Excel Offline Test Runner for Spira Now Available

Overview

The new Spira Test Runner for Excel is an Office365 native extension that you can quickly and easily install into your existing Excel environment.

This add-in lets you retrieve your assigned Test Cases and Test Sets for a specific product in SpiraPlan. You can run your tests straight away or later. When you are ready you can send your test executions back to SpiraPlan.

Retrieving Tests from SpiraPlan

After successfully logging in to the application, you need to get the most up to date list of Test Cases and/or Test Sets assigned to you from SpiraPlan. Select a product to retrieve all your assigned tests cases and sets from and click on 'Get from Spira'.

When you click the Get from Spira button you will see the Test Cases and their Test Steps be added the current sheet of the spreadsheet. The following tests are retrieved:

Test Cases assigned to you from the product selected
Test Sets of type "manual" assigned to you from the product selected

Running Tests

On retrieving your assigned tests from SpiraPlan the add-in populates the sheet with the information in a format to make it clear how to run your tests.

Spreadsheet Structure

The spreadsheet is generating using the following columns:

'Send to Spira' Log: Here, you can see warning, error, and success messages after you finish your testing and record the test runs back into SpiraPlan. Remember to always check this column at the end to make sure the operation was successful. If it wasn't the log information here will help you make the necessary corrections.
Test Case ID: the unique ID of the Test Case from SpiraPlan - this is only populated for test case rows. You can't edit this field.
Test Set ID: if the Test Case came from a Test Step assigned to you, you should see its ID in this field. Otherwise, it will remain blank. This is only populated for test case rows. You can't edit this field.
Test Step ID: the unique ID of each Test Step from SpiraPlan - this is only populated for test step rows. You can't edit this field.
Test Case Name: The name of the Test Case in SpiraPlan.
Release: The release associated with the Test Case in SpiraPlan.
Set Case Unique ID: This is a unique cross-reference ID for the Test Case within the Test Set. It is blank if the Test Case is not part of a Test Set and is only populated in Test Case rows. You can't edit this field.
Test Step Description: the full text of the description field for each Test Step in SpiraPlan (only populated in Test Step rows).
Test Step Expected Result: the full text of the expected result field for each Test Step in SpiraPlan (only populated in Test Step rows).
Test Step Sample Data: the full text of the sample data field for each Test Step in SpiraPlan (only populated in Test Step rows).
Execution Status: the execution status of that test step, chosen from the dropdown list.
Actual Result: the description of the actual result experienced during testing. Plain text only can be sent to SpiraPlan from Excel, so do not add images to these cells. To apply formatting please use HTML tags such as <b> for bold.
Incident Name : if you want to log an incident associated with the test failure, enter the name of the incident here. The description of the incident will be automatically populated from the Test Step Description, Expected Result, and Actual Result.

How to Execute Tests

To execute the Test Cases on the spreadsheet:

give each test step an Execution Status from the dropdown list
add any details about the Actual Result of each test step
optionally, add an Incident Name for test steps where you want to create an incident in SpiraPlan
If necessary (for example, if they contain errors), update the test steps' Description, Expected Results, or Sample Data fields
Review your work
When you are ready you can send your tests as Test Runs in SpiraPlan (discussed below).

Sending Test Runs to SpiraPlan

Once you have finished executing all the tests and recorded the results of your test runs on the spreadsheet, it is time to send the data to Spira to get properly recorded. There are two ways of doing this, depending on how you executed your tests:

retrieving and executing your assigned tests in a single session
executing your assigned tests over multiple sessions using the same spreadsheet

Single Session Testing

If you got your data from SpiraPlan using the add-in, and straight away executed your tests in a single session, you can easily send the data back to SpiraPlan.

To do so click the button "Send to Spira" on the add-in and wait for the operation to complete.

Multi Session Testing

If you have first got your data from SpiraPlan and then executed your assigned tests over multiple sessions, you now need to send the data back to SpiraPlan, without wiping out your work. If you have been testing over multiple sessions in this way follow the steps below:

Open the saved and completed spreadsheet
Open and log in to the add-in
Select the product you originally chose to generate the template - it is not possible to save the Test Runs in a different product
Click the "Use Current Sheet" - this will not touch any data on the spreadsheet. Note that if you clicked the Get from Spira button the current sheet would be completed erased and fresh data from Spira added there: this is NOT what you want in this case
Click "Send to Spira" to send your results.

What Versions of Excel Does it Work With?

This new addin for Excel is 100% cross-platform and works with Microsoft Excel 2016 or later running on Windows or MacOS, Excel365 in the cloud (via a web browser), and Excel on iPad OS.

How Do I Get the Extension?

You simply need to go to the Add-Ons and Downloads page on the Inflectra website:

From there you will be taken to the Microsoft Office365 AppSource marketplace. You can install SpiraPlan Test Runner into your version of Excel or Excel365 by clicking the Get it Now button: