Azure Test Plans: Include the “Actual Result” During Test Execution

This article was written by Dave Lloyd and originally published on Medium. Cross-posting here.

Here is a nice feature that has been high on the community requests list for some time.

It’s the ability to enter the actual result of a test step during manual test execution.

How it works

While you are running a manual test with test runner, you can now enter the actual result you encountered.

When you select pass or fail on the step you are presented with an Actual Result field to fill in. This is your opportunity to record what actually happened when you executed this step.

Now when you go to the test run you will see your Actual Results right along side the Expected Results.

How to enable the Actual Result Feature

You can configure this setting per Test Plan. By default the feature is turned off. To turn it on go to Test Plan Settings in your test plan.

On the Test Plan settings window, select Test result settings. Here you can enable the Use “Actual result” field. Once enabled you also have two options it can be Optional and it can also be Required when an “Expected result” is defined.