Master and Child Test Plans in Rational Quality Manager
Rational Quality Manager (RQM) 2.0.1 provides a master test plan to enable the grouping of multiple test plans. Creating a new child plan creates a new test plan that inherits data (e.g. quality objectives, exit criteria) from the master test plan.
Creating a master test plan
You create a master test plan by adding one or several child test plans to a test plan. You can use existing test plans as children or create new plans. A child test plan cannot have child test plans of its own.
- Open a test plan or create a new one.
- Add the child test plans section to the test plan.
- In the area above the table of contents, click Manage Sections.
- Select Show all sections to display all of the available sections.
- In the Available Sections list, select Child Test Plans and move the item to the Selected Sections list by clicking the Move right
icon. - Optional: Move the child test plan to the top of the list by using the Move up
icon. - Click OK to close the Manage Sections window.
- In the Table of Contents, click the Child Test Plans section.
- To add a test plan to the master, click the Add Existing Test Plan icon
. - Select one or more test plans from the list and click OK.
- To create a test plan and add it as a child, click the Add New Child Plan icon
. and provide a name and description. The new child inherits the section information from the master. - Optional: Click Roll Up Objectives to include child test plans in the calculation of quality objectives.
- Click Save to save the new master test plan.
Note: If you have a long list of child test plans, you can sort the list by selecting one of the choices in the Group by list.
Quality objectives include the overall quality goals for a release, or the entrance or exit criteria. RQM includes several automatically-calculated quality objectives, such as Execution Record Pass Rate and the Number of Open Sev1 Defects allowed. Roll up means that when the child objectives are added to the master, the children are included in the calculation. For example, assume that the exit criteria for the master specifies that there must be fewer than five severity-one defects. If the master already has two severity-one defects, and a child has four, then the exit criteria for the master cannot be met if you include the child quality objectives.
How do you differentiate between the master and child test plan?
- Look for the icon next to the test plan in the View Test Plan window that indicates if it is a master or a child test plan.
- When you open a child test plan, you will also see a link for the associated master test plan.
- Only the master test plan will have “Child Test Plans” under the Table of Contents.
Limitations
- This option of creating a master test plan is available only from RQM 2.0.1 and later.
- RQM only supports a single level of test plan hierarchy. A child test plan cannot have child test plans of its own.
- Any associated child test plan cannot be made a child test plan to another master test plan.
Some Known Defects
- Removing master test plan prevents adding child.
- Copy utility copies child test plan as a master test plan
- Child plan – master plan linking not working via the REST API
- Master/Child test plan issues – Printing
- TER can not include Children and Master test plans
About the author
Srikanth Bhushan is part of the Rational Support team in Bangalore. He can be contacted at srikanth.bhushan@in.ibm.com.
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