Let's Automate - A Brief on Automation Testing
Whatis.com defines it as " Automated testing tools are capable of executing tests, reporting outcomes and comparing results with earlier test runs. Tests carried out with these tools can be run repeatedly, at any time of day. The method or process being used to implement automation is called a test automation framework."
The
Objective of Automation Testing is
- simplifying testing efforts
- usage of Manual intervention to the minimal
The
automation software can also enter test data into the System Under Test, compare
expected and actual results and generate detailed test reports.
Test Automation stresses a
need of considerable investments of money and resources.Successive development
cycles will require execution of same test suite repeatedly. Using a test
automation tool it's achievable to record this test suite and re-play it as
required. Once the test suite is automated completely, we do not require any
human intervention is required. This improved ROI(Return of Investment) of Test Automation.
The Automation tools are
very useful to speed up the test cycle as they can replicate manual testing
processes at a much faster rate.Goal of Automation is to
reduce number of test cases to be run manually and not eliminate manual testing
all together. The Main Criteria or the
Success Mantra automated software testing is by and large most successful when
implemented by expert resource.
Automated
testing is important due to following reasons:
- Testing of all the Workflows, Functionalities and Negative Scenarios is time consuming & also cost.
- Automation Testing is best suited for testing which requires testing the volume of data.
- It is difficult to test for multi lingual sites manually.
- It’s very useful for testing the performance of websites or an application.
- Automation increases speed of test execution.
- Automation helps increase Test Coverage.
- Manual Testing is error prone as it’s a repeated activity involving human intervention.
What
can we automate?
Automation is best suited
for the following criterion to increase the automation ROI
- Critical Business Requirements which are of High Risk.
- Repeated Execution of Test Cases
- Test Cases that is very monotonous or difficult to perform manually.
- Test Cases which are lengthy.
To Conclude on this above topic i would say automation is the way forward to make life better for testers but not to forget that unless you are strong in your basics of what to test and what not to any testing method will be of no use.... So lets learn our basics to move forward...