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Customizing workflows

A workflow consists of states, events, and transitions that define the path an issue, requirement, requirement document, test case, or test run follows throughout its lifecycle. The workflow guides users through your tracking process. Simple processes may only require a few steps while more complex processes may include multi-user assignments and stricter requirements.

• States indicate a step in the workflow. For example, Open - On Hold or Closed - Verified.
• Events specify the action that can be performed at each state or step in the workflow. For example, Assign, Estimate, or Verify. Workflow events are stored with the item history. Edit or view an item to access the History tab and view any events.
• Transitions specify the initial state when an item is created and the events that can be added for each state. Transitions move items from one state to another. For example, Open to Fixed or Fixed to Closed.
• Assignment rules specify how assignment events are processed. For example, use the state with highest priority.

TestTrack includes default workflows that you can customize. If you need to track different types of processes, you can create multiple TestTrack projects and customize the workflows for each project. 

Workflow customization generally includes the following steps:

• Configuring workflow states
• Configuring workflow events
• Configuring workflow transitions
• Configuring workflow assignment rules

Before you customize the workflow, take the time to document and understand your company’s business process. Analyzing your workflow helps you easily determine the states that are used, the actions that users perform, and how information moves through the workflow. A clearly defined workflow ensures that issues move from initial reporting to resolution and do not get stranded.

A carefully analyzed and customized workflow can guard against wasted time, redundancy, and disorganization. When analyzing your workflow, identify the steps that make up your business process and determine the actions that you want to associate with each step. In addition, consider the individuals involved in the process, the types of events they perform, the type of data they track, and the types of transitions that are used.

• After you analyze the process, create a list of the states, events, and transitions used throughout the workflow. To begin customization, first create the workflow states then define the events that can be performed for each state. See Configuring workflow states and Configuring workflow events.
• It can be difficult to track a workflow’s states, events, and transitions and how they relate to each other. You can evaluate the workflow to view any potential problems or view a diagram of the workflow. See Evaluating the workflow and Diagramming the workflow.

Tip: You may also want to configure automation rules to extend the functionality of the workflow and automate actions. You can configure notification rules to automatically email users and customers when an activity is performed, triggers to perform actions based on an activity such as a state change, and escalation rules to perform actions based on a schedule. See Configuring automation rules.