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Migration Tips

Testmo makes it easy to import your existing test cases and migrate from other test management tools. This article provides various tips about importing your existing data and moving from other tools to Testmo. If you have any questions or need help with migrating your test cases, please just contact us. On this page you can find:

Migration best practices

If you only want to import a small test suite, you can just directly use Testmo's import features to add your existing test cases to your repositories. If you plan to migrate a larger number of test cases and larger projects, there are a couple of tips that can make the migration easier:

  • Use a staging project: It can be useful to set up a separate staging project (or even a completely new staging Testmo instance) to test your test case migration before importing your test cases to your main project(s). This makes it easier to experiment with different options, try new custom fields and delete unnecessary data. Once you are happy with the import, you can just repeat the import for your main project(s).

  • De-clutter your test suites: Moving to a new home can be a great opportunity to get rid of unnecessary stuff. Likewise, when migrating your test cases to Testmo, it can be useful to consider which test cases you really need. You could start by importing only your most important test cases first. You can add or import more test cases later and use the migration as an opportunity to optimize your test suites.

  • Clean up your data: Similar to the previous tip, sometimes it can be a good idea to invest some time to clean up your data before migrating your test cases. This can mean getting rid of complex test steps or test data before importing your cases. Or cleaning up formatting and styling. You can also see our tips on writing test cases.

  • Plan your custom fields: Testmo already comes with some custom fields and test case templates pre-configured. For example, Testmo comes with different test step formats already pre-configured. But you can define many custom fields for more data, such as dropdowns, multi-selects, checkbox, date fields, numbers, texts etc. You can learn more about configuring custom fields. Our tip: keep it simple and only configure the fields you really need, as this keeps the workflow simpler for your team members.

  • Think about structure: It's a good idea to consider the structure of your folders and repository before importing your test cases. The test case migration can be a good opportunity to improve the structure. In general, things to avoid include: creating folders for versions (this is not needed with Testmo's milestones) or adding folders for test automation (not needed, see below). It's often a good idea to structure your folders based on your application structure or user interface. If you manage tests for different projects or sub projects (e.g. different mobile clients, or frontend vs. backend), it can be a good idea to use separate projects in Testmo.

  • What data to migrate: Teams usually want to migrate their (manual) test cases to Testmo, so they can start using Testmo for all their upcoming and future testing activities. There's no need to manually import or migrate automated tests, see below. Teams don't usually want to migrate old test results, see below.

How to import test cases?

The easiest way to import test cases is to use Testmo's flexible and universal CSV import feature. The CSV import feature supports various file formats, can map columns to any built-in or custom field, and you can map values or transform various formats. We are also adding more formats to make it even easier to migrate to Testmo. Just contact us if you are interested in other formats or if you need help with your import.

Learn more about importing CSV files with Testmo.
 

What about custom fields?

Testmo supports various custom fields such as dropdowns, multi-selects, texts, separate steps, numbers, strings, dates, etc. Furthermore, you can define templates to group these custom fields, so you can use different templates for different test cases or sessions. Testmo also allows you to configure different custom fields for different projects. When importing test cases, you can map your existing data to Testmo's built-in and custom fields.

Learn more about configuring custom fields in Testmo.
 

What about test runs & results?

When migrating to Testmo, most teams focus on importing their manual test cases (there's no need to manually migrate automated tests, see below. What about past test results? Most teams don't plan to migrate their old test results and there are a couple of reasons why most tools don't support this, and why it's not usually a good idea:

  • Often times you want to use the migration as an opportunity to improve and restructure your test suite, so older results wouldn't fit the new structure
  • Your old tool uses different ways to store, visualize or structure test runs and results
  • Older test runs and results for past releases are often not that interesting or important going forward, so spending a lot of time trying to migrate this is not usually a good investment

Instead, we recommend either exporting reports from your old tool to keep an archive and references of old runs. Or keeping your existing tool active (possibly in read-only mode if supported) in parallel as long as you still need access to past results.
 

Migrating automated tests?

Fortunately, you do not need to manually migrate or import your automated tests before reporting automation results to Testmo. We've designed Testmo's test automation feature to automatically track and update tests for you. There's no need to manually add, sync or update automated tests.

Simply start sending / submitting your test automation results to Testmo and your automation runs, tests and results are automatically tracked and reported. You can submit your test results from your CI pipeline, build server or whenever you start or run your automated tests manually (e.g., from your dev or test system). You can learn more here:

Other formats & tools

If you would like to import your existing test cases to Testmo, then using our flexible and universal CSV import feature is the best option to migrate your test cases. Simply contact us if you are unsure about how to use the import feature to migrate your test cases.

The CSV import feature is very flexible and can be configured to support various formats, fields & value mapping. We are also adding support for importing specific tool export formats. Let us know if you are looking for any additional format support.

In addition to using our flexible CSV import feature, you can prepare your existing CSV or Excel files before importing them. You can use various third-party tools to do this, including:

  • Microsoft Excel comes with powerful features to prepare your data before importing test cases
  • Apple Numbers is a good Excel alternative to prepare your data if you use a Mac
  • Third-party tools such as Easy Data Transform support powerful transform & filter features
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