How to Create Business Components in ALM

This task describes how to create business components, their shells, and their content (manual implementation or automation) in ALM.

1. Prerequisites

   • Determine the component scope by gathering information such as business process specifications, marketing and business requirements documents, and stakeholder goals.

     Example: Some questions you may want to ask are:

     • What is the main purpose and direction of the application from a business perspective?

     • What are your business or testing priorities? How can you represent these priorities as business components?

     • How much reuse is necessary? This can help determine the division of application testing into tests, flows, groups, and components.

     • Is testing going to be automated, manual or both?

   • Decide if Business Process Testing, by default, should prepare the component for the creation of manual steps automatically when you create a component. For details, see the HPE Application Lifecycle Management Administrator Guide: Business Process Test Page.

2. Create the component tree

   Define a hierarchical framework for your business components by creating a component tree, as you would any other tree in ALM. For user interface details, see Business Components Module Window.

3. Create the component shell

   Define the shell for your business components. For user interface details, see New Component/Component Details Dialog Box.

   Tip: You can also create components:

   • Using other testing tools, such as UFT. See the HPE Unified Functional Testing User Guide or the relevant guide for the testing tool.

   • By converting existing manual ALM tests (not business process tests) to components. For task details, see Convert manual tests - optional.

   • ALM 12.21: When learning flows using BPT Packaged Apps Kit. For user interface details, see Learn Flow Process User Interface.

   • Copying components from other projects. For user interface details, see Paste Components/Component Folders to Target Project Dialog Box

   • Handling component requests. For task details, see Handle component requests - optional.

   Components are added to the component tree with the manual component icon. The components are assigned the status Under Development.

   Tip: By default, components are created assuming a manual implementation is needed for adding manual steps. You can change this default if you prefer that the component be created without preparation for manual implementation. In this case, an "empty" component is created. For details, see the HPE Application Lifecycle Management Administrator Guide: Business Process Test Page.

4. Update the component shell

   For each component, you can update its content and implementation requirements (details, manual steps, automation, attachments, parameters, dependencies, and history).

   Right-click a component and select Component Details. The Component Details dialog box opens. For user interface details, see New Component/Component Details Dialog Box.

5. Create component content

   Determine if the content should be manual, automated, or both.

   For automated components, determine the automation testing tool (such as UFT) and method (scripted GUI, keyword GUI, API).

   Tip: Review the guidelines under Choosing Methodologies.

   For task details on adding manual steps to the component content, see How to Work with Manual Implementation.

   For task details on adding keyword GUI automation to the component content, see How to Work with Keyword GUI Automation.

   For task details on adding scripted automation (either scripted GUI or API) to the component content, see How to Work with Scripted GUI and API Automation.

6. Synchronize component content - optional

   If your business component contains both manual implementation and automation, you can synchronize the business component's manual implementation steps and its automated steps. This guarrantees that the two implementations are consistent. When synchronized, you cannot edit manual implementation steps.

   For user interface details, see the Sync to Automation button in Manual Implementation Tab.

7. Handle component requests - optional

   Another way to create components is to handle component requests submitted in the Test Plan module.

   After confirming that a requested component and its parameters are necessary for business process testing, in the component tree, drag the requested component from the Component Requests folder to the appropriate folder. The Not Implemented status changes to Under Development as the component request becomes a component.

   Note:  

   • You can rename and edit the requested component as you would any other ALM entity.

   • You can delete a component request in the Business Components module only.

   • You cannot automate a component request. After the request becomes a component, you can add automation.

   • If you add a component request, which by default only has a manual implementation, into an automated business process test, the business process test can still be run automatically. The component request is ignored during the automatic run.

   For task details on requesting components, see the task How to Create Business Process Tests and Flows.

8. Convert manual tests - optional

   You can use existing ALM manual tests as a basis for defining your manual business components.

   Convert existing ALM manual tests using the Select Destination Folder dialog box in the Test Plan module. For user interface details, see Select Destination Folder Dialog Box.

9. Create components by recording - optional

   You can record your actions in any application. These actions are then used as steps in newly-created business components. For details, see How to Record Components into Flows and Business Process Tests.

10. Create components by learning packaged apps, such as SAP - optional

    You can learn actions in a packaged app, such as SAP. These actions are then created as components in newly-created business process tests or flows . For details, see Learn Process Overview .

11. Create components using HP Sprinter - optional

    You can use Sprinter to define manual business components. For details, see the Sprinter documentation.

12. Analyze components

    • Review your business components to ensure that they meet the defined scope. After a component is approved, you change the status of a component from Under Development to Ready.

    • To help review the components, you can generate reports and graphs. For example, to see the development status of your components, you could view the Components Progress graph.

      For task details, see the HPE Application Lifecycle Management User Guide: How to Analyze Data in ALM.