HP Quality Center/ALM is now changed to Micro Focus Quality Center/ALM but still, the content on the page is valid on the new Micro Focus domain as well as tools.
Throughout the series of these tutorials, we have seen how to create Releases, Cycles, Requirements tests, and test sets in ALM. We also looked at how we can establish logical relationships among these entities to make the metric collection as well as traceability an inbuilt activity in our testing process.
=> Click Here For ALM Quality Center Tutorials Series
Also in the Test Lab, we executed some tests. If the test passes, then all is well. If it fails, then there is a reason for the same. Commonly, any deviation from the expected value is a Defect.
Apart from that, Defects can be:
- Variation in expected and actual results
- Documentation errors
- Un-testable requirements that you want to report and track
- Environment failures that prevent you from testing
QC has a wonderful mechanism that lets you create and track any kind of defect. In the following steps, we will see how Defect Management is supported through ALM.
What You Will Learn:
How to Add a Defect to ALM
Step #1: Log in to ALM to the right project and go to the “Defects” tab by navigating from the sidebar. The list of Defects under the project is displayed in the list here.
Step #2: Click on “New Defect”. Enter the required details. As you can see, all the fields in red are mandatory to enter.
[Note: Click on any image for an enlarged view]
Step #3: Choose Defect type.
Step #4: Choose Severity
Step #5: Enter the other details and describe the Defect in the “Description” box. You can provide attachments. The other tabs in this dialog are for additional details. Again, Project-Specific.
Step #6: This Defect will now appear in the list. It has a unique ID to be identified with.
Step #7: You can now change its status.
Step #8: Assign it to another user.
Step #9: Or if this Defect is linked to any other Defect or you can do so, by choosing “Linked Entities” from the left sidebar and choose the other Defect that is causing or affecting this Defect.
How to Link the Defect to a Test Case
Step #1: Go to the Test lab tab and choose the test that failed and the defect related to that failure.
Step #2: Click on “Linked Defects”. Here you can either add a new defect or link it by clicking on this icon:
If you do so, follow the steps that you did in the above section and the Defect created will get linked.
Step #3: I am going to choose the icon: 
To link the already created Defect.
Step #4: Enter the ID and click “Link”. The Defect gets linked.
Step #5: The linked Defect can be seen in the Test Plan as well as the Requirements.
This finishes our end-to-end flow from Release to defects.
For more details on how to write a good Defect Report, refer to this sample Defect Report.
Points to Note
#1) We have worked with adding a new cycle under a release in tutorial number 3 and it is mainly a testing-related activity. Similarly, you can add a “New Milestone” signifying a certain step in your Project Management Activities.
#2) Even though ALM is a Test Management tool, the development, and other support teams also have access to it. One of the reasons is to update the Defect status.
#3) The attachments for a Defect are not mandatory but always provide a screenshot of the error in the attachment whenever applicable and possible.
#4) The mandatory fields to be entered during the creation of a defect are defined by your Admin and may differ from project to project.
#5) The other drop-down values are also defined by your admin.
Conclusion
Now you are equipped with everything that you need to know how to use QC for all your Test Management activities. All we need to know now is how to use its analysis features to make the test reporting and metric collection activities as an integral part of your QA process.
We will learn the “Dashboard” sidebar option that facilitates the same in the next tutorial which happens to be our last one too.
Again, you may want to visit and bookmark our first Quality Center Tutorial page where we have listed all the tutorials in this training series.
=> Visit Here For ALM Quality Center Tutorials Series
Please provide your feedback and let us know if there are any topics that you need more information on.
While adding new defects does it show previously added matching defects?
Thanks for sharing this useful article.
One question, can we link defects from other tools like bugzilla to test cases in QC?
Asusual, great article, could you please throw some info on ‘Test Resources’
Can you explain how to prepare a bug report and sent it to anybody? and how to integrate QC with QTP? Whats the use of dashboard? Thank you
Vijay,
Thanks a lot for sharing this article. It would definitely help us to understand better who are new to this.
Nice tutorial ….waiting for last topic. Thank you
no
@Amit: Using the search feature in the defect grid you can always look up a certain defect but while adding a new defect ALM does not look for a similar defect
@Ashwin: No. ALM provides an end to end test management solution but as far as I know you cannot integrate another bug tracking tool with it.
@Mahesh: Test resources is going to be in the last article under miscellaneous topics
@Revathy: All the reporting and dashboard features are exclusively dealt with in the next article. QC and QTP integration is how ever not a part of this series. but, may be soon.
i want to know ALM is used for manual testing or Automation testing? Pls clear that?
@nagajothi: ALM is a test management tool. You can use it for both manual and automation testing activities.
Nice tutorial …waiting for Next topic. Thank you
Thanks a lot, Swati for providing an absolutely amazing guide on ALM. One thing that I would like to know is that do we have a unique ID for every defect?
@Regina Butler: Yes, every defect gets a unique ID that is auto assigned by ALM during creation.
HI Vijay,
Thanks for the tutorial. But one thing i would like to know is that, some people say we use Bugzilla for logging a defect and HP-QC for task management. why to use both when there is a option for defect management in QC.
@Inder: ALM or QC is sufficient to support your entire defect management process. The reason why some people might be using bugzilla or anything else might be that, they have been using it previously and want to ensure continuity.
hi,
i wanted to know what reason should we give to close an enhancement which has been logged.
Please help.
thanks
Hi
can you tell me where is “Defect details” code located so i can change according to my company needs.
i checked customize > workflow > script editor.
regards
Shakeel
Hi,
Can we link a Defect to a Requirement directly ? Is there any option for it
Great Contribution. Keep going, god bless you.
Why Application details not required for User Stories(Requirements)?
How user can track by Application for Requirement coverage?
Can we link a defect to another defect, so that we can test the related defect also for a particular fix?
Thanks for sharing. very useful
Can you please let me know ideally how many defects we can link to a test case. And is it a good practice to link as many defects as possible to a test case.
Thanks,
Rahini
I have one problem in hp qc
i want to stop email notifications to only particular users ,please help me in this one if you have any script please help me ..
Hello,
Can anyone help me how to creat graphs??
For Ex. Tester Vs Defect status.
Thanks,
Elavarasan
it is very useful
thank you
Under Defect Management, closing a defect should also be covered!
My question is :
I raised a defect in HP QC and send to the developer. where we found the defect after resolving the issue developer send to us .
Please help me
Where we can find the user who closed the defect other than Defect History.
Hi,
Thank You, for most valuable information. Here I have one question.
how to integrate QC with QTP ..? and What the use of dashboard ..?
Hi ,
very nice tutorial.I want to ask one thing.
How can we integrate selenium scripts to QC
my doubt is what is the bug reportint tool using by most of the companies now a days? and why?
How can we delete a defect?
How would we map test case to change request..?
If we map it, then our test coverage would be good..
Any solution
Hello, I liked the series of these tutorials. I have learned a lot.
Would you please provide an Excel and a word template that will facilitate an import into HP ALM? I have existing Requirement created in Excel and test cases in Word.
Thank you for your assistance and time,
Mbuyi
How can we change manual test case script to Automated Test case script.
Can tester reject defect if it is duplicate
whether HP UFT is a tool used for automation. Please reply.
yes hp uft is tool for automation for functional and regression testing
Hi Swathi, how can I modify a defect.
can we link more defects to single test case and a single defect to multiple test cases?