Releases and testing

Releases need the Releases module and testing needs the Testing module. Each has its own project tab.

Releases

1. Open the project, Releases, and choose New release.
2. Give it a Name (for example 1.4.0), a Description, Start date, Release date, Status and an Owner to ask.
3. Put work into it with the Release field on each work item, or in bulk.

A release shows its progress, blocked items and readiness: Ready to ship, Held back (blocked items or serious open defects) or Work in flight. It also shows recent work, and testing calculated from the bugs it holds and from the test cycles tied to it. The views are Ahead, Released and Archived.

Ship a release

1. Choose Ship it.
2. If work is unfinished, decide: move it to another release (or a new one), take it out of the release, or ship as it is. Shipping as it is keeps a record that the release went out unfinished.

Release notes: choose Generate from items, then rewrite them in your own words.

Affected versions

Affected versions on a work item names the versions a problem was found in. It is not the release that fixes it: there can be several, and naming one does not put the item into that release. A release lists them under Problems found in this version.

Milestones

The Releases tab also holds Milestones: a date something has to be ready by, marked Reached or not. They appear on the Gantt chart.

Test cases

1. Open Testing, view Tests. Organise tests in Folders (New folder, subfolders).
2. Choose New test case and give it a Title.
3. Add Steps, each with an Action and an Expected result (or one expected result for the whole test, depending on the project's setting), plus Preconditions, Test data and files.
4. Set the Status: Draft, Ready, Active, Deprecated or Archived.
5. Under Linked work items, link the work items the test checks by their key; each is marked Covers. A bug raised from a failed run appears there as Defect found.

Duplicate copies a test; History shows its changes. Writing tests needs the Edit test cases permission.

Test cycles

1. View Cycles and choose New cycle: a name, dates, an owner and optionally a Release.
2. Choose Add tests: tick tests or add a whole folder. Nothing is copied; the cycle uses the existing cases.
3. For each test, press a result in the Record column: Passed, Failed, Blocked or Skipped. Add a Comment and the Duration (minutes) if you wish, and choose Record.
4. After a Failed result, the same window takes files under Evidence and offers Raise a bug: the steps and the result travel with it.

The head of a cycle shows how much was executed and the pass rate. Below it, the Cycle overview lists the Failed tests and the results By tester and By folder. Every run of a test is kept.