HP Application Lifecycle Management Introduction

1.Introduction to HP Application Lifecycle Management/Quality Center:
 
HP ALM formerly known as Quality Center is a Test Management tool to manage entire Quality Assurance and testing process for an organization. Before being called HP Quality center it used to be called as Mercury Test Director.
 
In my experience I have come across many projects (Manual , Automation and Performance) that is used for all areas of testing, it is a testing suite and is a very simple tool to use, extremely user friendly. Even if you have never used it before, chances are you will be able to figure out how to in a really short time. However, there is a lot of difference between being able to navigate through the tool and being able to exploit its potential to benefit your project.

If you have a compatible machine and understand the components ALM has.
Briefly, the following are the components:

•    A server
•    A client
•    Database

Each component has a certain version that is compatible with ALM.

Why is ALM/QC used?

ALM helps make project management, from requirements to deployment easier. It increases predictability and creates a framework to manage projects from a central repository.  With ALM you will be able to:

Define and maintain requirements and tests
Create Tests
Organize tests into logical subsets
Schedule tests and execute them
Collect results and analyze the data
Create, monitor and analyze defects
Share defects across projects
Track progress of a project
Collect metrics
Share asset libraries across projects
Integrate ALM with HP testing tools other third party tools for a complete automation experience.

Jira Agile issue types

JIRA Issue Types

There are generally 5 Jira issue types the 5th one is Sub-task,  can only created from within a Story.

    Epic

• An Epic is used when a feature is large in scale, may take several sprints to complete, and/or may spans multiple components.
• The Epic itself is an umbrella issue. An Epic is comprised of one or more stories.
• Usage: Anyone can create an Epic and put it in the backlog for a project.

    Story

•  A Story or user story is a piece of work that can be completed within a sprint.  It is usually part of an Epic.
• Usage: Anyone can create a Story and put it the backlog for a project.

    Bug

• A Bug is a defect, an error, or a flaw that requires a fix, it can be a code change, a documentation update, configuration change, etc…
• Usage: Anyone can create a bug and assign to himself or someone else or leave it unassigned if they wish someone else to pick it up and work on it

    Task

• Task can be used to breakdown a story into smaller work units that can be completed in a day or two; however, for deconstruction of a story, it is recommended that a Sub-task be used. Using a Sub-task will save the user Jira steps and will be automatically linked to the story since it's created from within the story.

 See Sub-task below.

Tasks can be used to track discrete activities that must be done and may not necessarily be related to a story (for example, fix a Jenkins job); however, if a user chooses to use Task issue type to track work associated with a story, be sure to link the Task to the Story via the Linked Issues and Issue fields as illustrated below.
     
Usage: Anyone can create a task and assign to himself or someone else

 Sub-task

• Sub-task is used to breakdown a story into smaller work units that can be completed in a day or two. Breaking a story down into discrete work units that can be burned down daily will communicate progress on the story.
• Sub-tasks are created from within the story via the More menu option by selecting Create sub-task

Managing shared filters and dashboards

JIRA allows end users to create their own search filters and dashboards and share them with other users. When the owner of the shared filters and dashboards leaves the organization or goes on leave, others will not be able to make changes to them. In these cases, as the JIRA administrator, you can temporarily (or permanently) change the owner of the shared filter and dashboard to a new user.

Steps to follow :

Perform the following steps to reassign a shared filter or dashboard to another user:

•  Navigate to Administration | System | Shared filters (or dashboards).
• Search for the shared filter.
• Select the Change Owner option for the filter.
• Enter a new owner for the filter, for example, yourself, and click on the Change Owner button.

JIRA Agile Software workflow

The simplified workflow and setup in this tutorial is intended for teams using scrum, so some of the concepts presented may not apply to all teams. Here's how the manager and users work together to complete a sprint:

Roles

Typically, variations on the following roles can be found in an agile development environment. We recommend that managers complete both tutorials while users complete the user tutorial.

