eSignature and Approval Workflow
- Mrunalini Potnis
About eSignature and Approval Workflow
Security and Audit compliance are critical for regulated enterprises. QMetry offers Approval workflow and auditing reports with eSignature to produce evidences that can be used for SOW and other Audit compliance.
The eSignature feature helps organizations to regularize the Approval Workflow of test cases and test executions. Test Case executions can now be approved using an eSignature that verifies that the test run was documented correctly and also authenticates the test run status assigned to the Test Case. On test case export, Approval Status also gets exported along with other details of test cases.
To help QA teams align all their efforts to construct quality test cases, QMetry empowers the management to keep check on the changes to a test case and how it can be integrated into test executions.
When a test case is approved, it means that the particular version of the test case is ready for execution. When a test execution is approved, it authenticates its execution and prevent further modifications to the run.
Pre-requisites:
The Approval Workflow will be enabled only if the eSignature package is purchased. The Approval Workflow can be enabled project wise.
Enable eSignature Feature
Once the eSignature flag is enabled, it cannot be disabled.
Click on the eSignature feature on the tree.
You can see the relevant configuration for eSignature feature on the screen.
Enable eSignaure feature for the project.
The confirmation message pops up. Click Yes to proceed.
Once you enable the eSignature feature, you can click on the Approval Access option on the tree, wherein you can assign Test Case Approvers and Test Suite Approvers.
Add Test Case Approvers
Expand eSignature on the tree and click on the Approval Access option.
The screen opens with two tabs on it: TC Approver and TS Approver.
TC Approver is the default tab that will open.
To add TC Approvers,
1. Click on the '+' icon.
2. Open the drop-down menu and select the user whom you want to assign as TC Approver.
3. Click on the Add button.
The user is added as TC Approver. To add more approvers, follow the same steps.
Add Test Suite Approvers
Expand eSignature on the tree and click on the Approval Access option.
The screen opens with two tabs on it: TC Approver and TS Approver.
To add TS Approvers, open the TS Approver tab and follow the steps below.
1. Click on the '+' icon.
2. Open the drop-down menu and select the user whom you want to assign as TS Approver.
3. Click on the Add button.
The user is added as TS Approver. To add more approvers, follow the same steps.
Approve a Test Case
You can link test suites to only those test cases which are approved. Hence, you can not execute a test case until it gets "Approved" State.
The test cases are approved their version wise and not as a whole. If the Approval Workflow is enabled and the test case version is in "Approved" state, then users can not modify that particular version of the test case. In this case if the Version pack is enabled, then new version of test case can be created and that new version will be in "In Review" state.
If the eSignature is enable, then shareable test cases will be created with "Approved" Sate by default.
Steps to Approve a Test Case
Open the list view of the Test Cases module, you can view the test case Entity Key with corresponding symbol to denote test case’s approval status. The test case grid displays test case State as per its latest version.
| Symbol | Test Case State | Description | When eSingature is enabled later in Project |
|---|---|---|---|
| In Review | When a new test case is created in the project, it will have "In Review" State by default. | All the new test cases will be created with "In Review" State |
| Approved | When a test case is approved to mark it ready for test execution. Test Suites can only be linked to approved test cases. | All the existing test cases with have "Approved" State |
Every new test case is added with orange symbol indicating its State as "Review".
Open the test case with the “Review” State.
To approve the test case, click on the Orange symbol at top-right. Once you approve the test case, it cannot be edited further. However, you can create a new version or clone this test case.
The following pop-up opens asking for confirmation.
Click “Yes” to approve the test case.
The entity state is changed from “Review” to “Approved”.
See that the Orange symbol is replaced with the Green symbol at right.
Watchers and Owner of the test case will be notified on approval of test case.
Operations on "Approved" Test Cases | Impact on Test Case State |
|---|---|
Copy | Will reset the State to “In Review” |
Move in same project | Will preserve the State |
Move in other project | Will reset the State to “In Review” |
Export | Will export the State of test case |
Re-import | Will create a new version of test case and reset the State to “In Review” |
Linking Release/Cycle/Requirement/Test Execution | Will not reset the test case State |
Adding Comments | Will not reset the test case State |
Approve Test Execution
Test Case executions are approved through the Approval Workflow that verifies that the test run was documented correctly.
You can only link approved test cases to test suites for execution. The execution screen allows to sync only approved versions of test cases
When you add test executions, they are in "Review" State. To execute the test suite and assign status to test cases, it needs to be marked as "Approved".
