ALM enhances your testing capabilities by enabling you to synch externally executed test results with ALM. Automation tests executed by Jenkins or other testing frameworks will be integrated into ALM along with the latest test runs, giving quality teams comprehensive quality coverage. When working with Jenkins, this integration enhances the Continuous Testing process.

ALM provides two methods for synchronizing your results with ALM:

For details, see Integrating External Tests.

The ALM Client is deployed once for each ALM version. When client download begins, the ALM Platform loader compares the ALM version on the server with the ALM version on the client machine, and only deploys the client if the versions are not the same. As a result, you can now install ALM in advance. For example, you can:

1. Install the new version of ALM or the new patch on your staging server.
2. From your client machine, link to the staging server. The new ALM Client is now deployed on your client machine.

You can then continue to access the production server, working with the old ALM Client. When the production server is upgraded to the new version of ALM, each client machine automatically works with the new ALM Client.

Also, you no longer need to specify additional servers in the MSI Generator to have a single MSI available for multiple ALM servers.

Certain critical fields in ALM cannot be hidden. These fields are marked with a plus sign in Project Customization.

You can add images to ALM records. You can attach an image, a snapshot of your application, or items from the Clipboard. You can add images to any memo field of an entity that support attachments, such as the Description and Comments sections of a defect.

You can capture, edit, and attach images of your application to ALM records using the Snapshot tool.

The ALM site administrator can lock out a user who invalidly attempts to log in. When a user is locked out, the user's status is set to Inactive. You can then activate the user, or set a time period to automatically activate the user and end the lockout.

A powerful global search engine enabling you to search across all or a specific ALM module. It includes the following modules: Defects, Requirements, Tests, Test Sets, and Analysis.

For installation details, see ALM Global Search.

For user interface details, see Global Search Window.

• Operating system service packs and updates are supported, provided they are compatible with the vendor’s general availability release.
• Database server’ service packs and updates are supported, provided they are compatible with the vendor’s general availability release.

ALM Robot is a tool embedded in Site Administration that supports the following activities:

• Project upgrade. Upgrades multiple ALM projects in parallel to your new version of ALM.
• Undo checkout. Reverts version controlled projects to their state prior to the check out. This activity is especially useful as a centralized approach to managing version controlled entities.

Performing these activities manually can be time-consuming and complicated, especially for a large number of projects. ALM Robot streamlines and automates these activities, enabling you to process a selected number of ALM projects in parallel. ALM Robot supports running activities from ALM/QC 11.52 and later.

For details, see ALM Robot.

You can now manage and run LeanFT tests from ALM. For details, see the HP Lean Functional Testing Help Center: Manage and run LeanFT tests from ALM .

The ALM Help Center is now available on the Web, providing easier access and more up-to-date user assistance. By default, all the help buttons open the online help. To use the local Help Center, if your organization does not allow internet access, set the site configuration parameter USE_LOCAL_HELP to ‘Y’.

If an entity does not meet run condition criteria, you can now instruct ALM to go to any subsequent component, flow, or group. This is in addition to the current run and skip options. For details, see the information about run conditions' Run Conditions Dialog Box.

For detailed samples of how to create graphs for Business Process Testing framework metrics, see HP Software Self-solve knowledge base article KM01998159.

• You can view information in the Test Script tab's grid view using the new extended view. This enables you to see a more comprehensive view of test components without clicking additional links. The additional information you can see include:

  • Snapshot thumbnails, instead of an icon.

  • Separate columns for input and output parameters, which include parameter names and if only one iteration, the value for the parameter.

  • Links between input and output parameters, without having to open the I/O Parameters dialog box.

  Additionally, when working in extended view, you can adjust row heights for your convenience.

  For details, see Test Script Tab for Business Process Testing.