Workflow and Notifications

The test organizer can activate workflows for test plans, to automatically send e-mail notifications for selected events. For example, the system can inform a tester about released and locked test packages, or, in case of series test case, that a tester has finished a preceding test case.

The following activities trigger the workflow:

When you change the release status of a test plan and thereby allow or forbid the test execution, and if the tester assignment is not locked, an e-mail informs the tester which test packages are ready or not allowed for testing in the tester's worklist.
When you lock or unlock the assignment of a tester to a test package, and if the release status allows the execution, an e-mail informs the tester that he can execute a test case or that he has to stop testing.
When a tester is assigned to or unassigned from a test package, and if the test plan is released for testing, an e-mail informs him that he can test or has to stop testing.
When a tester finishes a test case in a series of test cases, an e-mail informs the tester of the next test case that he can start to test. The tester who is assigned to the first test case that can be tested in a sequence is informed by an e-mail for one of the activities described above.

After the notification, the test planner gets a confirmation mail, with details on notifications and errors.

Prerequisites

You have created a test plan with at least one test package, in the Test Plan Management, and have assigned at least one tester to the test package.
In the customizing (transaction SPRO) for SAP Solution Manager, you have completed the Workflow activities under Capabilities Test Suite Test Suite for SAP Solution Manager Preparation Setup Standard Configuration .
For more information, see the documentation of the customizing activities.
In the Test Plan Management application, you have defined the following on the Settings tab of the test plans:
- You have checked the Workflow indicator.
- You have defined the release schema and the release status.
  For more information, see Release Status Schema.
You have defined an e-mail address for the business partners who are testers or responsible for test plans or test packages.

Process

In the Test Plan Management application, select the test plan in which you have selected the relevant test cases and created one or several test packages.
Open the test package of the selected test plan.
On the Testers tab, you assign testers.
If the test package has been created with a test sequence as reference, the Testers tab, will show the list of test cases in the correct order, and you can assign a tester to each test case.

You can also re-assign a test case to a different user. In this case, all available status information is reassigned accordingly to the new tester.
When the tester assignments are complete, change your test plan release status to a status which allows test execution.
In standard test packages, all testers assigned to the test packages receive the notification mail (except if their individual assignments are locked).
For test packages that refer to a test sequence, only the tester assigned to the first test case receives the notification e-mail (except if his assignment is locked). If the test execution has already started in a previous phase, the notification will go to the tester assigned to the ready-to-test test case in the sequence. (If, for example, the first and second test cases are done and ended, the third one is the ready-to-test test case).
In a test sequence, the first tester processes the test case (one or several) assigned to him. Once finished, the tester sets the status to Test Ended.

Then, the system informs the following tester that this test case is now ready for testing.

The notification is only sent if the tester of the next test case is not the same person as the first one.
To make changes to the test plan without locking the test, select a release status which allows changes and execution at the same time (for example, Adjusting Test (Urgent)) and save the test plan.
If you lock or re-release a tester, the system notifies him about this, but not the other testers in the test package.

If you change the tester assignment, the system informs all affected testers.

The test organizer receives an e-mail notification when the workflow is initiated for the test plan or test package by a status change or assignment change. He also receive an e-mail if the notification to the next tester in a sequence was not successful.

Independently of the Workflow flag in test plan, notifications can be sent based on automated test execution.