If the test suites are created from requirements, the it will only contain "Approved" test cases.
You can approve a test execution from multiple places in the application:
- Test Case > Test Executions tab
- Test Suite > Test Executions tab
- Test Executions module
- Test Execution Screen
The following is the list view of test executions available in the Test Cases module (Test Executions tab) and Test Suites module (Test Execution tab).
| Symbol | Test Execution State | Description | When eSingature is enabled later in Project |
|---|---|---|---|
| In Review | When a new test suite is created in the project, it will have "Review" State by default. It will contain the approved test cases. | All the new test suites will be created with "In Review" State; execution will not be allowed. |
| Approved | When a test suite is approved to mark it ready for test execution. | All the existing test suites will have "Approved" State; execution will be allowed. |
| Closed | When a test suite is executed and then closed for further modification in the test execution. | Test Suites should be manually "Closed" |
When a new test suite is added, it is added with orange symbol and "Review" state.
You can directly Approve the test execution by clicking on the orange symbol.
From Test Execution screen
To approve the test execution, click on the orange symbol at the top-right of the Test Execution screen.
The Test Execution screen appears disabled until you approve the test suite. Once you approve the test suite for execution, the Test Execution screen is displayed in editable mode.
Once the test execution is approved for execution, an email will to be sent to its Owner/Assignee informing that it is ready for execution.
Close Test Execution
Once the approved test suite is executed, proper status is assigned and bugs are logged with relevant test cases/test steps, the test execution can be marked as "Closed" by the users with test suite approval access. Once you close the test execution, test case results cannot be modified/executed further.
Use Case: QA Manager may want to freeze the execution of test suite once it is executed to preserve the test run and prevent any modification in the test suite run.
From Test Execution screen
To close the test execution of test suite, click on the green symbol at the top-right of the Test Execution screen.
The following pop-up opens asking for confirmation.
Click "Yes" to close the test execution.
The test execution is greyed out and the symbol is changed.
Watchers and Owner of the test suite will be notified on approval of test suite.
Bulk Edit
For test case Bulk Edit, a filter is provided with "In Review" and "Approved" options on it. By default, "Approved" filter is applied on test cases. Users can select either In Review" and "Approved" test cases at a time.
You can add/edit the following for Approved test cases:
- Linkages (like Attachments, Requirements, Releases & Cycles)
- Comment
Approval Workflow for Cross Projects
Approval Workflow in Project A (current project) | Approval Workflow in Project B | Linking assets of Project B to Project A |
|---|---|---|
| enabled | disabled | NA (For Approval Workflow enabled projects, the Link Test Cases screen shows only those projects which has Approval Workflow enabled) |
| disabled | enabled | NA (For Approval Workflow disabled projects, the Link Test Cases screen shows projects without Approval Workflow) |
| enabled | enabled | Only Approved test cases from Project B |
| disabled | disabled | All test cases from Project B |
Automation Testing
If the eSignature feature is enabled in the project, then -
a) Test Cases created or linked through Automation (Automation API/Jenkins/Bamboo/Rest API) will be approved automatically irrespective of user's permissions for Approval.
b) Test Suite Executions created through Automation (Automation API/Jenkins/Bamboo/Rest API) will be in the "Approved for Execution" State irrespective of user's permissions for Approval.
Audit Log
All the activities related to approval workflow are logged under Audit Compliance > Audit Log.
Approval Workflow Details
Users can open test case detail in PDF by clicking on the Export Test Case Detail icon.
If the eSignature feature is enable for the project, then the report also includes Approval Workflow details for the test case including approval statuses i.e. "In-Review", "Approved", etc.
Remove Approvers from Project
Expand eSignature on the tree and click on the Approval Access option.
The screen opens with two tabs on it: TC Approver and TS Approver.
TC Approver is the default tab that will open.
To remove a TC/TS Approver, click on the Remove button for that particular approver.
The user will not have the rights to approve test cases/ test suites for the project anymore.
You can also view Approval Workflow Report.
Bulk Approve
Approve option of Bulk Operation is only available in Test Cases and Test Suites modules. Users can now approve test cases and approve/close test suites in bulk for the e-Signature feature.
When a QA Manager/Approver is confident about the test cases and test suites covered in the release and cycle, they prefer to approve them at a time instead of approving one by one.
- Go to Bulk Operations.
2. Select Approve as the operation to perform and click Next.
The screen shows entity records.
Select the test cases you want to approve or test suites you want to approve/close.
Then click on the Approve button.
The confirmation message pops up. Click "Yes" to proceed.
