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Nicolas_Alech
Advisor
Advisor
In this blog post I will give you a short overview of defect management in SAP Cloud ALM.

It is now possible to create Defects in SAP Cloud ALM. These defects can be based on test execution, but they don't have to. It is also possible to create defects "outside" of testing.

For those of you who are familiar with SAP Cloud ALM, you will easily recognize that the defects are in fact a new type of Task objects. Therefore, you will find lots of familiarities between these 2 entities.

But let’s start in test execution, indeed most of the time the defects will be created during the testing phases, hence the execution of test cases (both Manual and Automated).

This is a screenshot from the test execution list:


Test Execution List Defect Creation


You can see in the list a new column called Defects. In this column you will see the number of defects currently related to the test execution, and you can either create a new defect or assign an existing one.

When creating a new one:


Defect Creation


You navigate directly to the defect application; the name is automatically filled for you (in the future the description will also be filled based on the test run details):



You can then set the following attributes for the defect:

  • Scope (taken over from the test case)

  • Priority

  • Due date

  • Team

  • Assigned Role

  • Assignee

  • Tags



Defect Attributes


Upon save you will come back directly to the test execution list:


Where we can see the relationship established between the test run and the defect.

We will also find this information in the defect itself:


Let’s look at the possible statuses for the defect:




  • New

  • In Progress

  • Retest Required

  • Postponed

  • Closed


This schema is indeed simple, but it is simple on purpose, and although it cannot be customized at this time, you can still be smart and use tags to simulate sub-statuses if needed.

For instance, if the “In Progress” status is too generic for your organization or ways of working, you can add some specific tags like “In classification” or “Under Correction” or anything that you would like. You can then use these tags in the defect list as filters to get exact the reporting that you want.


Tag based filtering


In short, you can benefit from all the advanced capabilities of the tasks with the defects as well:

  • Tags

  • Filtering

  • Assignment

  • ...


You can also specifically assign the defects to members of your team so that they can easily access their own defect/task list and work on them.

We are also delivering a new card about defects in the overview page:


Defect Card


Recent updates

I am happy to announce that we have just delivered new functionalities for the defect management. You can now create defects directly from the Manual Test Case Execution app:


Defect Overview and Creation


 

We have also released a history on defects in the analytics section:


Defect History - Column Chart


Another view:


Defect History - Bubble Chart


 

Outlook

Soon you will also be able to create defects directly from the manual test execution app for a specific test action.

We will also soon deliver more analytics and reporting on defects.

 

This was a short overview on the defects in SAP Cloud ALM, I hope that this information was beneficial to you.

Stay tuned for more functionalities coming up soon.

 

 

 
16 Comments
former_member63585
Participant
0 Kudos
Great article! I love the fact that Defects are now linked via relationships to test executions.
sonalkumar
Advisor
Advisor
0 Kudos
Very crisp blog and looking forward for the functionalities to come.
Daniel_Enderli
Active Participant
Thanks nicolas.alech & Team, very helpful functionality. I am looking foreward to any and further development of SAP Cloud ALM. Keep on rocking!
Marie_Luge
Explorer
0 Kudos
Hi thanks for the blog! But I found out that as soon the defect gets the status "Closed" it is not available anymore in the system. Where can I find the "Closed" defects?

 
jamuecke
Explorer
Hi Marie,

did you add the Defect Status "Closed" in the Filter Bar? In the Standard Settings it is not added.


Defect Filtering


Hope that helps.

BR
Jannis
Marie_Luge
Explorer
0 Kudos
Yes, thanks, I haven't seen it!!
Nicolas_Alech
Advisor
Advisor
Hello,

 

it is great, I don't even have to answer and you got support from the community.

More seriously, the reason why we did it this way is because closed defects might grow significantly over time and I did not want the closed defects to "hide" all the other ones. If you want to see the closed defects all the time, you can indeed change the filtering.

You should then plan to manage the lifecycle of the defects by setting them as "obsolete" at some stage so that they are effectively hidden from the reporting.

When you set a defect to obsolete is then up to you.

Best regards

Nicolas
former_member342454
Discoverer
0 Kudos
Great blog Nicolas

Question: Is there a way by which we can add screenshots when a test case fails (along with comments) for manual testing.

 

Regards

BSA
Nicolas_Alech
Advisor
Advisor
0 Kudos
Hi,

 

you can add screenshots to the comments, using Ctrl+V or inserting the image file from the menu of the rich text editor.

 

The defects also support images, via the same mechanism. In the future, we also plan to transfer the comments from the manual test execution into defect (upon creation).

 

Cheers

Nicolas
Michal_Kunze
Participant
0 Kudos
Nicolas,

Thanks for a great overview of Defects functionality in CALM.

I see from your reply to an earlier comment that there is an option to insert images just by ctrl-V. It is very convenient and useful.

But is there any way to add other types of attachments? e.g. if we are testing interfaces, it would be useful to attach a text file with an interface message that caused a problem, for developers to investigate it further. I cannot find any metnion of 'attachments' on the application screen or in CALM documentation in support center...

Elaborating a little bit: the same question would be also relevant to other CALM features, e.g. Requirements. (Let's say the customer gives us a list of additional accounts or cost centers they would like to set up - as an excel file. It would be ideal to add this as an attachment to a requirement record in CALM).

Of course I can see a 'link' feature on the screen but keeping all files in a separate repository (e.g. sharepoint document library) makes it a little bit cumbersome for less experienced users. What is the the 'best practice' for dealing with attachments in situations described above in the current version of CALM?

Regards

Michał
Nicolas_Alech
Advisor
Advisor
Hi Michal,

This indeed makes a lot of sense. In the defects today, you can already use the reference section to link to any file in a separate document mgt system (like SharePoint).

But as you said it, it is a bit cumbersome and it is not only for defects only, it would apply for requirements and features, this is why we are indeed working in a global way to store on manage documents and attachments for SAP Cloud ALM for implementations. This is just not yet available yet.

 

Best regards

Nicolas

 
frida_kerrnj
Discoverer
0 Kudos
Hi Nicolas,

So the scenario is that:

User A is executing a test, and User A creates a defect for one of the steps in the test case.
User A assigns the defect to User B in Cloud ALM.
User B has fixed the defect, and sets the status to "Retest Required".

My question to this scenario is:
Is it possible that User A who created the defect when testing can receive a notification when the status for the defect is set to "Retest Required" by User B?

Best regards,
Frida
Nicolas_Alech
Advisor
Advisor
0 Kudos
Hi Frida,

when defects were released, email notification was not yet possible in SAP Cloud ALM. Nevertheless this feature will be enabled soon. I don't know when it will be made available for the defect, but it is definitely coming.

Best regards
Nicolas
former_member138977
Discoverer
0 Kudos
Hello Nicolas,

 

Is there a possibility to raise a ticket to me.sap.com from a defect?

 

Kind regards and thanks,

Andrey
Nicolas_Alech
Advisor
Advisor
Hi Andrei,

No, not at the moment, but using the SAP Cloud ALM task API (A defect is in fact a task) you could synchronize the defect to some other ITSM system. There were several sessions on this at the ALM Summit 2023.

Best regards

Nicolas
former_member138977
Discoverer
0 Kudos
Hello Nicolas,

Thank you so much for the fast response!

Kind regards,

Andrei