Projects and their types

Projects are the main organizational unit in TestRail. It is generally recommended to create a TestRail project for every real software project you want to manage within TestRail. All other data such as test runs, test results, milestones, etc. are directly associated with a specific project.

Video Tutorial: TestRail’s Project Types

See the following illustration to see how the different entities in TestRail relate to each other:

Three project types in TestRail

There are currently three project types in TestRail:

  1. Single Repository
  2. Single Repository with Baseline Support
  3. Multiple Test Suites

In this article, you will learn the differences between each project type and when you should use one type versus the other.

The type of project you use will define how you organize and manage your test cases within that project.

Single repository projects

A single test suite (repository) is easy to manage and flexible enough for most projects with few concurrent versions. In this project, you will have a single area in which all of your test cases for that project are stored and you can use sections and subsections to organize your test cases like you would with folders.

Using a single repository keeps things simpler and allows for full end-to-end testing within a single test run while also maintaining flexibility around concurrent testing across different versions of your software using milestones and test plans.

Single repository projects with baseline support

A single test suite (repository) gives you the additional option to create baselines to manage multiple branches of your test cases at the same time. This is ideal if you need to test multiple project versions in parallel.

In this type, you create a master set of test cases, then split them into different baselines. Baselines allow you to copy cases from the master suite and then make changes in the baselines without affecting the master test cases.

Projects with test suites

Projects with test suites enabled can be used to organize your test cases by functional areas and application modules on the test suite level. Each test suite can be organized into its own sections and subsections, like in a single repository-type project. This type of project should be reserved for teams that require much stricter divisions between different testing areas in their system. That is because if you use multiple test suites, you will not be able to add test cases from more than one test suite in the same test run.

In earlier versions of TestRail, this was the only project type available.

How to change from one project type to another

If you started your project with one type of test case repository, but later want to switch to another, you can do so in a few steps.

1. From Multiple Test Suites to Single Repository with Baseline Support: 

Steps of migration:

  1. Create a new, empty project.
  2. Close all active test runs/plans (note that this prevents future modifications).
  3. Move all test cases from the original test suite to the new project with the Copy/Move Test Cases dialog (in the target suite). 
  4. Delete the old test suites (should be empty); there should only be the new project left afterward.
  5. Switch the suite mode for the project in the administration area to “Single Repository with Baseline Support”.

This won’t move any test results though and if you move test cases to another suite rather than copying them this will delete any test results of any not-yet closed runs using the source test suite.

2. From Single Repository to Multiple Test Suites 

Changing from a single suite project into a multi-suite / baseline project is straightforward, as the single suite will become the first suite in the project. No special steps are needed other than changing the project type.

Also, close all test runs and plans in the old project in order to archive their test results.

We recommend using the copy feature to ensure all previous test case data is retained in the old project in case you need to review past test results, etc. Using the move feature will delete the test cases from the source project, so this should be used with caution.

3. From Multiple Test Suites to Single Repository

Steps of migration:

  1. Create a new, empty test suite in your Multiple Test Suites projects
  2. Close all active test runs/plans (note that this prevents future modifications)
  3. Move all test cases from the original test suites to the new test suite with the Copy/Move Test Cases dialog (in the target suite)
  4. Delete the old test suites (should be empty); there should only be the new test suite left afterward
  5. Switch the suite mode for the project in the administration area to “single suite”

If you want to retain the information on test history, use the copy feature instead of move. (Please refer to the note above).

 

Closing the test runs/plans is important. Otherwise, you could lose your test results and tests in active runs/plans when moving the cases.

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