Automated software testing schedules have the ability to increase the depth and expand the scope of software testing while elevating the quality of software applications and packages. Today, test automation frameworks are deployed to execute thousands of different complex test cases during every test run, thus providing expansive testing coverage, which would be impossible with manual testing. For instance, certain automated testing tools can playback pre-recorded and predefined actions, compare the results to the expected behavior of a software package, and report the success or failure of these manual tests to the software testing experts. Automation also boosts the repeatability of tests, which can be extended to perform tasks impossible with manual testing. These facts help leading software testing companies to promote automated software testing as an essential component of successful software development projects, while also measuring its success across a range of projects.
Test Management Tools
Testing engineers offering automation testing services should identify ‘candidates’ for automation during the process of defining test cases and testing scenarios. The salient features of a test management tool are flexibility and ease of use. Further, a good quality tool should be able to help testers identify any bugs in the project. Additionally, a test management tool should have the ability to execute various automation tests and scripts in batches or position these in the testing pipeline for scheduled testing or on-demand.
What to Automate
An intelligent automated testing strategy should be able to answer the questions: ‘where to automate’ and ‘what to automate’. Testing engineers must answer these queries to denote the layer of an application that must undergo automated testing. However, testing engineers offering automation testing services must bear in mind that although automated testing requires higher initial investment, it can yield a significantly higher return on investment. Therefore, teams of software testing experts should have answers to the questions mentioned to enable a better focus on their automation efforts.
Tool Selection
The correct automation tool is critical to ensure the success of automation testing. Hence, test engineers must, for instance, work to determine which tool could enable the automated testing of a desktop application. Further, factors such as language support, tool support, the availability of newer versions of a tool, support for API automation, and more, must be considered during the tool selection process. These factors can and should influence commercial decisions to purchase tools for firms that offer test automation services. Certain complexities may arise when a company engaged in automation testing services negotiates the process of tool selection in specific circumstances.
Environment Stability
Test automation thrives in stable testing environments. Hence, test engineers performing test automation services must consider factors such as dependency, availability and the up-time of a test environment. Testers should take a special interest in managing test infrastructure – such as hardware servers, application servers, networking, firewalls, software components required for testing, build software required for testing releases and more. Further, they must manage test environments such as database clusters, UAT, Pre-production, and the data required for testing. Additionally, testers must remain aware that test environments differ from production environments in several ways – these include operating systems, configuration, software versions, patches, and others. Therefore, the wider the gap between test and production environments, the greater the probability the delivered product will feature a range of bugs and defects.
Data Usage
Data and its appropriate usage are critical to devising a correct approach to automation. The complications associated with data bring up several unexpected challenges in automation testing. Therefore, testing engineers must find the means to randomly generate or obtain varied data input combinations as part of reinforcing their efforts towards test automation. For instance, data can be sourced from tables, files or APIs. Further, engineers must make qualitative judgments such as whether sourcing a certain type of data would affect the performance of scripts, and others.
In Conclusion
A well-calibrated and prudent approach to testing automation can elevate the quality of testing in software testing scenarios. Testers with the ability to put together a unique approach to test automation would be more successful in their chosen domain of work. Companies must partner with a leading software testing company to get the best service, experts, and top testing tools. Connect with us for all these features and more.
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