Azure Test Plans Tutorial: Managing Manual & Automated Tests

HelpMeTest

04 Aug 2026 — 5 min read

Azure Test Plans is the test management layer within Azure DevOps that connects manual testing, automated test runs, and requirements in one place. This tutorial walks through the key concepts and shows you how to use Azure Test Plans effectively — whether you're running manual regression, managing exploratory sessions, or tracking which automated tests cover which requirements.

What Is Azure Test Plans?

Azure Test Plans is a paid add-on to Azure DevOps (Basic + Test Plans license, ~$52/user/month). It gives you:

Test suites — organize test cases hierarchically
Test cases — structured steps with expected results
Test runs — tracked execution sessions with pass/fail/blocked results
Requirements traceability — link test cases to work items
Exploratory testing — browser extension for session-based testing
Automated test linkage — connect automated tests in pipelines to test cases

If your team is small and only runs automated tests, Azure Test Plans may not be worth the cost. It adds the most value when you have both manual and automated testing, or when compliance requires documented test evidence.

Setting Up Azure Test Plans

Create a Test Plan

In Azure DevOps, navigate to Test Plans → + New Test Plan. Fill in:

Name: Something sprint-specific like "Sprint 42 Regression" or feature-specific like "Checkout Flow"
Area path: Link to your team or project area
Iteration: Connect to the sprint if you use sprint-based planning
Start/End date: Optional but useful for tracking

Organize with Test Suites

Within a test plan, create suites to organize test cases:

Static suites — manually curated groups of test cases:

Feature area suites (Login, Checkout, Search)
Regression suite (all must-pass tests)
Smoke suite (minimal set for quick validation)

Requirement-based suites — automatically pull test cases linked to specific work items:

Great for verifying stories before sprint closure
Test cases appear automatically when linked to the right work item

Query-based suites — populated by a work item query:

"All test cases tagged 'critical' in area 'Payments'"
Updates automatically as test cases are added or modified

Create Test Cases

Test cases in Azure Test Plans have structured steps:

Test Case: User can add item to cart

Step 1: Navigate to product page
  Action: Open https://app.example.com/products/widget-pro
  Expected: Product page loads with Add to Cart button visible

Step 2: Add item to cart
  Action: Click "Add to Cart" button
  Expected: Cart icon shows badge with count "1"

Step 3: View cart
  Action: Click cart icon
  Expected: Cart sidebar shows Widget Pro with quantity 1 and correct price

Keep steps concrete and observable. "Verify checkout works" is not a test step. "Click 'Place Order' and verify confirmation page shows order number" is.

Executing Manual Tests

To run tests, click Execute on a test suite. Azure Test Plans opens the Test Runner — a side panel overlay on your application:

Open each test case step by step
Mark each step as Pass, Fail, or Blocked
Add comments to steps with notes or observations
File bugs directly from failed steps — the bug is pre-populated with test context, steps, and a screenshot

The browser extension (Test & Feedback Extension) enhances this with:

Automatic screenshots on demand
Screen recording for exploratory sessions
Annotation tools for marking up screenshots before filing bugs

Exploratory Testing Sessions

Exploratory testing in Azure Test Plans works differently from scripted test execution:

Install the Test & Feedback Chrome/Edge extension
Connect it to your Azure DevOps project
Start a session with a mission: "Explore the checkout flow for edge cases"
The extension tracks your actions and captures evidence automatically
File bugs and create test cases from what you find
End session → Azure Test Plans creates a summary artifact

This is genuinely useful for sprint-end testing and feature verification before release. The session audit trail satisfies compliance requirements better than ad-hoc manual testing.

Linking Automated Tests to Test Cases

This is where Azure Test Plans earns its cost for many teams. You can link automated pipeline tests to test cases, so test execution results appear in Test Plans alongside manual results.

Link a Test Method to a Test Case

In Visual Studio or via command line, associate your automated test with a test case ID:

[TestClass]
public class CheckoutTests
{
    [TestMethod]
    [TestCategory("Automated")]
    public void UserCanAddItemToCart()
    {
        // Test case ID 1234 in Azure DevOps
        // TestProperty("TestCaseId", "1234") - set via UI association
        ...
    }
}

In Azure DevOps, open the test case, click Associated Automation, and select the test method from your test project.

Run Automated Tests from Test Plans

Once linked, you can trigger automated test runs from within Test Plans:

Select test cases with associated automation
Click Run → Run with options
Choose the build to use and the test plan
Results flow back to Test Plans automatically

This gives you a unified view: manual tests your QA team executed alongside automated tests your pipeline ran, all tracked in the same test run.

Requirements Traceability

Requirements traceability is a core Azure Test Plans feature. Link test cases to user stories, features, or epics:

Open a test case
Click Links → Add link
Select Tests relationship type
Enter the work item ID of the requirement

Once linked, you can see in a work item which test cases cover it, and whether those tests passed. The Traceability tab on a test plan shows the requirement → test case → test result chain.

For teams with compliance requirements (SOC2, ISO 27001, FDA), this traceability is often mandatory. Azure Test Plans generates the evidence automatically as long as you maintain the links.

Azure Test Plans Reporting

The Progress tab on a test plan shows:

Test case count by status (not run, passed, failed, blocked)
Pass rate trend over multiple runs
Tester assignments and completion

For executive reporting, the Test Plans widget in Azure DevOps dashboards shows pass/fail status across active test plans.

For deeper analysis, use the Analytics service — build Power BI reports on test case history, defect density by area, and manual testing coverage.

Integrating with Azure Pipelines

Connect Azure Test Plans to your CI pipeline for automated test result tracking:

steps:
  - task: VSTest@2
    inputs:
      testSelector: 'testAssemblies'
      testAssemblyVer2: '**/*Tests.dll'
      testRunTitle: 'Sprint 42 Regression'
      # Link to test plan
      testPlan: '1234'
      testSuite: '5678'
      testConfiguration: 'Release'
      publishRunAttachments: true

For Python and other frameworks, use the generic approach with PublishTestResults — results appear in the pipeline but don't automatically link to test cases. Full linkage requires VSTest or the .NET test runner.

When Azure Test Plans Is Worth It

Azure Test Plans makes sense when:

You have QA engineers running structured manual testing
Compliance requires documented test evidence
You need traceability from requirements to test results
You want to mix manual and automated tests in unified reporting

It's probably overkill when:

Your team is fully automated with no manual testing
You're a small startup without compliance requirements
The $52/user/month cost exceeds your testing budget

For automated browser testing specifically, platforms like HelpMeTest provide test management, execution history, and reporting with usage-based pricing at $0.003 per test run — without per-user costs. It handles Robot Framework and Playwright tests in the cloud with AI-assisted test generation. Worth comparing if your primary need is automated test management rather than manual test tracking.

Summary

Azure Test Plans gives you structured test case management, manual execution tracking, requirements traceability, and automated test linkage. The key setup steps are:

Create a test plan with suites organized by feature or sprint
Write test cases with concrete, observable steps
Execute tests using the Test Runner and file bugs from failures
Link automated tests to test cases for unified reporting
Use traceability links to connect tests to requirements

Get these working and you'll have a clear picture of what's been tested, what's passing, and what coverage exists for each requirement.

Try HelpMeTest for cloud-hosted automated testing that complements your Azure Test Plans manual testing workflow.