• Worksoft SaaS Test Cycle Scheduler :: A new efficient way to schedule the execution of application tests

  The all new “Worksoft SaaS Scheduler” will help you more efficiently trigger the execution of one of its components, the "Test Cycle Runner" OR the "Application Test Driver" which internally will remotely schedule the execution of suite of application test runs in Worksoft SaaS.

  • The "Worksoft SaaS Test Cycle Runner" component is responsible to create test cycle(s) and schedule one or more "Application Test Drivers", which in turn will schedule the application tests that will get run within the newly created test cycle(s).
  
  
  • The "Worksoft SaaS Application Test Driver" component is responsible for scheduling one or more application tests that will get run within a specific test cycle that was already created previously.

  Both the above-mentioned components can be triggered for execution in two-different ways:

  • From within the Worksoft SaaS application, by clicking on a button/actions menu within the home screen of the Test Cycles module.
  
  
  
  • Using a new service within the QaCONNECT REST API. As part of the inputs to this service, you can trigger either of these components by simply setting the value for the parameter 'componentToBeScheduled' to specify the component that you want to trigger the execution of, along with the other parameters.
  
  
  

  The "Test Cycle Runner" and the "Application Test Driver" will need as input two or three data files that you prepare/maintain within your project that belong to the following (locked-from-edit/read-only) data definitions that will be pre-loaded into every single project at the time of creation of the project (or loaded anew at the time of this release deployment within currently existing projects).

  Please note that the new data files are similar in content but different in structure to the 3 data files that currently feed into the Business Test Runs Driver currently used to schedule the tests within your project(s). As mentioned in the email sent out to you and your teams, the old Business Test Runs Driver will continue to work even after this release's deployment until a 2-day transition is completed in close collaboration/consolation with your team by our customer success team designated to your account.

  • Test Cycle Runner Inputs: . This data definition specifies the structure for the data file(s) that will contain the inputs to the "Worksoft SaaS Test Cycle Runner" component that is responsible to create test cycle(s) and schedule one or more "Application Test Drivers", which in turn will schedule the application tests that will get run within the newly created test cycle(s). To learn more details about the information that can be included in the data files that correspond to this data definition, please click here.
  
  
  • Application Test Driver Inputs: This data definition specifies the structure for the data file(s) that will contain the inputs to the "Worksoft SaaS Application Test Driver" component that is responsible to schedule one or more application tests that will get run within a specific test cycle. To learn more details about the information that can be included in the data files that correspond to this data definition, please click here.
  
  
  • Application Test Batch Dependency Configuration: This data definition specifies the structure for the data file(s) that will contain the configuration details for batch dependencies which are used to control the flow of executions within a test cycle.
    
    Using batch dependencies you can accomplish conditional triggering of the execution of blocks of tests. To learn more details about the information that can be included in the data files that correspond to this data definition, please click here.
    
    For example, you can trigger the execution of batch of tests in one testing platform only if the execution of the tests in a different testing platform passes. Another example use case is triggering full regression test suite in a subsequent batch only if the smoke suite of tests pass in an earlier batch.

  The new Worksoft SaaS Scheduler replaces the "Worksoft SaaS Business Test Runs Driver" that was used by many of you so far. The new Scheduler offers the following advantages over the Business Test Runs Driver:

  1. Performance Improvements: The new approach significantly cuts down the time for the application tests to be scheduled. For a test cycle that includes 4000 tests, for example, the time to get the batch of application tests gets cut down from ~25 minutes to less than 2 minutes.
  
  
  2. Less Clutter in the Listing of Automation Entities: All the Test Scripts, Scenarios, Run Definitions, User-Defined Variables that were used to drive the "Worksoft SaaS Business Test Runs Driver" have been eliminated as part of the new Worksoft SaaS Scheduler. Such an elimination, will help you only see the Test Scripts, Scenarios, Run Definitions, User-Defined Variables that correspond to your Application Tests within your projects.
  
  
  3. Reduced Maintenance Effort for the Worksoft SaaS Extended Support team: Worksoft SaaS Extended Support team has been responsible so far to push the changes/enhancements to the Test Scripts, Scenarios, Run Definitions, User-Defined Variables that were used to drive the "Worksoft SaaS Business Test Runs Driver" to all projects within your Worksoft SaaS domain. Since the new Worksoft SaaS Scheduler does not need all these automation entities, the need for Worksoft SaaS Extended Support to do maintenance related to the Business Test Runs Driver gets eliminated. The new Scheduler is part of the Worksoft SaaS Test Automation Platform itself and not as automation built on top of the platform.
  
  
  4. Support for Users to run the Scheduler through the User Interface of the Worksoft SaaS application: So far the only way to trigger the Business Test Runs Driver was to execute it via a call to the Worksoft SaaS QaCONNECT REST API or by manual execution of the Run Definition that corresponds to it. Both components of the new Worksoft SaaS Scheduler (Test Cycle Runner and the Application Test Driver) can be triggered directly from the Test Cycles module listing (home) screen. This improves the productivity of users that schedule the application tests.
  
