22 Jan, 2025

Understanding Test Plans in Azure DevOps

Posted on 22 Jan, 2025 by Vatsal, Posted in Azure DevOps Services

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Introduction

In software development, testing is a crucial phase to ensure the quality and reliability of an application. Azure DevOps provides a comprehensive Test Plans feature that helps teams organize, execute, and track their testing efforts efficiently. In this blog, we will explore the key functionalities of Test Plans in Azure DevOps, including Test Plans, Progress Reports, Parameters, Configurations, and Test Runs.

What are Test Plans in Azure DevOps?

Azure DevOps Test Plans is a service that enables teams to create, manage, and track their test cases. It supports both manual and automated testing, helping teams ensure that their applications meet the required quality standards before deployment.

Key Functionalities of Test Plans

1. Test Plans

A Test Plan is a container that holds test suites, test cases, and configurations. It allows testers to organize their test scenarios and provides visibility into testing efforts. Test Plans support:

• Static Test Suites: Manually created test suites that group test cases.
• Requirement-based Test Suites: Automatically link test cases to requirements or user stories.
• Query-based Test Suites: Dynamically select test cases based on specific work item queries.

Let’s see how we can create different test suits in test plans. Steps for creating test plan and test suits:

Test Plans:
i) Login to DevOps and go to Test plan Entity.
ii) Expand it and click on test plans > click on new test plan > Enter a name for test plan > select iteration and click on create.

Test Suit:
i) Click on three dots of test plan > Click on new suite > select suite which you want to create.

Test suites are comprehensive collections of test cases designed to evaluate the functionality, reliability, and performance of a software application. These suites are systematically categorized into three key types: Define, which involves the creation and organization of test cases; Execution, which focuses on running the test cases to validate the application’s behaviour; and Chart, which deals with the analysis and presentation of test results for better understanding and decision-making.

Define: Creating and organizing test cases before execution.

Execution: Running test cases and capturing results.

Charts: Visualizing test progress through New Test Case Charts and New Test Result Charts.

2. Progress Report

Progress reports provide insights into the execution status of test cases. They help teams track:

• The number of test cases executed, passed, failed, and blocked.
• Overall test coverage. 
• Trends over time, helping teams identify bottlenecks and improve testing strategies.

3. Parameters in Test Cases

Azure DevOps allows the use of parameters in test cases to enhance test reusability. Instead of creating multiple test cases for different data inputs, testers can:

• Define parameters within a test case.
• Execute the same test case with different values.
• Improve efficiency by reducing redundancy.

4. Configurations

Configurations in Azure DevOps enable teams to test applications across multiple environments. Testers can define different configurations based on:

• Operating Systems (Windows, macOS, Linux)
• Browsers (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari)
• Hardware specifications

Database versions This ensures that applications work seamlessly across various environments.

5. Test Runs

Test Runs in Azure DevOps represent the execution of test cases. Testers can:

• Run test cases manually or trigger automated tests.
• Record execution results and attach evidence (screenshots, logs, etc.).
• Analyse test run results to detect issues early in the development cycle.
• Re-run failed test cases to verify fixes.

Conclusion

Azure DevOps Test Plans provide a structured approach to testing by offering features like test case management, progress tracking, parameterization, environment configurations, and test execution tracking. Leveraging these capabilities can significantly improve software quality and streamline the testing process.

By integrating Test Plans with Azure Pipelines and other DevOps tools, teams can achieve continuous testing and faster delivery cycles, ensuring high-quality releases.