Notes for the Tosca Engineer

Owned by HB Farris
May 12, 2022
2 min read

A successful automation environment depends on engineers building reliable Test Cases that are readable, able to run on any machine, able to run repeatedly over time, handle exceptions/error conditions, and display meaningful – positive and negative - results.
Be sure to at least perform the following steps to successfully build Execution Lists to produce results that can be used as valid testing evidence in a CFR 21 Part 11 compliant environment.
In Tosca:

  • Plan well. Follow standards for organizing Test Cases, Test Steps, and Input Data.
  • In general, author tests in smaller, rather than larger, reusable chunks.
  • Make sure an Execution List runs in Tosca Commander on your local workstation.
  • In preparation for running from VERA, in Tosca, create a TestEvent, named the same as the target Execution List. (Create a new Test Event, drag the Execution List into it, copy the Execution List name, and paste it into the Test Event name.). Note that this Test Event must be created in the nearest "TestEvents" root object that shares the same parent Execution folder as the Execution List. If necessary, add a Configuration to direct each run to a subset of Agent machines.
  • Test the Execution List on one or more Remote Agent machines to verify that Agents are setup correctly and operational. Use the above TestEvent and an 'Execute now' command.

In VERA:

  • Once the above occurs, use VERA to create Tests and Test Sets, associating each with the corresponding Tosca item. (Tosca Account required: Yes)
  • Route Tests for approval. (Tosca Account required: No)
  • Approve the Test. (Tosca Account required: No)
  • Route the Test Set for Approval or set its status to 'Read for Execution', depending on how your environment is configured. (Tosca Account required: No)
  • If needing to target specific Agent machines, make sure a Tosca Configuration is setup in order to instruct Tosca to use the correct Remote Agent machine.
  • Run the Test Set. (Tosca Account required: No)
  • Route Test Set results for approval. (Tosca Account required: No)