HP-ALM

HP ALM (Application Life Cycle Management) is a web based tool that helps organizations to
manage the application lifecycle right from project planning, requirements gathering, until
Testing & deployment.
The ALM full form is Application Life Cycle Management Tool that supports various phases
of the software development life cycle.
HP-ALM is a test management tool, which is used for to manage the entire project by
involving different stake holders like:

 Developer
 Tester
 Business Analysts
 Project Managers
 Product Owners

Life Cycle of HP-ALM :

 It enables all the stakeholders to interact and coordinate, to achieve the project
goals.
 It provides robust tracking & reporting and seamless integration of various project
related tasks.
 It enables detailed project analysis and effective management.
  ALM tool can connect to our email systems and send emails about any changes (like
Requirement change, Defect raising, etc..) to all desired team members.

Architecture of QC

ALM is an enterprise application developed using Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) that can
have MS SQL Server or Oracle as its back end. ALM has 3 components – Client, Application
Server and Database Server.

1. HP ALM client: when an end user/tester accesses the URL of ALM, the client
components are downloaded on the client's system. ALM client components help
the user to interact with the server using .NET and COM technologies over a secured
connection (HTTPS).
2. ALM server/Application server: Application server usually runs on a Windows
or Linux platform which caters to the client requests. App server makes use of the
Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) driver to communicate between the application
server and database servers.
3. Database servers: The Database layer stores three schemas.

 Site Administration schema: It Stores information related to the domains, users, and
site parameters.
 Lab Project: This schema stores lab information related to functional
and Performance Testing on remote hosts, Performance Center server data.
 Project schema: Stores project information, such as work item/data created by the
user under the project area. Each project has its own schema and they are are
created on the same database server as the Site Administration schema.
What is ALM?

ALM is a process of specification, design, development, and testing of a software

application. It covers the entire lifecycle from the idea of the application through to the
development, testing, deployment, support, and ultimately user experience phase. The full
form of ALM is Application life cycle management.

Depending on the software development methodology (for example, waterfall, agile, or

DevOps), ALM might be split into various phases. ALM process is mainly broken down into
three elements: Governance, development, and operations.

Why ALM is important?

The following are the main reasons for using ALM:

 If you are using ALM, then you have good visibility into project status.
 Teams are able to communicate effectively.
 It is easy to track or define requirements.
 The software was tested adequately.
 The cost of maintaining and operating the solution remains limited.

tages of Application Lifecycle Management

Here are the different stages of ALM:

1) Requirement management:

Requirement management is the first ALM stage that helps you in documenting, analysing,
tracking, prioritizing, and agreeing on requirements. It is a continuous process that will
continue throughout a project life cycle.

2) Design

Design management is a process that helps to enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty by
improving usability. It also provides interaction among the customer and the product.
3) Build Management

Build Management is also known as code management. It is the process of converting

source code files into standalone software component. In this stage, an application idea
transforms into an actual application.

During this stage, the application is built, tested, and deployed, and the tester begins
preparing their tests-cases and write a test script for the testing phase.

4) SCM

Software Configuration Management(SCM) is another ALM stage where the development

team systematically organizes, manages, and controls the changes in the documents, codes,
and other entities during the Application Development Life Cycle process.

5) Operations and Maintenance

Operations and maintenance is the next phase. In the ALM phase, the process of
monitoring, Management, and the development of the applications will begin. In DevOps,
this ALM phase it covers "release," "config," and "monitor".

In this stage, you find and resolve bugs. This phase helps you to plan and prioritize the next
updates to the product.

6) Test management:

In the testing phase, the testers need to verify that the application is complying with the
requirements defined in the initial steps of the process.

They also need to ensure that, even if this is not properly defined in the requirements
phase, the application will meet the user expectations and all the other stakeholders that
will require to support it throughout its lifecycle.

7) User experience:

Maintenance or user experience is traditionally the longest stage of ALM. Still, it is also the
one where the participation of the testing and development teams is usually the lowest.

After the application is developed, the role of the users comes to play. They check the entire
application and share their experience base on their feedback. The final application will be
delivered.

Advantage of ALM

Here are pros/benefits of using ALM:

 ALM helps you to control the system by organizing and tracking

 You can share defects across projects, reducing risk by helping.
  ALM offers integration with other testing tools
 It provides a clear direction for an app before it is built.
 Without ALM, it is hard for a software development team to produce software at the
speed and agility needed to stay competitive.
 ALM efficiently delivers software with minimum 'tax' on the team.

Top 35 HP ALM (Quality Center) Interview Questions & Answers

1. What is HP ALM (Quality Center) used for? Or What are the benefits and features of
Quality Center?

HP ALM/ Quality Center is a comprehensive test management tool. It is a web-based tool

and supports high level of communication and association among various stakeholders
(Business Analyst, Developers , Testers etc. ) , driving a more effective and efficient global
application-testing process. Automation Tools like QTP , WinRunner & Loadrunner can be
integrated with Quality Center. One can also create reports and graphs for Analysis and
Tracking for Test processes.

