A Test Cycle is a container for tests and test suites that spans multiple users and projects. The result of each test that is executed inside a Test Cycle is persisted to the database, regardless of whether the test is inside a suite or not.
Test cycles allow organizations to have a common parent for all test runs, such as those runs executed in HP Quality Center or by individual users who might be working across multiple projects. Users can then browse for the results of these test runs by using the Test Cycle parent, navigating down to all the individual tests and test suites.
Users can create Test Cycles on demand. Once a Test Cycle is created it can be immediately associated with projects, by using all project environments or a subset of them, and multiple projects can be associated with a single Test Cycle.
The state of the project in regards Test Cycles is displayed in the status bar at the bottom of the IBM® Rational® Integration Tester window. If the project is not associated with a Test Cycle, <No Test Cycle> is displayed. If the project is associated with a Test Cycle, the name of the Test Cycle is displayed. A project can be added to or removed from (joined or unjoined) a Test Cycle at any time.
When the Test Cycle is active – indicated by the 
icon – all
executed tests are stored against the Test Cycle. If the Test Cycle
is paused – indicated by the 
icon
– Rational Integration Tester runs
as before (that is, test results are not persisted, and test suite
results are persisted for the suite but not for the Test Cycle).
Test Cycles can be marked to include tests that are executed externally (for example, from HP Quality Center or from the command line). In these cases, if tests are executed externally and their containing project is associated with a Test Cycle, all tests are part of the Test Cycle and their results are saved to the database.