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Help · Connections

Post issues and progress in Slack

Keep the project team up to date where they already work: a message in a Slack channel for new issues, new test rounds and sign-offs, and if you like a short overview every morning. You choose what is worth a message.

Takes about 5 minutesWho a workspace admin, and someone who may add apps to your Slack workspacePlans Team, Business, Partner and Enterprise
Before you start

What you need

  • A Slack channel for the messages, for example #uat-crm.
  • Permission to add an app to your Slack workspace. In many workspaces every member may; in others a Slack admin approves apps. Then ask your Slack admin.
  • Admin rights in your UAT Studio workspace.
No account or tokenSlack gives you a webhook address for one channel. UAT Studio sends its messages to that address and can do nothing else in Slack: it cannot read the channel or post anywhere else.
Set up · once per channel

Connect a Slack channel

1

Create the webhook in Slack

  1. Go to api.slack.com/apps, sign in to your Slack workspace and click Create New App.
  2. Under Or start your own way, choose Blank app and click Continue.
  3. App name: UAT Studio. Under Workspace, pick your Slack workspace and click Continue.
  4. Slack now asks What it can do in Slack? and then What it can respond to in Slack? UAT Studio needs neither: add nothing and click Continue twice.
  5. Under Review your app, click Create.
  6. In the menu on the left of your new app, open Incoming Webhooks and switch Activate Incoming Webhooks on.
  7. At the bottom, click Add New Webhook (in some workspaces: Add New Webhook to Workspace, or Request to Add New Webhook when a Slack admin must approve it first), choose the channel and click Allow.
  8. Slack shows the Webhook URL, starting with https://hooks.slack.com/services/. Click Copy.

Optional: under Basic Information › Display Information you can give the app an icon, such as the UAT Studio logo, so the messages are easy to recognise.

Treat the address as a passwordAnyone with this address can post in the channel. Paste it only in UAT Studio, and don't send it in chat or by mail.

Already use Slack Workflow Builder? A workflow that starts From a webhook gives an address starting with https://hooks.slack.com/triggers/; that works too.

2

Add Slack in UAT Studio

In UAT Studio, open your workspace and click Connections. Under Add a connection, choose Slack and click Add.

Add a connection: Slack chosen, with the Add button

Then choose what goes into the channel:

  • Post new issues from: Critical only, High and Critical (the default), Medium and higher, Every new issue or No new issues.
  • Status changes: off by default. Switch it on to also post every status change of those issues, such as when one is ready for retest.
  • New test rounds and Sign-offs: posted by default.
  • Daily overview: off by default. Switch it on for one message every morning with the projects that had activity.
  • Projects: tick the projects this channel is about. Tick none, and every project of the workspace is posted.

Click Save settings. One channel per project, or a separate channel for critical issues only? Add Slack once more for each channel.

3

Store the webhook address

Paste the address from step 1 under Webhook address and click Store token. You'll see that it is stored, with the last four characters. From then on the address can't be read back, only replaced.

4

Test the connection

Click Test connection. The message UAT Studio is connected appears in the channel, and the connection shows the time of the test with OK.

The Slack connection: High and Critical, status changes and the daily overview on, project CRM UAT ticked, address stored and tested
A tested Slack connection. Switch it Off to pause the messages without losing the settings.
Using it

What gets posted

  • A new issue at or above the severity you chose: the title, the description, severity, status, the test and step, who found it, the ticket in Jira or Azure DevOps and the record in the CRM, if there are any.
  • A status change of such an issue, when switched on, for example ISS-012 is now Ready for retest (was In progress).
  • A new test round: the round, how many test cases, the release, build and environment, and who started it.
  • A sign-off: who signed off, the decision and any conditions.
  • The daily overview, when switched on: around 08:15, one message with per project the results recorded, failures, new and closed issues, and what is still open. Days without activity are skipped.
  • Issues created through the API, for example from Zapier or Make, are posted too.
  • Every message has a button Open in UAT Studio. Only people with access to the project can open it.
  • By hand: on any issue, an admin can click Send to Slack to share it, whatever its severity.
What stays outScreenshots and files are not posted in Slack; they stay in UAT Studio, behind sign-in.
Roles

Who can do what

Workspace adminAdds, changes, tests and removes the connection, and sends issues by hand.
Testers and stakeholdersReport issues and sign off as always. They don't see the connection.
Everyone in the channelSees the messages. Opening an issue needs access to the project in UAT Studio.
Help

If something goes wrong

You seeWhat to do
This is not a Slack webhook addressCopy the Webhook URL from step 1, starting with https://hooks.slack.com/, not the link to the channel.
Slack does not accept this address any moreThe webhook or the app was removed, or the channel was archived. Add a new webhook in step 1 and store the new address.
The test works, but no messages for new issuesCheck the severity you chose, the ticked projects, and that the connection is On. Then send one issue by hand with Send to Slack: if Slack refuses it, you see why.
No daily overviewIt only comes on days after activity in a ticked project, once a day. Check that Daily overview is set to Every morning.
Slack asks for approvalYour Slack workspace only allows approved apps. Your Slack admin approves the request, after which you can add the webhook.
Connections are not part of your planConnections come with Team, Business, Partner and Enterprise, and as an add-on for Project. Your admin can upgrade under Plan & billing.

Still stuck? Mail [email protected] with the message you see. Never send us the webhook address itself.

Use Microsoft Teams instead? See Post issues in Microsoft Teams. Want the issues in your own system? See Connect a webhook.

Security

How we handle the address

  • The address goes from your browser to our server once, over an encrypted connection.
  • It is stored encrypted (AES-256). The key to decrypt it is kept separately from the database.
  • Nobody can read it back: not in the app, not through support.
  • Messages contain the issue text and the names of the tester and signer, never files. Choose a channel whose members may see the UAT.
  • Remove the connection in UAT Studio, or the webhook or app in Slack, and the messages stop straight away.