Project Overview
6 min read
A project represents a focused testing space within a workspace. It is where day-to-day testing activities such as managing test cases, executing test runs, and tracking defects take place.
Each project is isolated from others and has its own data, configuration, and access control. Project-level settings and permissions do not automatically apply to other projects in the same workspace.
Project vs Workspace
Section titled “Project vs Workspace”Understanding the difference between a workspace and a project helps you navigate Hawzu effectively.
Workspace
Section titled “Workspace”- Top-level container
- Used for administration and shared configuration
- Manages users, roles, custom fields, parameters, integrations, and shared steps
Project
Section titled “Project”- Lives inside a workspace
- Used for execution and testing workflows
- Contains test cases, requirements, test suites, releases, test runs, defects, labels, and project-level configuration
Accessing a Project
Section titled “Accessing a Project”To access a project:
- Open a workspace from the Workspaces page
- On the Projects page, click a project card
- You will enter the project and see the project overview
The project overview URL follows this pattern:
/workspace/:workspaceId/project/:projectId/overview
Project Navigation
Section titled “Project Navigation”When you open a project, Hawzu shows a project header and a project side panel.
The project header shows the current project name and code. From the project menu, you can open Project Settings when you have permission or use Switch Project to return to the workspace projects list.
The left side panel provides quick access to core project work areas. It can be collapsed when you need more screen space.
The available sections include:
- Overview – Project summary and high-level status
- Observatory – Analytics, insights, and trend visualizations, when your role allows access
- Requirements – Product requirements and traceability
- Repository – Test cases and test organization
- Test Suites – Logical grouping of test cases
- Releases – Release and version tracking
- Test Runs – Test execution and result tracking
- Defects – Defect and issue management
Additional project tools are available from the top project navigation:
- Users and Roles – project-level access management
- Fields – project custom fields
- Shared steps – reusable test steps scoped to the project
- Parameters – project-level variables
- Labels – reusable tags for organizing project work
This project navigation is available only inside projects and does not appear at the workspace level.
Core Project Features
Section titled “Core Project Features”Each project provides a set of features accessible from the left side panel. These features support the complete testing lifecycle — from authoring tests to execution, tracking, and analysis.
Overview
Section titled “Overview”The Overview page gives a quick snapshot of your work within the project.
It focuses on user-specific context, helping you resume work efficiently and identify areas that may need attention.
You can see:
- Work Items assigned to you
- Recent Items you have accessed
- Optional Overview Insights based on assigned work and recent activity
Work items include direct links to the underlying item, status badges, and priority or severity indicators where applicable.
Recent items show when each item was last accessed and provide links back to the item.
Click Show Insights to view a summarized snapshot of:
- Total work items
- Recent activity count
- Top signal or risk level
- Risk indicators such as high-priority defects, stale assigned work, or blocked execution follow-up
The content shown may vary based on your role, permissions, assignments, and recent activity.
Observatory
Section titled “Observatory”Observatory provides insights and analytics at the project level.
It helps teams understand testing progress, trends, and overall quality by visualizing data collected from test cases, test runs, and defects.
Use Observatory to:
- Analyze testing trends
- Review execution progress
- Gain visibility into project health
- Build custom panels and charts for reporting
Repository
Section titled “Repository”The Repository is where test cases are authored and maintained.
You can:
- Create and manage test cases
- Organize test cases using folders
- Maintain structured test documentation
- Use shared steps and parameters where applicable
- Import or export test cases when your role allows it
The Repository acts as the source of truth for all test cases in the project.
Requirements
Section titled “Requirements”The Requirements section is used to manage product or feature requirements and link them to test cases.
You can:
- Create and manage requirements
- Link test cases to requirements
- Track requirement coverage
- Improve traceability between requirements and testing
This helps ensure that all requirements are validated through testing.
Test Suites
Section titled “Test Suites”Test Suites allow you to group test cases logically for execution and organization purposes.
You can:
- Create test suites for specific scenarios or features
- Group related test cases
- Use test suites when planning or executing test runs
Test Suites help structure large test repositories without duplicating test cases.
Releases
Section titled “Releases”Releases are used to track testing activities around a specific version or milestone of the product.
A release can contain multiple executions, such as:
- Sanity testing
- Smoke testing
- Regression testing
- UAT or other execution cycles
Releases provide a high-level view of testing progress for a version or milestone.
Use Releases to:
- Represent product versions or milestones
- Track quality status at a release level
- Organize testing efforts conceptually by version
- Generate reports and review release-level quality signals
Test Runs
Section titled “Test Runs”Test Runs represent individual test execution cycles.
Test Runs are always standalone executions and are not tied to any release.
You can use Test Runs for:
- Sanity, smoke, or regression testing
- Ad-hoc or exploratory testing
- Hotfix or patch verification
- One-off validation efforts
In a Test Run, you can:
- Select test cases or test suites
- Execute tests and record results
- Assign execution to team members
- Track execution progress and outcomes
Test Runs are the fundamental unit of execution in Hawzu and exist independently of releases.
Defects
Section titled “Defects”Defects represent issues identified during testing.
You can:
- Create defects manually or from failed test cases
- Track defect status, priority, and severity
- Link defects to test cases or test runs
- Monitor resolution progress
Defects help teams track and resolve issues discovered during execution.
Project Configuration
Section titled “Project Configuration”Project configuration controls how work is structured inside a project.
Depending on your permissions, you can manage:
- Project Settings – name, code, description, members, customization, and advanced actions
- Users and Roles – who can access the project and what they can do
- Custom Fields – additional fields for project work items
- Shared Steps – reusable step groups for test cases
- Parameters – project-specific variables for reusable values
- Labels – reusable tags for organizing and filtering work
Use project-level configuration when settings should apply only to one project. Use workspace-level configuration when settings should be shared across multiple projects.
Project Members & Roles
Section titled “Project Members & Roles”Projects have their own access control.
You can:
- Assign workspace users to a project
- Grant project-specific roles
- Control what actions users can perform within the project
- Review access through project settings, users, and roles
Project roles are scoped to the project and do not affect access to other projects.
Best Practices
Section titled “Best Practices”When working with projects:
- Use one project per application or major feature
- Keep project names and codes meaningful
- Organize test cases using folders
- Use requirements and test suites to improve traceability and execution planning
- Reuse shared steps for common workflows
- Use parameters for values that change by project or environment
- Use labels consistently for filtering and reporting
- Assign roles based on responsibility
- Keep test cases and defects up to date
- Review Overview Insights regularly to catch stale work and risk signals early
Next Steps
Section titled “Next Steps”After entering a project, you can:
- Create a project with Creating a Project
- Organize test cases in the Repository
- Create and execute Test Runs
- Track Defects during execution
- Review Observatory analytics
- Configure project users, roles, fields, shared steps, parameters, and labels