MECHANISM FOR GRAPHICAL TEST EXCLUSION

Methods and systems for administratively qualifying and disqualifying test programs of a suite as excludable from performance by a client are disclosed in conjunction with a test framework. Using a graphical user interface that represents the suite as a hierarchy or tree, an administrator is able to select test programs or entire divisions of a tree in order to disqualify these elements from exclusion by clients. The results of the operation are compactly stored in a table of excludable records, as pointers to a node of the tree, rather than individual elements of the subtree headed by the node. Using the same graphical user interface, the client is allowed to see only those elements of the tree that have not been disqualified by the administrator. The client can select visible elements of the tree to prevent one or more test programs of the suite from being executed.