Agile Requirements Designer

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  • 1.  Now Available - ARD 3.1

    Posted Jul 30, 2020 07:23 AM
    Edited by Christine.Bentsen Jul 30, 2020 10:45 AM
    Introduction

    Today we are pleased to announce ARD 3.1 is now available. ARD 3.1 had several themes including:

    •  Improved Integrations
    •  Enhanced Optimization and Performance
    •  Improved Model management and UX

    Below are the key highlights of this release.

    We always welcome feedback, which you can leave on this forum.

    You can read the full release notes here ​Full 3.1 Release notes​, but below are some highlights of ARD 3.1 which we are very excited about.

    Highlights

    Version Comparison in ARD Hub

    In ARD Hub we have added the ability to see an interactive report on all of the changes between any two versions of the same project.

    This report makes it easy to see all of the changes that were made within a project between any two versions so it's easy to get an understanding of all of the work that has gone into a release, as well as track and audit who did what and when.

    You can view:

    •  Any new flows added
    •  Which flows were changed
    •  Any moved flows
    •  Any Renamed flows
    •  Which flows have been removed


    You can also look at the details of any particular flow and see more details and who made any changes and you can also jump to that flow in the hub, making it easy to review everything.

    Tricentis qTest Integration

    ARD can now connect to Tricentis qTest in a new 2-way integration that allows for exporting test cases, browsing and linking requirements to models, browsing and creating modules, and jumping directly to any test in qTest - all right from ARD Studio.

    Being able to export test cases with their attachments and requirements is a key part of an ARD workflow, and by adding support for qTest we are broadening where you can store your test cases and also where ARD can link to requirements from- as with all of our Test/Requirement Management Integrations - you can configure ARD to deal with any custom fields defined in your environment, and map any relevant ARD field to the right place in qTest.

     


    With full 2-way integration, update capability, and the flexibility to deal with any customizations - ARD can easily fit into your qTest workflow, and vice versa.

    You can connect ARD to your qTest instance today, and learn more about our integration here:

    Smart Test Names & Descriptions

    ARD has always allowed users to automatically create their test cases, automation scripts, test data, and anything else a test requires.

    Today we're extending that to include the ability to automatically create test names​, and test descriptions​ for all of the tests that ARD generates, based on user-defined templates- as well as making it easy to create and store against the model name/description templates that meet the specific naming and description requirements and standards.

    This will ensure that whenever you generate new tests, or maintain your model, no manual intervention is necessary in order to get a useful, compliant description and name for each test.

    Now, whenever you store paths, you can select from either a recent template, one saved against the model, or you can create a new one, leveraging all of the information in the model, you can include block descriptions, ARD Hub URLs to the flow the test came from, the author, and many, many more attributes- to make sure that all of the information necessary is included - You can even include TDM/TDoD test data formulae! - ​ARD
    will then build all the names and descriptions for you!

    You can also provide even more direction, and specifically tell ARD not to include particular blocks, decisions, or subprocesses in your description with our ​filter options ​- this is particularly powerful where a few key decisions make up most of what needs to be documented.







    You can try this out today, by storing some paths, or, you can hit the ​refresh button on existing paths​ t​o rename and re-describe them:


    You can learn more about path naming templates here:


    Cooperative Optimization & Path Explorer Improvements

    General Performance

    In this release, we have seen the overall performance of the Optimizer improve to a significant degree, especially in flows with multiple start points in their subflows.

    Cooperative Optimization

    The new Cooperative Optimization (beta feature) has replaced the Alternative Constructive Search option as the alternative method to build paths.

    •  The Cooperative Optimization automatically chooses the best heuristics based on flow structure to improve performance. It is the best fit for flows with a high reliance on loops or constraints.
    •  The Cooperative Optimization provides you with preliminary partial results even if you cancel the optimization before it completes.
    •  The Cooperative Optimization does not require any Loop Settings. It always finds paths that cover all requested elements, and if a loop is needed to achieve that, it searches for a path with a loop.

    Path Explorer Improvements

    In the ​Cost, Complexity, and Coverage​ window in the Path Explorer, we have changed the percentage calculation to better represent the achieved coverage. For Nodes and Edges coverage, we now always show items covered divided by the number of all items. To use the same approach for In/Out Edge Coverage and All Pairs Coverage, disable the "Take constraints into account" checkbox.

    You can learn more about these changes here:

    Other notable improvements

    •  You can now Authenticate with ARD Hub using Okta & OpenID
    •  ARD now supports multiple Automation Configurations at the same time and will remember which one is being used for each flow automatically
    •  ARD Hub/Studio are now bi-directionally linked, so you can "Open Flow in ARD Studio" from Hub and "Open Flow in ARD Hub" from Studio
    • You can now filter steps/paths/blocks by individual Application Links / Requirement links - making it easier to generate/store/export tests that "Touch this requirement"

    Moving Forward

    We are now hard at work for ARD 3.2, for which we just did a forward-looking roadmap webinar! - Moving into the future our focus is on making it even easier to model than before, and we're working on multiple features to leverage more of your existing assets to build models more quickly. In the meantime, feel free to connect with us here on the ARD Forum.



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    Head of Marketing, DevOps
    Broadcom
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  • 2.  RE: Now Available - ARD 3.1

     
    Posted Aug 05, 2020 10:50 AM
    Hi Christine:
    Can you give me a quick overview of the migration requirements to go from 2.9 to 3.1?
    Specifically, can I upgrade directly or do I have to go to 3.0 first?
    Do I have to upgrade from Windows Server 2016 or can I remain on that OS?
    Do I need to upgrade SQLServer?

    Thanks for any information you can provide.


  • 3.  RE: Now Available - ARD 3.1

    Posted Aug 05, 2020 11:16 AM
    Hi Marty! I checked with our experts and got this input: 

    We recommend updating to this release in steps: 

    To upgrade ARD 3.0 to 3.1, upgrade ARD Hub first, then ARD Studio.
    To upgrade ARD 2.10 and earlier to 3.1, first upgrade ARD Studio to 3.0
    Then upgrade ARD Hub to 3.1, then upgrade ARD Studio to 3.1.
    For more information on how to run the upgrade script, see Upgrade, Reconfigure, or Back Up ARD Hub.

    Thank you @Ruth Kusterer and @Pavel Sestak for your assistance. ​​​​

    ------------------------------
    Head of Marketing, DevOps
    Broadcom
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