2. What is the difference between TestDirector and Quality Center?

Quality Center is upgraded version of Test Director built by the same vendor Mercury (Now
acquired by HP).Test Director Version 8.2 onwards is know as Quality
Center. Quality Center is has enhanced Security/Test management /Defect management
features when compared to Test Director.

3. What is the difference between Quality Center and Bugzilla?

Quality Center is a test management tool which can also manage Defects apart from other
features.

BugZilla is Defect Management tool only.

4. What is the Purpose of Creating Child Requirement in TD /QC?

By Creating Child requirements to the main requirement you can evaluate the sub
requirements related to the main requirements.

You can link test sets and defects to the sub-requirements.  This helps in 100% test coverage
and its analysis.
Learn More About Requirements in the Tutorial here

5. What is Test Lab?

In order to execute a Test Case (Developed in the Test Plan Module) either manual or
automated it needs to imported into Test Lab Module. In sum, Test Cases are created in Test
Plan Module while they are executed in Test Lab Module.

6. What is meant by Instance?

A Test Case imported from Test Plan module to Test Lab module is called an Instance of that
test case. It is possible to have multiple instances of the same Test Case in the Test Lab
Module.

7. Is it possible to maintain test data in Quality Center?

Yes. One can attach the test data to the corresponding test cases or create a separate folder
in test plan to store them.

8. How to ensure that there is no duplication of bugs in Quality Center?

In the defect tracking window of QC,  there is a “find similar defect” icon. When this icon is
clicked after writing the defect, if anybody else has entered the same defect then it points it
out.

9. What will be the status in Quality Center if you give "Suggestion" to the Developer?

This is a trick question.

You can give "Suggestion" to the developer using the Comments sections provided in QC.
This is will not change the current status of Defect in QC. In sum, the status of the defect
remains the same,  as that  before giving suggestion to the developer.

10. How will you generate the defect ID in Quality Center?

The Defect ID is automatically generated after clicking Submit button.

Learn More about Defect Creation in Quality Center in  here

11. Is 'Not covered' and 'Not run' status the same?

Not Covered status means all those requirements for which the test cases are not written
whereas Not Run status means all those requirements for which test cases are written but
are not run.
 
12.How to import test cases from Excel / Word  to Quality Center?

1.Install and Configure the Microsoft Excel / Word Add-In for Quality Center.

2. Map the Columns in  Word / Excel spreadsheet with Columns available  in  Quality Center

3.Export the data from Word/Excel to Quality Center Using Tools >Export to Quality Center
Option in Word/Excel.
4. Rectify errors if Any.
 

13. Can we export the file from Quality Centre to Excel / Word. If yes then how?

Yes.

Requirement tab– Right click on main Req/click on export/save as word, excel or other
template. This would save all the child requirements

Test plan tab: Only individual test can be exported. No parent child export is possible. Select
a test script, click on the design steps tab, right click anywhere on the open window. Click on
export and save as.

Test lab tab: Select a child group. Click on execution grid if it is not selected. Right click
anywhere. Default save option is excel. But can be saved in documents and other formats

Defects Tab: Right click anywhere on the window, export all or selected defects and save
excel sheet or document.
 

14. What is Business Component  ?

Quality Center provides Business Component  for Business Process Testing (BPT).

Many Enterprise Applications are a) complex and b) require extensive test scripts/case.

A Test /Automation Engineer can not handle both complexity of Application Under Test as
well as  extensive test script/test case creation.

Using Business Component,  Subject Matter Experts ( who are experts on the  Application 
Under Test ) can create tests in a script free environment without involving in the Nitty-
gritty of test case/script designing. It helps increase test coverage and creates re-usable
business components used for testing essential Business Processes.

Development of Test Script / Cases is done by Automation / Test Engineer.

15.How can we save the tests Executed in test lab?

The tests executed, are automatically saved when the user clicks on "END RUN" in the Test
Lab

Learn More About Running a Test Case in QC in the Tutorial here

16. How to export test cases from QTP into QC?

To export test cases from QTP to QC, you first need to establish QTP-QC connection

1)  In QTP , Go to File > Quality Center Connection.

2)  Enter QC URL project name/domain/username/password and click on Login. QTP is now
connected to QC.

Next you can select the save the QTP Script in QC.

3)  In QTP, Select File Menu > Save As > Save in QC

4 ) Select the Folder in QC where you wan to save the QTP Script

6) Click OK to Save.

17. How to use QTP as an automation tool in Quality Center ?

You need to install QTP add-in in Quality Center (Usually done by Quality Center
Administrator) . You then create and store QTP scripts in QC.

