The Seapine View

Since we released the TestTrack Sample Scrum Project, we have had requests to make downloads available in RDBMS formats. With the help from our support team, we have been converting projects as the requests come in. The converted projects are available for download here.

All the conversions were done using TestTrack 2011.1, and the following are available:

• Microsoft SQL Server 2008 RTM
• Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2
• Oracle 11g
• Oracle 11g R2
• PostgreSQL 8.3.1

We will update the downloads page as new conversions become available, and also as we upgrade the project as a result of upcoming releases.

The 2011.1 release of Surround SCM included a new feature that allows you to use promote and rebase as pre-event trigger actions. This makes it easy to check a certain condition and decide if you want to allow a promote or rebase to continue. The condition is evaluated on the file that contains the change that is being promoted or rebased. As an example, I’m going to show you how to prevent a promote based on file state.

This example uses a reverse waterfall branch model. Changes are checked in to a development branch and reviewed. After they are approved, the changes are promoted to a staging branch for integration testing. Once those tests pass, the changes are promoted to the production branch.

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You can manage development, test, and requirement artifacts with TestTrack. All artifacts are stored in the same database, allowing TestTrack to provide complete traceability throughout the product development lifecycle.

This video includes a high-level overview of how TestTrack can automatically link and establish relationships between artifacts. This eliminates the need to manually link artifacts, and the need to know what to update when an item changes.

A common request is the ability to archive pop-up menu field values in TestTrack. You have a field with multiple values, and some of them are no longer applicable. You’d like to make them unavailable to users, but don’t want to delete them because you still want to search based on those values and also don’t want to lose historical data. In a previous post I mentioned that you can use Field Relationships to do this. In this post I’d like to show you how.

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In a recent post, I discussed how to use security groups in TestTrack to simplify the Item window. In this post, I’m going to cover Surround SCM security groups, specifically the permissions that control the access to files.

To access security groups go to View > Security Groups…

Understanding File Access Permissions in Surround SCM

Surround SCM provides three levels of file access permissions, and these are set for each security group.

Default Security

These are the permissions that will, by default, apply to all files on all branches and repositories. These are set on the Server Security tab of the Security Group window. Under the “Files (Default)” category you specify the file access permissions that will be the default for all branches and repositories. In the following screenshot, you’ll see that the Dev Team has all file permissions enabled except Destroy on all branches and repositories across all mainlines.

Edit Security Group Window

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While Agile has been gaining more and more ground, it appears that many organizations are also adopting their own flavor of Agile. They take the parts that they like or work for them and integrate them into their own process. Sometimes this is driven by outside factors, like compliance needs and customers.

In these instances, you may have a need to manage both requirements and user stories in the same project. In this post, I’ll talk about one way to do this in TestTrack.

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In a recent post, I introduced the Seapine ALM Reporting Platform. In this video, I provide an overview of the install process and configuration to get the data warehouse populated. Once the warehouse is populated, it can be queried for reporting using any reporting tool that is compatible with the RDBMS you use for the warehouse (SQL or Oracle).

The TestTrack Defect window can be a little intimidating for new users. I have done many demonstrations for prospects and this comes up from time to time. The prospect is concerned that the Defect window is too complex for a group of users that need a simpler window to just enter defects.

When this comes up, I log off the current account (usually the Administrator account) and log back in using a limited account. I then show the prospect how different the same Defect window can look for a different user.

Using Security Groups, you can configure the level of access and visibility that a user has in TestTrack. Depending on the user’s role you can control what fields and tabs the user has access to. In this blog post, I’m focusing on configuring the Defect Window. Keep in mind this also applies to the Test Case, Test Run, Requirement, and Requirement Document windows.

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A few months ago we published a Sample Scrum Project that uses the entire TestTrack suite. Unfortunately, if you don’t have licenses for all three TestTrack products, you weren’t able to use the project.

I decided to create another version of the sample project that only uses TestTrack Pro features. If you only have a TestTrack Pro license, download the TestTrack Pro Scrum Sample Project instead. Continue reading…

Perforce introduced the concepts of streams in their upcoming release, and we’ve had a few folks ask us how they compare with Surround SCM‘s implementation of branches.

I gathered some highlights on streams from their blog posts, and I’d like to compare these highlights to existing Surround SCM features. As you’ll see, many of the new features that Perforce streams provide have been part of Surround SCM branches for years.

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