Test automation is no longer an optional part of software development. It has become a crucial part of almost every organization’s software development lifecycle (SDLC). From small startups to large enterprises, test automation is being adopted by companies of all sizes as a best practice for faster and more efficient software testing. Test automation has numerous benefits for your organization, including increased quality, faster time to market and lower costs. To leverage these benefits, you need to develop an effective test automation strategy from the outset. This blog post outlines the key considerations for developing a successful test automation strategy with specific examples from real-world situations.
Define a Purpose and Strategy Before Starting Automation
Before you start to automate testing, it is important to understand your organization’s test automation strategy. What are the goals of the test automation strategy? To understand the strategy, you need to define the purpose of test automation. Some of the questions you should ask are: Why are we automating testing? Why do we need test automation? What problem does test automation solve? What are the benefits of test automation? Once you understand the purpose of test automation, you can determine a strategy for implementing test automation. A strategy for test automation will include what you want to automate, why you want to automate it and when you want to automate it.Determine Which Tasks Should Be Automated
The first step in determining which testing tasks should be automated is to understand the various types of testing. No two organizations conduct testing in the same way. Different organizations may have different testing requirements and hence different types of testing. Testing can be broken down into the following general categories:Choose the Right Tools
When you are choosing tools, you need to consider which tools are best suited to the testing tasks you want to automate. Before purchasing tools, it is a good idea to evaluate the tools you currently have on the market. A thorough evaluation should enable you to understand which tools are best suited for your testing tasks. A good evaluation should consider factors such as pricing, functionality, ease of use, integration with other tools and support. To help with this, organizations use tools such as the Automated Testing Excellence (ATE) maturity model or the Test Automation Maturity Model (TAMM) to rate and audit the current test tools in their organization. These tools will enable you to see which tools are the best fit for your organization.Decide on automation tool capabilities
When deciding on which tool capabilities are best suited for the testing tasks you want to automate, you need to consider various factors. Some of the factors you need to consider include the following: - Ease of use: How easy is the tool to use? How easy is it to get started? - Compatibility: Is the tool compatible with your organization’s current set up? - Functionality: Does the tool have the functionality you need? - Security: Does the tool have the security functionality you need? - Integration: Does the tool have the capability to integrate with other tools such as your CI/CD tool? - Scalability: Will the tool scale with your organization as it grows? - Maintenance: How much effort and resources will be required to maintain the tool?Plan for Tooling Updating and Maintaining Infrastructure
Once you have decided which tool is best suited for the testing tasks you want to automate, you need to plan for how you are going to update, maintain and manage the tooling. The tooling will be responsible for executing automated testing, so it is important that it is performing optimally. To optimize the performance of the tooling, organizations will frequently update or upgrade the tooling to the latest version. As the testing organizations grow in terms of their size and their testing volumes, the demand for updating and maintaining the infrastructure will go up. Therefore, it is important to understand the infrastructure requirements of the tooling and the effort required to update and maintain the infrastructure.Conclusion
Test automation is an important strategy for any organization. The team needs to be well educated about the benefits and best practices of test automation. This will help them to decide which scenarios would be best automated and what tool would be suitable for the same. It is important to note that test automation is not a silver bullet. It is critical to understand which tests should be automated and when they should be automated. Automating the wrong tests will slow down the team and cause more harm than good. Test automation is a long-term investment and requires careful planning. Once implemented, test automation can provide significant benefits to organizations such as faster testing, improved quality and reduced costs. To leverage these benefits, organizations need to develop an effective test automation strategy.
Tags:
Technology