HP ALM Templates to the Rescue
Overall Satisfaction with HP Application Lifecycle Management
- The traceability between tests and defects allows testers to create defects directly from the test case, including the detailed steps to recreate the defect for the developers. Upon fixing the issue and deploying, testers can rerun the appropriate tests.
- Being able to test across multiple environments ensures that visibility into issues, developing regression scripts and other repeatable actions are available for different teams, reducing duplication of effort.
- Integration with testing tools such as Selenium, Unified Functional Test, etc. allows for development of automated regression suites to assist in maintaining clean code as it moves through the development lifecycle, especially on mature applications.
- The requirements module is not as user friendly as other applications, such as Blue Bird. Managing requirements is usually done in another tool. However, having the requirements in ALM is important to ensure traceability to tests and defects.
- Reporting across multiple ALM repositories is not supported within the tool. Only graphs are included within ALM functionality. Due to size considerations, one or two projects is not a good solution. Alternatively, we have started leveraging the template functionality within ALM and are integrating with a third party reporting tool to work around this issue.
- NET (not Octane) requires a package for deployment to machines without administrative rights. Every time there is a change, a new package must be created, which increases the time to deploy. It also forces us to wait until multiple patches have been provided before updating production.
- By developing a single template for use across all divisions, common training, ease of reporting, and consistent use is gained by the enterprise. This meets many requirements imposed by regulators as well as reducing costs for support, integration and training.
- With consistency, we are able to develop regression tests and automate them efficiently. Having a regression suite ensures that code deployment does not break existing code. Once new capabilities are introduced into production, these functional tests can be added to the regression suite and automated for future use.
- As the environment grows, the need to support multiple testing applications is reduced. ALM is scalable. As the number of projects and users increases, adding additional database or application servers is easily managed.
For requirements, we have also reviewed Blue Print, Version One, etc. Currently, the go forward solution is being decided. Whatever the final requirements application is, integration with HP ALM will be done to support traceability.
For testing, there are a large number of applications available. None of them have the traceability functionality that ALM incorporates from a native perspective. That being said, many automation test tools can now be integrated with ALM, allowing users to run their automated tests and record results within ALM, while leveraging the better functionality provided by Selenium or other testing applications.
The biggest drawback for the defect module is the inability to report across multiple repositories within ALM. The solution for us was to leverage templates and add a reporting tool that pulls in the defect information into a single pool. We are transitioning away from ClearQuest because it is not as agile for changes and updates to the database and interface.