  
  5. Test Cycles home/listing screen provides visibility into the Test Scheduling Activity:Previously there was no visibility to the scheduling activity at a Test Cycle level within the Worksoft SaaS application. Users had to get this data from a data file generated by the Business Test Runs Driver. There was some visibility into the scheduling activity for the tests triggered for execution automatically by Worksoft AI/ML. This data was available in the 'Test Cycle Identifier' column of the Test Cycle listing screen. In this release, a new column has been added to the Test Cycle listing screen captioned 'Scheduling Activity' that provides visibility into the scheduling triggered manually by Users as well the scheduling triggered automatically by Worksoft AI/ML.
  
  
  6. Activity History for Scheduling at a Test Cycle Level: Activity History screen (that is available for other automation entities) is now made available for Test Cycles as well. This can be accessed from either the Actions menu at a test cycle level OR by clicking on an error icon within the newly added 'Scheduling Activity' column of the Test Cycle listing screen.
  
  
  7. Visibility into the Tests Scheduled: Previously users had to perform 2-3 steps to find the test runs scheduled using the currently used Business Test Runs Driver . In this release, a feature is added to provide rapid visibility into this information presented in a structured format. The blue ribbon in the "Activity" field of the 'Activity History' overlay provides quick snapshot on the number of test runs requested as part of the Schedule and the actual number that got scheduled successfully by the new Scheduler. And the Activity History screen has a field "Activity File" that provides link to an excel file that has details of the test runs that are scheduled. This provides details on the test runs that were successfully scheduled and the ones that failed, if any, along with the reason for failure. 
     
     
  
  
  8. Data Definitions used by the Worksoft SaaS Scheduler are locked from edit by users: So far, it was possible for the users to edit any/all of the 3 data definitions used by the Business Test Runs Driver. This allowed for challenges in keeping the version of the Business Test Runs Driver in sync across your projects (and even across Worksoft SaaS domains) resulting in higher maintenance efforts. In this release, the 3 data definitions used by the Worksoft SaaS Scheduler are locked from edit by any user within any project of any Worksoft SaaS domain. This ensures that everyone uses the same version of the Worksoft SaaS Scheduler. If at all any enhancements are required to any of these data definitions, please submit a request to Worksoft SaaS Support, and if the enhancement is approved, it will be implemented and released for consumption/benefit by all Worksoft SaaS customers.
  
  
  9. Worksoft SaaS Scheduler's Data Definitions are reorganized/restructured based on logical grouping of information: To improve ease of use and to increase productivity of users in scheduling tests, the data definitions have been refactored by logically grouping related fields of information, using more intuitive naming conventions. A specific data definition is used by the Worksoft SaaS Scheduler Component 'Test Cycle Runner'. Two other data definitions are used exclusively by the Worksoft SaaS Scheduler Component 'Application Test Driver'.
  
  
  10. Worksoft SaaS Scheduler's Data Definitions have in-built help text (documentation): Many of the columns of data in the data files that you upload for each of the 3 data definitions used by the Worksoft SaaS Scheduler contain JSON content. The structure of these JSON documents were previously only available within the Worksoft SaaS Knowledge Base and not available within the Data Definitions or Data Files screen. With this release, while creating/editing rows of data in Data Files that correspond to the 3 Data Definitions used by the Worksoft SaaS Scheduler components, you have access to the help text that guides you on the JSON templates and help text that you can use to quickly accomplish creation or editing of the data files.

• Test Cycle screen :: A single column that you can toggle between the Actual Window and the Planned Window

  The two columns 'Planned Window' and the 'Actual Window' for the test cycles are consolidated into a single column. By default, the 'Actual Window' shows. You can easily see the value of the 'Planned Window' by clicking on the Switch icon in the column header. This change is done to free up screen real estate to print a new column 'Schedule Activity' (described earlier in this article).

• Test Cycle screen :: Support for refreshing the details of a single Test Cycle in the Test Cycle listing

  A refresh icon exists on the top right hand side of each row of the Test Cycle listing screen for any Test Cycle that has Scheduled or In-Progress test runs. When you click on this refresh icon in any row, information is updated only for the single test cycle. If your project has lots of test cycles that are shown on the Test Cycles listing screen, using the row level refresh feature will help save you some time, especially if you are interested in seeing the progress of the schedule creation and/or the test execution.

• Bind Data screen :: Visibility into both the statically bound values and the overridden values

  On the 'View Bound Data' screen, this release offers you the ability to see the original values and if applicable, the overridden values, for the labels and the data files. So far, you were only able to see the values overridden via the QaCONNECT REST API or the Business Test Runs driver on that screen.

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