It's all about the answers!

Ask a question

RQM v4.0.2 Lock, Retire, Cleanup and etc, how do they work?


Li Chen (11923742) | asked Aug 12 '13, 6:17 p.m.
edited Aug 12 '13, 6:22 p.m.

We have a release, major or minor, for each month, and for each release we have more than 10000 test cases under a hundred test plans.

After the release, we need to

1. For test plans, put them in a state that

    1.1 they cannot be modified, for the sake of audit

    1.2 they are not shown on reports by default, and they can be shown on the reports if choosen

    1.3 they can be excluded from query/browse by default, but they can be included if needed to

    1.4 when browse other workitems they are not shown in filters by defaul but can be seen when needed 

    1.5 they can be put back in active state or at least they are still allowed to be duplicated.

2. For test cases, put them in a similar state as specified in the above for test plans, but the concerns are

    2.1 How to identify the 10 thousand test cases for that operation?

    2.2 Whether it can be done by choosing the test plans and put all test cases under the test plans to that state?

    2.3 For some test cases that are reused or to be reused by other test plans, how to avoid from being putting in such a state?

3. For the 10 thousand TCERs and test results, put them in a similar state and make them excluded from database operations so performace can be enhanced.

4. If we define a category for test cases, how to put all test cases with certain values for that category in to that state?

One answer



permanent link
Tory Jaskoviak (52015) | answered Aug 26 '13, 12:31 p.m.
JAZZ DEVELOPER
edited Aug 26 '13, 12:31 p.m.
Hi Li,

So to address your question about test plans, I don't believe there is one state to accomplish all of your prerequisistes. Having said that, we do provide several attributes that you can configure to manage test plans (which can all be found in the 'Manage this Project Area').

Preconditions & Follow-up Actions - https://jazz.net/help-dev/clm/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.ibm.rational.test.qm.doc%2Ftopics%2Fc_define_preconditions.html

For a test plan, you can set the following:
  • Disallow Saving of Test Plans with State Approved or Retired
  • Disallow Transition to Approved until All Test Cases Approved
  • Disallow Transition to Under Review until Associated Work Items Resolved
  • Required Approvals
  • E-Signature Required for Lock/Unlock

Auto-Lock - https://jazz.net/help-dev/clm/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.ibm.rational.test.qm.doc%2Ftopics%2Ft_configure_autolock.html

  • Auto-lock will automatically transition the artifact between 'locked' and 'unlocked' states depending on the workflow state (Draft, Under Review, Approved, Retired).

Approval Trackings - https://jazz.net/help-dev/clm/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.ibm.rational.test.qm.doc%2Ftopics%2Ft_define_approval_tracking.html

  • Approval Trackings allows automatic transitions between artifact workflow states (Draft, Under Review, etc.) based on an Approval/Review.

You should be able to combine these attributes together. For example, you can set an Approval Tracking to transition to 'Under Review' when a Review is created. You can also have an Auto-Lock configured to 'lock' the artifact while it is in the 'Under Review' workflow state.

In terms of preventing the modification of a test artifact for audit reasons, using the 'Disallow Saving of Test Plans with State Approved or Retired' Precondition & Follow-up Action will accomplish this for approved artifacts. You can also set an Auto-lock and require an E-signature to unlock the artifact.

In terms of reporting, you should be able to configure queries and other reports to include artifacts of a certain state (you can neglect Retired test plans for example). You can also filter by state in the list view. For example, when you are in Browse Test Plans, you can open the Inline Filters and filter by Test Plan State, among other options. I don't believe there is a way to prevent an artifact from being duplicated (regardless of workflow or locked state), short of actually deleting the test artifact.


To address your question about test cases, if I understand your question correctly, it boils down to bulk editing test cases. So RQM does allow a way to bulk edit test artifacts - using any of the list views. That is to say, you can go into the test case list in a given test plan and select/edit multiple artifacts at once. You can also go into Browse Test Cases. Here you can filter based on any attribute (using category filters or inline filtering) - you can select one, multiple, or select all and edit a particular attribute, such as a category, for all selected items. Obviously, if you try to bulk edit artifacts that are in a state preventing modification, such artifacts will not be modified.

Please note that it is highly recommended that you take database backups prior to performing bulk edits (especially on ten thousand elements). Since bulk edits are very powerful, you should ensure you have a backup in case of user error when modifying many artifacts.

Hopefully I addressed all of your questions/concerns.

Regards,

Tory

Your answer


Register or to post your answer.


Dashboards and work items are no longer publicly available, so some links may be invalid. We now provide similar information through other means. Learn more here.