Learn more about using QTP in Quality Center in Tutorial here

18. How to switch between two projects in Quality Center ?

In QC 9.0 and above  you can switch between two projects by select Tools>Change
Projects>Select Project.

In other version , you will need to log-off and log-in again.

19. What is the main purpose to storing requirement in Quality Center?

You store requirements in Quality Center for following reasons

a) To ensure 100% coverage : You can create and track test plan / sets for the requirements
stored in Quality Center to ensure all the requirements are tested.

b) Easy Change Management : If any requirement changes during course of test case
creation , the underlying test case is automatically highlighted and Test Engineer can change
the test case to suite the new requirement.
e) Ease of Tracking : Using Advanced Reporting & Graphs provided by QC , Managers can
determine various metrics useful in project tracking and monitoring.

20. What is Coverage status, what does it do?

Coverage status is percentage of testing covered at a given time.

For Example, If you have 100 test cases in a project and you have executed 35 test cases
than your coverage status of the project is 35%

Coverage status is helps keep track of project deadline.

21. Explain the architecture of Hp-ALM the new version of Quality Center?

 HP ALM client
 ALM server/Application server
 Database servers- Site administration schema, Lab project and Project schema

22. Mention what are the different edition for HP ALM?

The different edition of HP ALM includes

 HP ALM essentials: It is for the corporates that need the basic features for
supporting their entire software life cycle
 HP QC enterprise edition: This version is used by corporates more commonly who
use ALM more testing purposes.  It also provides integration with UFT
 HP ALM performance center edition: This license is best suitable for organizations
who would like to use HP ALM to drive HP-Load runner scripts.  It helps the users to
manage, maintain, execute, schedule and monitor performance tests.

23. Mention what is ALM workflow?

ALM workflow includes

 Release Specification
 Requirement Specification
 Test Planning
 Test Execution
 Defect Tracking

 
24. Explain why do we need management of release and cycles in ALM?

 There are many releases for a specific product

 Each release is segregated into a number of cycles
 Each release has also have a pre-defined scope and milestone associated with it
 There is a specific number of test cases and requirements associated with it
 Upon executing tests, the defects are mapped and logged to the corresponding tests
after which we can trace requirements and defects

Hence we need release and cycle Management

25. Explain how you can customize the defect management cycle in Quality Center?

One should gather all the features or attributes that have to be part of the defect
management like defect origin, version, defect details, etc.  Later in QC using the modify
options, one can change the defect modules accordingly.

26. Mention what is the advantage of Quality Center?

 Quality Center is referred as a complete test management tool

 It is a web-based tool and backs up high level of communication among various
stake-holders (Developers, Business Analyst, Testers and so on) driving a more
efficient and effective global application-testing process
 With Quality Center automation tools like QTP, WinRunner and LoadRunner it can be
integrated.  For analysis and tracking for test processes, it can also create reports
and graphs

27.   Mention what is Test Lab module in Quality Center?

Test Lab module helps the tester to execute the created tests.  Using this module one can
schedule, run and analyze and post defects.

28.   Mention how many types of tabs are there in Quality Center and explain them?

Requirement: To track the customer requirements

Test Plan: To store the test scripts and design the test cases

Test Lab: To track the results and execute the test cases

Defect: Totrack down the logged defects and log a defect

29.  Mention what does Dashboard Analysis consist of?

The dashboard analysis consists of two views

 Analysis View:  It consists of the analysis tree using which project managers/QA can
arrange all of their analysis items like-graphs, excel reports and project reports
 Dashboard View: It consists of the dashboard tree in which managers or testers
arrange dashboard pages that can arrange multiple graphs that was formed in the
analysis tree and manifest them in a single view

30.   Mention what is Sprinter in HP-Alm?

Sprinter offers advanced functionality and tools to make manual testing more effective and
efficiently.  It allows you to accomplish these tasks without disrupting your test flow.  With
the help of sprinter, you can execute many of the repetitive and tedious tasks of manual
testing automatically.  It includes many tools that can help you to detect and submit defects.

31.   Mention what is sprinter-data injection?

 Using sprinter you can enter test data into the application by matching column
names with the field names with the application
 We can insert multi-set of data directly into the application with respective matching
fields at one go
 Choose the row that you want to insert and tap on the inject icon which directly
inject the data into the corresponding fields

32. Mention how sprinter tools are helpful?

Sprinter tools are helpful in many ways like

  Smart Defect:
 New Defect:
 Add Defect Reminder:

33.   Explain how one can map a single defect to more than one test script?

Using the “associate defect” option in TestDirector one can assign the same defect to a
number of test cases.

34.  Explain how you can add requirements to test cases in Quality Centre?

There are two types of requirements available in Quality Center

 Parent Requirements
 Child Requirements

35. What are the predefined groups and permissions in HP ALM?

1. Developer
2. Project Manager
3. QA Tester
4. TD Admin
5. View