JIRA Software Managers
User with administrative rights for your instance of JIRA Software. These roles are usually filled by scrum masters or development managers.

JIRA Software Users

User who works on and resolves issues. These roles are normally filled by software developers.

Selenum now supporting to test windows based applications with the help of winappDriver

WinAppDriver: WinAppDriver (short for Windows Application Driver) is a free test automation tool for Windows desktop apps developed by Microsoft. It can run as a standalone as well as a plugin for Appium. Thus, if you are already running Appium’s server, then a request for Win10 app automation will launch WinAppDriver.exe.

Pros:

It’s developed by Microsoft (which in itself is awesome!), and it makes perfect sense to test Windows desktop apps using a tool from the same company.

It uses WebDriver protocol which means that if you’re from the web/mobile automation world and you already know how to develop using the WebDriver environment, then the transition to WinAppDriver will be easy, quick and clear for you.

Cons:

WinAppDriver is a free tool, yet currently its code is not open source. Samples, tests and related tools are open source, and it’s mentioned that they are considering the option to open source the WinAppDrive code.

Bottom Line:  A fast-growing tool that will that will provide you with better support for using Appium to test Windows apps.

How to Set Up CI/CD pipeline in AWS

AWS,

Jenkins,

Bitbucket (though Git repository)

JIRA (for reporting and task delegation)

• continuous integration (CI) is a practice that focuses on preparing a release easier. In this, isolated changes are immediately tested and reported on when they are added to a larger code base.

• continuous delivery (CD) is a software release approach in which development teams produce and test code in short cycles.

How to configure CD/CD pipeline:

What you gain:

• Less bugs get shipped to production as regressions are captured early by the automated tests.

• Building the release is easy as all integration issues have been solved early.

• Less context switching as developers are alerted as soon as they break the build and can work on fixing it before they move to another task.

• Testing costs are reduced drastically - CI server can run hundreds of tests in the matter of seconds.

• QA team spend less time testing and can focus on significant improvements to the quality culture.

• can release more often, thus accelerating the feedback loop with your customers.

• There is much less pressure on decisions for small changes, hence encouraging iterating faster.

For more details contact :91-9298259093

Micro Focus ALM Octane vs Jira

Micro Focus ALM Octane vs Jira

Micro Focus (HPE Software) ALM Octane
HPE, now MicroFocus, ALM Octane is designed with a user interface
 providing a targeted and simplified user flow and architected using responsive design.

Accessible in any HTML5 supported Web browser, or operating system, including many tablet devices, ALM Octane ensures users get access to what they want,

when they want, and where they want. ALM Octane platform easily integrates with the team’s existing Jenkins/CI system for visibility into the release pipeline, as well as into source code control systems like GIT, allowing for stronger collaboration, and supporting a faster path from manual testing to test automation.

MicroFocus ALM Octane also provides a foundation for common terminology across the application development lifecycle facilitating more closely connected teams.

With many out-of-the-box integrations to common industry and other Software technologies, ALM Octane platform boasts an extensive REST API, documented with Swagger, to allow users to work within the environment they’re most comfortable in, without sacrificing collaboration, governance, and process guidance.

ALM Octane & Jira: Added Value

Agile tool agnostic

• ALM Octane optimized for Enterprise scale.

• Business unit teams have different tools.

• JIRA is a team centric tool.

Additional modules required to implement enterprise wide process and control frameworks.

JIRA not intended to provide e2e insight across your entire SDLC; leaves gaps in traceability, audit and compliance

• ALM Octane seamlessly integrates with JIRA.

Use your existing JIRA investments with ALM Octane to gain an overarching framework of control and insight.

Ask about QC/ALM license swap.

Scaled Agile Framework

• ALM Octane was built for Enterprise needs.

• SAFe support is a key ALM Octane capability.

• ALM Octane is flexible enough to support both

traditional SDLC as well as Agile processes, helping

you transition when needed.

