Complete Tutorial ClearQuest Part1

Written by Raj

ClearQuest

OVERVIEW

            IBM’s Rational ClearQuest is a customizable defect and change tracking system that organizes and automates the processes involved in submitting, assigning, tracking, testing and releasing change requests. This tool simplifies the process of managing every type of change activity associated with software development. It is especially useful because it helps you track the correction of defects, the enhancement of existing functions, the addition of new features, and the modification of documentation and packaging.

One of ClearQuest’s advantages is its flexibility it offers, where local, remote and Web interfaces enable access virtually anytime, anywhere. Whether you're working on Windows, UNIX or the Web, the fully customizable interface and workflow engine adapt to any development process. ClearQuest shortens the development cycle by unifying your entire team in the process of managing software change. With the automatic email notification feature that comes with this tool, every team member could keep up to date with the status of the project and any changes that have been made almost instantly and with relative ease. Other members in the software development team also are bound to benefit from the use of ClearQuest. For instance, the development engineers can identify and prioritize action items that pertain to their section of code, test engineers can track the status and resolution of change requests to verify software quality while project managers could get information at a glance to help them allocate development resources.

With its predefined schemas, Rational ClearQuest provides a ready-to-use change and defect tracking processes and integration with various other Rational Software products such as Rational ClearCase, Rational PurifyPlus package and Rational TeamTest. On the whole, ClearQuest is an excellent tool to manage the dynamic environment of software development which enables you to build better quality software, more efficiently.

This tutorial will:

• Give you a basic overview of how to use Rational ClearQuest as part of your development process to track defects and changes.

• Use the sample database SAMPL so that you will be able to experiment with a working user database that already contains change request records.

ClearQuest defect/change Request Workflow

ClearQuest Client Interface

·       Basically, the ClearQuest client interface consists of 3 main panels, namely the Workspace, the Query Builder and the Record Form.

·       The Workspace, located on the leftmost pane of all three ClearQuest client interfaces, lists queries, charts and reports that are available. The Public Queries folder in the Workspace contains all the queries, charts and reports that are installed with ClearQuest and also those that your ClearQuest administrator creates.

·       The Query Builder, located in the top right pane of ClearQuest Windows client interface, displays the result of a query. To display data of a particular record, simply click on that record and the data will be shown in the Record Form.

·       The Record Form, located below the Query Builder, displays all of the data associated with a specific record. 

LOCATING RATIONAL CLEARQUEST TOOL

1.      To run ClearQuest, click Start > All Programs > Rational Software > Rational ClearQuest > ClearQuest.

WORKING WITH CHANGE REQUEST RECORDS

·       You work with a change request record by submitting it and then moving it through predefined stages, or states.

·       In each state, you can perform actions such as modifying the record or moving it to another state.

·       To list the actions that you can perform on the record while it is in the current state after submitting a change request, click the Actions button on the Record Form.

Getting started

1.      To start using ClearQuest, select Rational ClearQuest from the Start Menu.

2.      Log into ClearQuest by entering your username and password that you were assigned to.

3.      Select the database to connect to. In this tutorial, we will be using the SAMPL database to experiment.

Submitting a Change Request

Note: You begin using ClearQuest by submitting a change request. This creates a record in the user database that everyone on the team can track as your software development and testing evolves.

1.      To submit a change request, click  in the toolbar. Similarly, you can click Action > New and select a record type.

Submitting Defect Form

Note: Some tabs contain fields that are mandatory and are marked with a red square. Mandatory fields are labeled red. For example, the Headline field requires a short sentence describing the problem, and you must select a value for the Severity field.

1.      Fill the various tabs on the Submit Defect form to describe the change request in detail, including attaching code fragments and other supporting information.

2.     Save frequently used field values as defaults to avoid re-entering them for each new change request. Fill in the fields you want to save and select Values > Save as Default. When you create a new defect, click Values > Load Defaultto populate the Submit Defect form with the default values.

Assigning a Change Request (Typical workflow)

Note: A change request record usually starts in the Submitted state. The first thing to do is to assign the change request to the engineer responsible for that section of code.

1.     After submitting a change request, use the Assign action to assign it to an engineer who will do the work. The Assign action changes the state of the record to Assigned.

2.     To assign the record, click Actions > Assign. Fill out all of the information on the record tab and click Apply.

Modifying a change request

1.      Select Actions > Modify to change some information on a change request without actually changing its state.

Opening and Resolving a Change Request

1.      If you’re the engineer assigned to the change request, you begin work by selecting Actions > Open. The record’s state is now changed to Opened. Now, the rest of the team can see that you’re working on the problem.

2.      When you finish your work, select Actions > Resolve to change the record’s state to Resolved. 

TRACKING CHANGE REQUEST RECORDS

·        In ClearQuest, you run a query to find specific defect or change request records in the database.

·        There are 2 main query folders in the Workspace: Personal Queries and Public Queries.

·        The Public Queries folder includes ready-to-use queries that help you locate records by project or component, by assigned engineer, by level of severity, and so on. Any queries, charts, or reports that you create are always stored in the Personal Queries folder.