Organizing Tests

Learn how to organize test cases into suites, create test plans for execution, and use tags for efficient test management.

Workflow 1: Create and Organize Test Suites

Group related test cases together into suites for better organization and bulk execution.

Steps

1. Navigate to Test Suites

   • Click Test Suites in the left sidebar
   • Click + New Suite button in the top right

2. Define Suite Details

   • Name: Enter a clear, descriptive name (e.g., "Authentication Tests", "Checkout Flow")
   • Description: Add context about what this suite covers
   • Folder/Path: Optionally organize into folders (e.g., Features/Authentication)

3. Add Test Cases to Suite

   • Click + Add Test Cases button
   • Search and select test cases from your project
   • Click Add to include them in the suite

4. Organize Suite Structure

   • Create folders for hierarchical organization
   • Drag and drop suites to rearrange
   • Use nesting to group related suites (e.g., API Tests → User API, Order API)

5. Set Suite Properties

   • Priority: Default priority for tests in this suite
   • Tags: Auto-apply tags to all tests in suite
   • Owner: Assign team or person responsible

6. Save the Suite

   • Click Save to create the suite
   • The suite appears in the Test Suites list

Best Practices for Suite Organization

• Organize by feature area - One suite per major feature (Authentication, Billing, Reporting)
• Keep suites focused - 10-50 test cases per suite is manageable
• Use hierarchical folders - Group related suites together
• Name consistently - Use naming pattern like [Feature] [Type] Tests (e.g., "API Authentication Tests")

Common Suite Patterns

By Feature Area:

• Authentication Suite
• User Management Suite
• Checkout & Payment Suite
• Reporting & Analytics Suite

By Test Type:

• Smoke Tests Suite (quick sanity checks)
• Regression Suite (full coverage)
• Integration Tests Suite (API, database)

By Layer:

• UI Tests Suite
• API Tests Suite
• Database Tests Suite
• Performance Tests Suite

Related Concepts

• Test Suites - Understanding suite purpose and structure
• Test Cases - Individual tests organized into suites

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Workflow 2: Add Test Cases to Suites

Add test cases to suites using drag-drop, bulk selection, or manual selection.

Steps to Add Individual Test Cases

1. Open the Suite

   • Navigate to Test Suites
   • Click on the suite you want to add cases to

2. Add Test Cases

   • Click + Add Test Cases button
   • Search for test cases by name or tag
   • Check the boxes next to test cases to add
   • Click Add to confirm

Steps to Drag and Drop

1. Open Split View

   • Navigate to Test Suites
   • Click the Split View icon (two panels)
   • Left panel shows suites, right panel shows test cases

2. Drag and Drop

   • Find test case in the right panel
   • Drag test case to a suite in the left panel
   • Release to add the case to that suite

3. Repeat as Needed

   • Continue dragging test cases to suites
   • Changes save automatically

Steps to Bulk Add Test Cases

1. Select Multiple Test Cases

   • Go to Test Cases list view
   • Filter to find the cases you want to add
   • Check boxes next to all cases to add

2. Use Bulk Actions

   • Click Bulk Actions menu
   • Select Add to Suite
   • Choose destination suite from dropdown
   • Click Add to process

3. Verify Addition

   • Navigate to the target suite
   • Confirm all test cases appear in the suite

Steps to Remove Test Cases from Suite

1. Open the Suite

   • Navigate to Test Suites
   • Click on the suite containing the cases

2. Remove Cases

   • Check boxes next to cases to remove
   • Click Remove from Suite
   • Confirm removal (this doesn't delete the test case, just removes it from suite)

Best Practices

• Use drag-drop for small additions - Quick and intuitive for 1-5 cases
• Use bulk add for many cases - Efficient when adding 10+ cases
• Review suite composition regularly - Remove outdated or redundant tests
• Atest case can be in multiple suites - Don't duplicate cases, just add to multiple suites

Tips

• Filter by tag to add all cases with a specific label (e.g., add all smoke tests to Smoke Suite)
• Use split view to see both suite structure and available test cases
• Removing from suite doesn't delete the test case - it remains in your project

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Workflow 3: Create Test Plans for Scheduled Execution

Create test plans to schedule when tests should run, assign execution to team members, and track progress.

