Scan tags are an easy way for you to categorize, filter, and find past automated scans. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at what scan tags are, where they can be used, and some different ways you might consider leveraging them in your workspace.
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What are scan tags?
A scan tag is a label associated with an automated scan. The platform has two default system tags, Default and Monitoring. Workspace Administrators can create custom scan tags from the Scan tags page to suit your workspace needs.
Every automated scan needs a scan tag. If you’re not sure which tag to use, select the Default tag. This groups all of your “untagged” scans together. You can change scan tags at any time by selecting Edit tag on the Scans page. Note that you can’t change scan tag for monitoring scans.
How to utilize scan tags
By customizing scan tags, you can adapt them to a variety of different situations and teams. In this section, we’ll go over potential use cases for scan tags.
Separating scans from different environments
You can use scan tags to separate scans performed on different development environments. Often, production environments have an earlier stage environment where testing or development takes place. These earlier stage environments might be referred to as UAT, Staging, Dev, Test, or Pre-Prod environments. Running automated scans in these environments helps you detect potential accessibility issues before they reach a production state. This method of labeling helps different stakeholders stay organized and makes it easier to review the history of a specific environment.
Example tags
- Production
- Staging Environment
- Dev
- Pre-Prod
- QA
Identifying scans from different sources
Another way to use scan tags is to differentiate scans created from different sources. These sources can include a CI integration, API, or those done within the platform. Different stakeholders may perform scans from different places in the development lifecycle. For example, a developer may run a test as part of a CI integration. At the same time, a business stakeholder may run an automated scan of a production homepage. Using scan tags to separate scans from different sources helps stakeholders find the scans relevant to them and keeps your scan history organized.
Example tags
- Test-Automation
- CI Integration
- API
- Production
Categorizing scans based on team
Different teams that perform scans can use scan tags to separate the scans. For example, more than one engineering team may be working on a product at once. The teams could be working on different parts of the product or working at different times. Give each team their own scan tag to help them work alongside each other while keeping their respective scans organized.
Example tags
- Team A
- Team B
- Marketing/Content Team
- Dev Team C
Differentiating unique sections of a web asset
Some teams may organize their development process with unique subsections. Use scan tags to organize scans performed on unique sections of your web asset. For example, an e-commerce website might group product, checkout, and blog post pages into their own respective groups. Creating a scan tag for each of these page groups provides a quick way of identifying sections as you collect data. Likewise, separating these groups based on tags allows you to quickly filter and compare the pages over time. You can do this comparison in the Scan History section of the Dashboard.
Example tags
- Product Pages
- Checkout-flow
- 10 Most Visited Pages
- Baseline scan
- Landing Pages
Filter by scan tag
Filtering scan tags allows you to compare key metrics between scans with the same tag. You can do this to track the progress of a specific issue, ensure a previous issue does not reappear, or for various other reasons. To filter by scan tag, you can select the “Filter by scan tag” dropdown in the Scan History from the Dashboard.
From the Scans page, you can access a summary of scans with a given tag by selecting a tag from the “Scan tag” filter option. On this page, you can also download results and change the scan tag for specific scans.