace a field value for a selected record or for all records in the tree or grid. The Find and Replace dialog can be accessed by navigating to "Edit" Menu and select "replace" or "Replace all" appropriately.

Users cannot use this feature to replace "Ready only" Fields like "ID". Users should select the field to be searched and value to be replaced.

Upon selecting the criteria and replacing it, ALM displays how many instances got replaced as an information to the user.

History

This tab enables user to view all the changes made to the currently selected entity. It also displays a history of baselines in which the entity appears. History includes date,time,old value and New value

One can also delete the history for a particular entity or for all entities by executing clear history from "Tools" >> "Clear History".

Once history is cleared, users will NO longer see the changes made to that entity. Hence it is advised NOT to clear history unless otherwise required. After clearing the history, the history tab becomes empty and shown as below.

Send Mail

Send Mail dialog box enables users to send an email about an entity to other users. The mail can include attachments/history and also enables the recipient to directly access that entity. Send mail functionality can be accessed from various modules by clicking on "send Mail" button as shown below:

Upon clicking on "Send Mail" button, send mail dialog opens.

User has to fill in following information.

• To Email Address - Two or more addresses are seperated by semi colon.
• CC Email Address - Two or more addresses are seperated by semi colon.
• Subject - Autopopulated based on the selected entity.
• Include - Users can include attachments, traced Requirements, Test Coverage, History
• Enter Additional Comments if any.

Attachments

Attachments section enables users to add and manage attachments to ALM records. Users can attach a file, URL, snapshot of the application under test, items from the Clipboard, or even system information.

To attach a file, user has to click on the "upload attachments" icon. This feature is available across entities.

Users can also attach "URL's" by clicking on the "Link" Button available from the menu.

Upon attaching a URL, users can see the full URL in "Description" panel.

Apart from the above features, following features are also widely used.

• System Info - Captures all System parameters automatically and adds it to the attachments list.
• Screenshot - Captures the active screen and uploads into the attachments pane.
• Clipboard - If clipboard is having some data, it automatically uploads as a file.
• Open - Allows users to open an already uploaded attachment.
• Save as - Enables users to save the file into local drive.
• Delete - Used to delete an attachment in the attachment list.
• Refresh All - To Refresh attachments pane.

SnapShot

Snapshot dialog box enables users to capture and attach the screenshot to an ALM record. It can accessed from attachments pane.

The Snapshot dialog opens where one can Zoom in, Zoom out and see on a normal scale.

Drag the "Camera" icon and drop on the window which you want to take it as a screenshot. click on "Attach" once the screenshot is taken.

The taken screenshot is automatically placed in the entity as shown below. Two or more snapshots to the same entity will be named uniquely by HP-ALM.

Column Chooser

Column Chooser option in ALM allows user to select only the columns that the user would like to see in their view. Rest of the columns will be hidden from the user view. Column chooser option is available in requirements, Test Lab, Test Runs and Defects module.

For choosing only the necessary columns, user has to click on "Column Chooser" button.

The column Chooser dialog opens for the user to choose the necessary columns. There are only 4 columns that are visible to the user at the moment and can be added by the user.

User cannot unselect everything from their view as "Name" field will always be there under "Visible Columns". Select any field and click on ">" button. The selected field moves to visible columns list.After selecting the relevant columns, hit "OK" and user will be able to see the selected columns in the view. In this case "Prioirty" is added to the user view as shown below.

Set Defaults

Set defaults allows HP ALM users to set default values for certain fields which will autopopulate when user creates a new item of that type. It is applicable for the modules - new tests,test configurations, design steps, and defects.

The Set Defaults option can be accessed by navigating to "Edit" >> "Set Defaults". The Set defaults dialog opens as shown below.

Next step is to select the field and default Field values that user wish to key in for that entity type.

Add/Remove from the list using the appropriate buttons and user can also enable "when creating a new entity, use these defaults automatically" which will prepopulate these fields moment the user creates a new item of that type.

Alerts and Flags

Alerts

HP ALM can alert the associated entities and notify those responsible for any associated entities. Project administrators can activate alert rules based on associations that users make between requirements, tests, and defects.

Once the alert criteria meets, users are alerted with a "RED" coloured bell symbol as shown below.

User can click on the "Red" Bell symbol and understand what the alert is all about.

The alert message shows very clearly that priority of that item got changed and we need to review it. This was set under "Alert Rules" under project customization page. User can click on the "Clear all" to clear the alert which will be shown in history of that work item.

Flags

ALM users can add a follow up flag to a specific requirement, test, test instance, or a defect to remind themselves to follow up on an issue. This will make the users conscious about an work item that needs a follow up.

User can access the Flag functionality right from the menu buttons available in each one of the modules - Requirements, Test Plan, Test Lab, Defects.

Upon clicking on "Flag", "Flag for Follow up" Dialog opens where a user can specify the date and brief description about the follow up as shown below.

After adding a flag, it will display against that specific work item as shown below. Users can clear that flag anytime by clicking on the flag icon and hit "clear flag" button.

Favorites

Favorites in ALM work similar to "Bookmarks" on a web-browser. It allows user to navigate to that page with just a single click. Users can save this view as a favorite view to be reloaded and navigate to that page easily in future. Favorites are of two variants as explained below :

• Private - Available only for the user who has logged in.
• Public - Available for all users who has got access to that project.

Favorites are allowed in the following modules - Requirements, Test Plan, Test Lab and Defects. Favorites can be created after filtering/choosing definite columns. Whenever the favorites are loaded, it loads with the same view as it was created.

Click on "Add to favorites" button, the "Add to favorite" dialog opens. User has to key in the favorite name and the type of favorite(public/private).

Upon creating the favorite successfully, we can access it by navigating to "favorites" menu and select the type of favorite and favorite name that the user have created.

User can also know if the favorites are loaded or NOT by looking at the status bar. It will clearly display what are the filters applied and the name of the favorite that was loaded.