In my recent blog posts I described Focused Build Test Steps for manual testing with SAP Solution Manager, how you can benefit from special functions like the Testing Mode in a 4-eyes-principle use case or the automated translation of test cases.

In this blog post I will describe how you can use a new feature for Test Sequences which was introduced with Focused Build SP05.

With Test Sequences you can put test cases into a defined order and make sure that testers execute them exactly in this sequence. This is typically helpful when it comes to End-2-End scenarios covering several processes which need to be tested one after the other.

In theory, this functionality gives guidance to your testers and simplifies the test execution in the correct order. However, during practical implementation, you will quickly realize that it is not only the right sequence which is important but also the handover from one tester to the other.

At the interface between two test cases you usually want to transfer test results which are needed for the subsequent execution. For example, in the first test case you create a new Sales Order. The ID of this order is required in the subsequent test case for further processing by a different tester.

In Test Steps Designer you can define result attributes which should be visible to all testers during the execution within a Test Sequence.

In this example, a Sales Order is created in the first step. Based on the settings of the referring result attribute, the tester has to maintain the Sales Order ID during execution of the first step. Since the attribute is also flagged as “Public in Test Sequences”, the Sales Order ID will also be visible to all testers in all following test cases within the sequence.

That’s one small setting for a test case designer, one giant improvement for all testers during execution.