Automation Testing

When the testing case suites are performed by using automated testing tools is known as Automation Testing. The testing process is done by using special automation tools to control the execution of test cases and compare the actual result with the expected result. Automation testing requires a pretty huge investment of resources and money.

Generally, repetitive actions are tested in automated testing such as regression tests. The testing tools used in automation testing are used not only for regression testing but also for automated GUI interaction, data set up generation, defect logging, and product installation.

The goal of automation testing is to reduce manual test cases but not to eliminate any of them. Test suits can be recorded by using the automation tools, and tester can play these suits again as per the requirement. Automated testing suites do not require any human intervention.

The life cycle of Automation Testing

The life cycle of automation testing is a systematic approach to organize and execute testing activities in a manner that provides maximum test coverage with limited resources. The structure of the test involves a multi-step process that supports the required, detailed and inter-related activities to perform the task.

The life cycle of automation testing consists of the following components:

Decision to Automation Testing

It is the first phase of Automation Test Life-cycle Methodology (ATLM). At this phase, the main focus of the testing team is to manage expectations from the test and find out the potential benefits if applying the automated testing correctly.

On adopting an automated testing suit, organizations have to face many issues, some are listed below:

• Testing tool experts are required for automation testing, so the first issue, to appoint a testing equipment specialist.
• The second issue is, choose the exact tool for the testing of a particular function.
• The issue of design and development standards in the implementation of an automated testing process.
• Analysis of various automated testing tools to choose the best tool for automation testing.
• The issue of money and time occurs as the consumption of money and time is high in the beginning of the testing.

Test Tool Selection

Test Tool Selection represents the second phase of the Automation Test Life-cycle Methodology (ATLM). This phase guides the tester in the evaluation and selection of the testing tool.

Since the testing tool supports almost all testing requirements, the tester still needs to review the system engineering environment and other organizational needs and then make a list of evaluation parameters of the tools. Test engineers evaluate the equipment based on the provided sample criteria.

Scope Introduction

This phase represents the third phase of Automation Test Life-cycle Methodology (ATLM). The scope of automation includes the testing area of the application. The determination of scope is based on the following points:

• Common functionalities of the software application that are held by every software application.
• Automation test sets the reusable range of business components.
• Automation Testing decides the extent of reusability of the business components.
• An application should have business-specific features and must be technically feasible.
• Automation testing provides the repetition of test cases in the case of cross-browser testing.

This phase ensures the overall testing strategy that should be well managed and modified if required. In order to ensure the availability of skills, testing skills of a particular member and whole team are analyzed against the required specific skills for a particular software application.

Test Planning and Development

Test planning and development is the fourth and most important phase of Automation Test Life -cycle Methodology (ATLM) because all the testing strategies are defined here. Planning of long -lead test activities, the creation of standards and guidelines,an arrangement of the required combination of hardware, software and network to create a test environment, defect tracking procedure, guidelines to control test configuration and environment all are identified in this phase. Tester determines estimated effort and cost for the entire project. Test strategy and effort estimation documents are the deliverables provided by this phase. Test case execution can be started after the successful completion of test planning.

Test Case Execution

Test case Execution is the sixth phase of Automation Test Life -cycle Methodology (ATLM). It takes place after the successful completion of test planning. At this stage, the testing team defines test design and development. Now, test cases can be executed under product testing.In this phase, the testing team starts case development and execution activity by using automated tools. The prepared test cases are reviewed by peer members of the testing team or quality assurance leaders.

During the execution of test procedures, the testing team directed to comply with the execution schedule. Execution phase implements the strategies such as integration, acceptance and unit testing that have defined in the test plan previously.

Review and Assessment

Review and assessment is the sixth and final stage of the automated testing life cycle but the activities of this phase are conducted throughout the whole life cycle to maintain continuous quality improvement. The improvement process is done via the evaluation of matrices, review and assessment of the activities.

During the review, the examiner concentrates whether the particular metric satisfies the acceptance criteria or not, if yes, then it is ready to use in software production.It is comprehensive as test cases cover each feature of the application.

The test team performs its own survey to inquire about the potential value of the process; if the potential benefit is less than sufficient, the testing team can change the testing tool. The team also provides a sample survey form to ask for feedback from the end user about the attributes and management of the software product.

Advantages of Automation Testing

• Automation testing takes less time than manual testing.
• A tester can test the response of the software if the execution of the same operation is repeated several times.
• Automation Testing provides re-usability of test cases on testing of different versions of the same software.
• Automation testing is reliable as it eliminates hidden errors by executing test cases again in the same way.
• Automation Testing is comprehensive as test cases cover each and every feature of the application.
• It does not require many human resources, instead of writing test cases and testing them manually, they need an automation testing engineer to run them.
• The cost of automation testing is less than manual testing because it requires a few human resources.

Disadvantages of Automation Testing

• Automation Testing requires high-level skilled testers.
• It requires high-quality testing tools.
• When it encounters an unsuccessful test case, the analysis of the whole event is complicated.
• Test maintenance is expensive because high fee license testing equipment is necessary.
• Debugging is mandatory if a less effective error has not been solved, it can lead to fatal results.