Steps

1. Navigate to Test Plans

   • Click Test Plans in the left sidebar
   • Click + New Plan button

2. Define Plan Details

   • Name: Enter a descriptive name (e.g., "Weekly Regression", "Release 2.1 Verification")
   • Description: Add context about the plan's purpose
   • Milestone: Optionally link to a release milestone

3. Select Test Suites

   • Click + Add Suites
   • Choose suites to include in this plan
   • Use filters to find suites by feature, tag, or owner

4. Add Individual Test Cases (Optional)

   • Click + Add Test Cases to include specific cases
   • Useful for ad-hoc or one-time test runs

5. Configure Schedule

   • Manual: Run only when triggered
   • One-time: Schedule for specific date/time
   • Recurring: Set frequency (daily, weekly, monthly)
   • Trigger-based: Run on events (code commit, deployment)

6. Assign Execution

   • Assignee: Choose who should execute tests
   • Team: Assign to a team for distributed execution
   • Self-assign: Keep assigned to yourself

7. Set Environment

   • Select target environment: Development, Staging, Production
   • Configure environment-specific settings if needed

8. Save and Activate

   • Click Save to create the plan
   • Set status to Active to enable scheduling
   • Test runs will be created based on your schedule

Best Practices

• Link plans to milestones - Track testing progress toward releases
• Use appropriate schedules - Smoke tests daily, regression weekly, full monthly
• Assign based on expertise - Frontend devs run UI tests, backend run API tests
• Set clear environments - Avoid confusion about where tests should run

When to Use Test Plans vs. Suites

Scenario	Use Test Plan	Use Suite
Grouping related tests	No	Yes
Scheduling test runs	Yes	No
Assigning execution	Yes	No
Organizing for reporting	No	Yes
Tracking release progress	Yes	No

Think of suites as playlists and plans as scheduled concerts. Suites organize content; plans organize execution.

Related Concepts

• Test Plans - Understanding plan purpose and components
• Test Suites - Tests selected for plans
• Milestones - Goals tracked via test plans

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Workflow 4: Organize Suites by Feature Area or Team

Structure your test suite hierarchy to match your application architecture or team structure.

Steps to Organize by Feature Area

1. Identify Major Features

   • List your application's major features (e.g., Authentication, Billing, User Management, Reporting)
   • Each feature becomes a top-level suite

2. Create Feature Suites

   • Navigate to Test Suites
   • Click + New Suite for each feature
   • Use clear names: "Authentication Tests", "Billing Tests", "User Management Tests"

3. Create Sub-Features as Folders

   • Inside each feature suite, create folders for sub-features
   • Example: Inside "Authentication Tests" create folders: "Login", "Registration", "Password Reset"

4. Move Existing Suites

   • If you have existing suites, drag them into the appropriate feature folder
   • Reorganize to match your feature structure

5. Add Test Cases to Feature Suites

   • Add test cases to the appropriate feature suite
   • A test case can belong to multiple feature suites if needed

Steps to Organize by Team

1. Identify Teams

   • List teams responsible for testing (e.g., Frontend Team, Backend Team, QA Team)

2. Create Team Suites

   • Navigate to Test Suites
   • Create top-level suites for each team: "Frontend Team Tests", "Backend Team Tests"

3. Create Sub-Suites by Feature

   • Within each team suite, create feature-specific sub-suites
   • Example: Inside "Frontend Team Tests" create "UI Tests", "Accessibility Tests"

4. Assign Ownership

   • Set the Owner field on each suite to the appropriate team
   • This makes filtering and reporting by team easier

5. Review and Adjust

   • Verify each test case is owned by the appropriate team
   • Update test case ownership if needed

Steps to Create a Hybrid Structure

1. Primary Organization by Feature

   • Create top-level suites by feature area
   • This is your main organizational structure

