Azure DevOps Test Plans Tutorial

Welcome to this comprehensive tutorial on Azure DevOps Test Plans. This guide will walk you through the essential features and functionalities to effectively manage your testing efforts, from creating test cases to executing test suites and analyzing results.

Introduction to Test Plans
Setting Up Your Test Environment
Creating and Managing Test Cases
Organizing with Test Suites
Executing Tests
Reporting and Analysis
Best Practices

1. Introduction to Test Plans

Azure DevOps Test Plans is a powerful tool for planning, executing, and tracking manual and exploratory testing. It integrates seamlessly with other Azure DevOps services like Boards and Repos, providing a unified experience for your entire development lifecycle.

Key benefits include:

Centralized test case management
Flexible test suite organization
Detailed tracking of test execution and results
Integration with work items for traceability
Support for various testing methodologies

2. Setting Up Your Test Environment

Before you start creating tests, ensure your Azure DevOps project is configured correctly. This typically involves:

Navigate to your Azure DevOps project.

Go to the Test Plans section in the left-hand navigation.

If this is your first time, you might be prompted to install the Test Plans extension. Follow the on-screen instructions.

Tip: Ensure your project has the necessary permissions to access and manage test artifacts.

3. Creating and Managing Test Cases

Test cases are the core of your testing effort. You can create them directly within Test Plans.

Creating a New Test Case

In the Test Plans hub, select a Test Suite or create a new one.

Click the + New Test Case button.

Fill in the required fields: Title, Area Path, Iteration Path.

Use the Steps section to define the actions, expected results, and any supporting data.

You can attach files, link to requirements, and set other properties as needed.

Click Save.

Managing Existing Test Cases

You can view, edit, clone, or delete test cases from the Test Plans grid. Use filtering and sorting to find specific test cases efficiently.

4. Organizing with Test Suites

Test Suites help group related test cases, making execution and reporting more manageable.

Types of Test Suites

Requirement-based suites: Automatically include test cases linked to specific requirements.
Feature-based suites: Group test cases by features or user stories.
Product backlog item suites: Link to specific backlog items.
Static suites: Manually curated collections of test cases.

Creating a Test Suite

In the Test Plans hub, right-click on the Test Plan node or an existing suite.

Select New suite and choose the suite type.

Provide a name for the suite and configure its properties (e.g., link to requirements for requirement-based suites).

5. Executing Tests

Azure DevOps provides a rich experience for executing manual tests.

Running a Test Case

Select the test case you want to execute from a Test Suite.

Click the Run button (often looks like a play icon) in the toolbar or test case pane.

The Test Runner window will open, displaying the test steps.

Go through each step, performing the actions and marking the status (Passed, Failed, Blocked, N/A).

If a step fails, you can log a bug directly from the runner, which automatically links it to the test case and current execution.

Once all steps are completed, click Close or Save and Close.

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This visualizer shows your progress through the current test suite.

6. Reporting and Analysis

Azure DevOps offers several ways to track and analyze your testing progress and results.

Test Results: View the outcomes of individual test runs, including passed/failed status, associated bugs, and attachments.
Charts: Create custom charts to visualize test execution trends, pass rates, bug counts, and more. These can be added to dashboards for quick insights.
Pipelines: Integrate automated tests into your CI/CD pipelines and view their results within the pipeline runs.

Adding Test Widgets to Dashboards

Customize your dashboards with widgets like:

Test Results Trend: Shows the pass/fail rate over time.
Test Progress: Displays the number of tests executed and remaining.
Counts of Work Items by State: Useful for tracking bugs.

7. Best Practices

Keep test cases atomic and focused: Each test case should verify a single condition or requirement.
Write clear and concise steps: Ensure testers know exactly what to do and what to expect.
Link test cases to requirements: Maintain traceability from requirements to tests to defects.
Utilize test suites effectively: Group tests logically for easier management and execution.
Log defects promptly and accurately: Provide detailed information when a test fails.
Regularly review and update test cases: Keep them relevant as the application evolves.
Leverage automation for repetitive tasks: Complement manual testing with automated tests where possible.

Tip: Consider creating reusable test steps to save time and ensure consistency.

By following this tutorial, you should have a solid understanding of how to leverage Azure DevOps Test Plans to enhance your software quality assurance processes.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction to Test Plans

2. Setting Up Your Test Environment

3. Creating and Managing Test Cases

Creating a New Test Case

Managing Existing Test Cases

4. Organizing with Test Suites

Types of Test Suites

Creating a Test Suite

5. Executing Tests

Running a Test Case

6. Reporting and Analysis

Adding Test Widgets to Dashboards

7. Best Practices