Manual test access and permissions
TFS 2018
Access levels and permissions control access to Azure Test Plans features. To access the Test Plans web portal, you must have a Basic access level or greater. To define and manage test plans, test suites, and test cases, you need Basic + Test Plans, which is available from Azure DevOps.
Note
Users granted Stakeholder access have no access to features or functions supported through the Test Plans or Test web portal. However, they are able to provide feedback through the Test & Feedback extension. To learn more, see Stakeholder access quick reference.
Access and licensing
To exercise the full range of test-related features, you must have Basic + Test Plans access level or have one of the following subscriptions: - Visual Studio Enterprise - Visual Studio Test Professional - MSDN Platform
Users who have one of the above subscriptions can exercise all Test Plans features for no extra charge. For more information, see Compare Visual Studio subscriptions.
Nonsubscribers must purchase Basic + Test Plans to use Test Plans, which can be for any specified number of users.
Important
Manual testers can execute tests with Basic access. Licenses for this extension also give users rights to use Microsoft Test Manager (a deprecated on-premises client).
The following table summarizes the license requirements required to exercise select tasks.
| Task | Access level |
|---|---|
| Provide feedback | Stakeholder |
| Execute tests, Mark test outcomes | Basic |
| Chart tasks, View reports | Basic |
| Create and manage test plans and test suites | Basic + Test Plans |
| Author test cases using a grid-like view and edit in the Test Runner | Basic + Test Plans |
| Assign test cases to suites, move test cases, and order test cases | Basic + Test Plans |
| Prepare for execution such as assigning configurations or testers | Basic + Test Plans |
| Prepare User Acceptance Testing | Basic + Test Plans |
Permissions
In addition to having the necessary access level, you also need the necessary permissions to exercise select tasks. Because manual testing is managed through test-specific work item types, they're subject to some of the same permissions that manage work items.
The following table provides the default permissions assigned to the built-in security groups: Readers, Contributors, and Project Administrators. Permissions are assigned for Area Paths and at the project-level. To learn how, see Set permissions and access for testing.
Permission
Level
Readers
Contributors
Project Admins
View test runs
Project-level
✔️
✔️
✔️
Create test runs
Delete test runs
Project-level
✔️
✔️
Manage test configurations
Manage test environments
Project-level
✔️
✔️
Create tag definition
Delete and restore work items
Project-level
✔️
✔️
Permanently delete work items
Project-level
✔️
View work items in this node
Area Path
✔️
✔️
✔️
Edit work items in this node
Manage test plans
Manage test suites
Area Path
✔️
✔️
For a simplified view of all default permissions assigned to built-in groups, see Default permissions and access.