2. Secondary Organization by Team

   • Use tags to indicate team ownership (e.g., team-frontend, team-backend)
   • Filter by tag to view team-specific tests

3. Use Folders for Hierarchical Organization

   • Create folder structure: Feature → Sub-feature → Test Type
   • Example: Billing → Invoices → UI Tests

Best Practices for Scalability

• Start broad, then refine - Create major feature suites first, add detail later
• Use consistent naming - Follow pattern like [Feature] [Type] Tests
• Keep depth manageable - Don't nest more than 3 levels deep
• Document your structure - Add descriptions to top-level suites explaining organization logic
• Review quarterly - Adjust structure as your application evolves

Scalability Tips

• Aim for 10-50 test cases per suite - Too few = fragmentation, too many = unmanageable
• Split growing suites - When a suite exceeds 100 cases, consider splitting
• Use folders, not just suites - Folders help organize without creating full suites
• Tag by dimension - Use tags for cross-cutting concerns (priority, type, team)

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Workflow 5: Use Tags and Filters for Test Discovery

Apply tags to test cases and use filters to quickly find the tests you need.

Steps to Add Tags to Test Cases

1. Open Test Case for Editing

   • Navigate to Test Cases
   • Click on the test case you want to tag
   • Click Edit button

2. Add Tags

   • Scroll to Tags field
   • Type tag name and press Enter to add
   • Add multiple tags as needed
   • Common tags: smoke, regression, api, ui, critical, team-frontend

3. Save Changes

   • Click Save to apply tags

Steps to Bulk Add Tags

1. Select Multiple Test Cases

   • Go to Test Cases list view
   • Check boxes next to cases to tag
   • Use filters to find relevant cases first

2. Use Bulk Edit

   • Click Bulk Actions → Edit Tags
   • Type tags to add (or remove)
   • Click Apply to update all selected cases

Steps to Filter Test Cases

1. Open Filter Panel

   • Navigate to Test Cases
   • Click Filter button (funnel icon)

2. Apply Filters

   • By Tag: Select one or more tags to show only matching tests
   • By Priority: Filter by critical, high, medium, low
   • By Status: Filter by draft, active, archived
   • By Suite: Show only tests in specific suites
   • By Owner: Filter by assigned owner

3. Combine Filters

   • Use multiple filters together for precise results
   • Example: tag=smoke AND priority=critical AND suite=Authentication

4. Save Filter Preset

   • After configuring filters, click Save as Preset
   • Name the preset (e.g., "Critical Smoke Tests")
   • Access preset quickly from filter dropdown

Steps to Search Test Cases

1. Use Search Bar

   • Type in the search box at top of Test Cases list
   • Searches titles, descriptions, and step text
   • Results update as you type

2. Use Advanced Search

   • Click Advanced Search for more options
   • Search specific fields: title only, steps only, tags
   • Use operators: AND, OR, NOT for complex queries

Tagging Strategy Examples

By Test Type:

• smoke - Quick sanity checks
• regression - Full feature coverage
• integration - API and database tests
• e2e - End-to-end user flows

By Priority:

• critical - Must pass for release
• high - Important but not blocking
• medium - Normal priority
• low - Nice to have

By Team:

• team-frontend - UI and component tests
• team-backend - API and service tests
• team-qa - Manual and exploratory tests

By Feature:

• auth - Authentication and authorization
• billing - Payment and invoicing
• user-management - User profiles and settings

Best Practices

• Use consistent tag names - Establish tag conventions and document them
• Don't over-tag - 3-5 tags per test case is sufficient
• Use lowercase tags - Improves readability and reduces duplicates
• Review tags regularly - Remove unused tags, consolidate similar ones
• Combine tags with filters - Tags + filters = powerful test discovery

Tips

• Tags are flexible - create any tags that make sense for your team
• Use filters to create custom views (e.g., "Show me all critical API tests")
• Filter presets save time for frequently used queries
• Search works across test case content, not just titles

Related Concepts

• Test Cases - Test case structure and metadata
• Test Suites - Alternative organization by feature