Improve Your Test Automation in 4 Steps
Automation does not necessarily make software testing faster, more reliable, or less expensive. Since the initial costs of configuration and automation tools can be high, test automation is only profitable if the long-term costs compensate for these initial costs. In addition, not all automation tools and methodologies have the same features, functionality and capabilities, and each project can meet different requirements, which has implications for costs and benefits.
In order to get the most out of test automation, here are eight recommendations from our experience, acquired through more than 50 international test automation projects in companies. This advice is intended to help improve the return on investment in test automation and improve software quality .
1 - Choose what you need to automate
To achieve a balance of costs and benefits, it is essential to identify the factors that increase the complexity of automating a specific test project . Test automation ideally applies to code that:
plays an important role in an application;
processes large volumes of data;
performs common processes;
can be used on a set of applications.
Companies are advised to also look for non-traditional areas, even those not foreseen in the perimeter, to which they could extend their investment in automation, in particular for the testing of installation routines for fixes and bug fixes, for the management of tests, and for creating test reports.
2 - Choose your test tools carefully
Companies must recoup their investment in automation. They must therefore choose test tools able to meet their needs over several years. Among the appropriate evaluation criteria:
Support for various types of automated testing, including functional testing, test management, mobile technology testing, SOA architecture testing, and IVR (interactive voice response) software testing ;
Support for multiple test frameworks;
The ability to recognize objects created in a wide variety of programming languages;
The stability of configuration and operation on any environment and any platform;
The degree of efficiency of the execution of the tests for a minimum manual effort;
The ability to automatically resume after application failure, to prevent interruption of tests;
The performance of the scripting language, facilitating the development of scripts (instructions executed within the framework of a specific test) reusable on several platforms and types of test.
We have developed a methodology to help our customers choose the automated free collection software that best suits their needs and optimize the use of these new and existing tools. This methodology consists first of all in defining the objectives to which the tools must respond and in specifying the tests to be automated, such as the functional test or back-end validation.
Then, it is a question of defining the requirements, of creating an evaluation dashboard, of carrying out a validation of principle and finally, of preparing the tools for the deployment. Customers can also optimize the use of their automation tools by identifying all of the test needs across the company.
3 - Refine your processes
In many companies, the lack of centralized and standardized automation processes has resulted in an extended test life cycle, which has become overly expensive and unable to detect a maximum number of anomalies. To improve these processes, you must:
Describe the risks inherent in current methods and demonstrate that the test can be performed at lower cost and / or with greater efficiency;
That Management is involved in providing the budget and support necessary to modify Workflows with a view to improving the testing process;
Enlist the support of test teams to achieve improvement goals;
Offer training to test managers, specialists and test engineers to acquire skills specialized in test methodologies;
Prioritize process improvements based on business objectives;
set up continuous measurement of test processes in order to obtain a better return on investment.
4 - Choose a Framework
As with any other tool, test automation solutions must be used correctly to be effective. Choosing an appropriate framework helps increase reusability and long-term efficiency .
A framework does not replace an automation tool but serves as a roadmap for making optimal use of it. In a different storage space, it must also make it possible to configure test scripts and test data, so that the latter are reusable as much as possible and easier to manage.
Among the most popular frameworks are “data driven” frameworks , where test data is stored independently of the automation tool. The use and customization of the reports are thus simplified, as is the maintainability of the data, and multiple test cases can be performed on several sets of input data. However, the initial costs as well as those of maintenance can be considerable.
The other approach is the "keyword determined" approach. The data tables and keywords are managed there independently of the automation tool and the test scripts that drive the tests. However, this methodology remains more difficult to use than that driven by data, which increases costs and delays.
We have designed a composite framework (see below), combining the best elements of the two approaches - determined by keywords and driven by data. It ensures the storage of test data independently of the automation tool (in general, in an Excel sheet), which makes it possible to maintain and reuse scripts very easily.