About Test Specifications

A test specification defines the overall process and strategy for testing a system (including the scope of the test effort) and provides a record of the test planning process.

For example, you could create a test specification for the design of an excavator to assure that you satisfy the structural requirements.

A test specification identifies the test requirements, test environments, test cases, test schedules, business and quality objectives, and risks.

See Also
Creating Test Specifications
Linking and Unlinking Test Specifications
In Other Guides
Content Categories

You can copy a test specification to create a duplicate with identical attributes. This is helpful when you want to run similar tests with some of the same test cases and some different test cases from the original.

You can link test specifications to other test objects in the following ways:

  • A test specification can link to one or more requirement specifications. Test cases created later can then validate the linked requirements.
  • A test specification can link to a project. When a test specification is linked to a project, the test execution objects that belong to the test specification become tasks of the project. Otherwise, the test execution objects are collaborative tasks.
  • A test specification can link to an engineering item to define the test context. The engineering item is often a physical product; for example, the arm or bucket assembly of an excavator. You might want to extract the maximum stress values from a specific part of the assembly and compare the values to those stated in the requirements specification.

You can also link a test specification to another test specification. Linked test specifications do not represent a hierarchy; the links are visual groupings only and do not determine a prerequisite or dependent status.

In addition, you can revise a test specification to create a newer version for testing. Revising a test specification retains:

  • All test cases, test executions, and test results linked to the original test specification.
  • All links to engineering items, requirement specifications, chapters, and projects.
  • All prerequisite dependencies of the original test specification.

You can Revise (or Revise and Replace) multiple test cases or multiple test specifications at once. In the figure below, you have multiselected Flight SImulation Test Spec 01 and TS-765. The toolbar changes to include only allowable actions; in this case, you can change the maturity state, revise, or delete the multiselected test cases.

In the following figure, Flight SImulation Test Spec 01 and TS-765 are at revision 1 in the tree; however, the revise icon indicates that a higher revision exists (resulting from your Revise action). If instead, you revised and replaced, the revise icon would be absent and the revision label would show as 2 in the column.

Test Specifications and Access Levels

Test specifications (and all test objects) belong to specific content categories. The category of content, along with your access level, determines what actions you can take on the various types of content.

To create test specifications, you must have the Author access role (at a minimum). To release test specifications, you must have the Leader access role.