User group overview
User groups enable you to group tests in a logical order.
With user groups, you can control test execution in several ways:
- Group tests by characteristics. For example, you could have two user groups—a Buyers group and a Browsers group—that represent the types of users on your system.
- Influence the order in which tests are run. When you run a VU Schedule, the first test in each user group runs—in parallel, not sequentially. After the first test in a user group is completed, the second test runs, then the third, and so on.
The following VU Schedule contains one
user group.
The following VU Schedule contains the same tests in the same order, but they are divided between two user groups. Conceptually, this VU Schedule is easier to understand, because the user's tasks are grouped logically—the Browsers browse, and the Buyers browse and then bid on a product. But, even more important, this one gives a more accurate representation of the types of users on your system, because each user group contains tests that represent the actions that they do, and the proportions of the user groups (70% and 30%) represent the proportions of the users on your system.