• By synchronizing JIRA with ALM Octane

 you can leverage SAFe framework.

• JIRA requires 3rd party solutions to support an

 enterprise level Agile implementation.

• This is costly and requires 3rd party involvement in

 your key IT transformation processes.

•  Ask about using ALM Octane to implement an

enterprise scale Agile framework. 

ALM Octane & Jira: Added Value

Enterprise Grade Security

• ALM Octane was designed with security at its core.

The default configuration provides

 comprehensive security and applies

the settings to all synchronized

 records even as new projects are added.

• JIRA requires administrative changes to enable

 issue level security.

Once issue level security is enabled, it must be applied to all projects.

Any projects subsequently added to JIRA also require

 this additional setup to be secured

Ask about using ALM Octane to implement a secure

solution for workload management without administrative overhead

ALM Octane & Jira: Added Value 

Scalability

• ALM Octane was architected to support large
 scale deployments.

There are no additional fees for High
 Availability and the system scales seamlessly.

By using JIRA sync, ALM Octane can provide
 full HA for JIRA records too

• Atlassian requires customers to purchase
 “Data Center” for high availability.

License fees for Data Center increase rapidly
 as users increase, e.g. 1,000 JIRA users with
HA support costs an additional US $24,000  PER YEAR

Data Center is a 1 Year Term license, there are
 no perpetual license options

• Ask about using ALM Octane to implement a High
 Availability system without paying additional fees.

ALM Octane & Jira: Added Value 

Audit Compliance

• Audit is a key requirement for many organizations.

• ALM Octane was engineered to deliver full audit and
 compliance reporting in real-time, at any time,
 even to synchronized records.

• JIRA does not and cannot provide full audit compliance.

JIRA audit is designed to track configuration changes,
 not record changes to issues themselves

An issue update (any change) is a KEY activity

• Ask about using ALM Octane to identify who changed what,
 when, and why across your entire enterprise.

ALM Octane CI Pipelines

• ALM Octane Pipelines provide quality based insights about the health of your CI build processes.

• ALM Octane incorporates data from your pipelines into your application delivery process.

Analyze quality, progress, change impact, code coverage and more.

Identify issues before builds are handed over.

• ALM Octane Pipeline can also use records synchronized from JIRA.

To track commits associated with a specific build run

Provide full insight and visibility into end to end processes

• ALM Octane Quality metrics can include JIRA user stories and Epics

• Ask about using ALM Octane to gain a single point of control for insight into your CI system.

 ALM Octane vs. Jira: Benefits

• ALM Octane enables teams to easily and readily understand the current quality of their applications, in real time, without additional software

• Out of the box integration with QC / ALM to support and extend the lifespan of your existing investments

• Full integration with CI servers allows ALM Octane to deliver real-time data on the state and health of your applications, down to the level of any test failures that have been recorded against the latest build of your software

• ALM Octane supports modern test management approaches out of the box as part of the integrated platform, quality is a key component of the present and future of ALM Octane

• JIRA requires additional tools to support test management, for example Zephyr or X-Ray. These tools add additional incremental cost to the JIRA system, require additional vendor / procurement time and effort and may be withdrawn at any time.

The Single Source of Truth

• ALM Octane provides a unified, end to end lifecycle management platform with no dependency on 3rd party components for core lifecycle functionality. From requirements to delivery, ALM Octane manages, track and audits all activities

• ALM Octane is built to support Agile across the enterprise, with tight integrations to PPM and other Agile solutions. ALM Octane consolidates data and provides the “single source of truth” and advanced data analytics.

• Extending far beyond Agile workload management, ALM Octane provides an integrated DevOps platform with full toolchain capabilities for modern product and application lifecycle management at enterprise scale.

• JIRA requires many different modules, connected by plug-ins to provide an end to end solution. To scale to enterprise grade Agile, JIRA requires third party solutions