Test Automation Strategy: Key Practices for Successful Implementation

With cutting-edge technologies, software development becomes an integral part of the market industry. Though software development is a manual process, recently, with the integration of automation, time and accuracy have both improved in the development process. So, automation in testing is highly beneficial in checking the quality of the developed software and overall functionality and reducing manual error and time limits.

To successfully implement the Automation test in the development process, you should know about the key components of automation testing services.

1. In the first step, you should select the right automation testing tool to improve your development process.
2. Secondly, you have to determine which type of test execution shall go on automation testing. Mostly, regression test cases are best for automation testing as they are complex programs, and manual execution takes more time.
3. Thirdly, make sure your testing is well organized and that all the resources are present in the test.
4. Then, you have to test on a behavior-driven framework to ensure your test is in accordance with the customer’s perspective.
5. After that, define the scope of the automation with your team. Also, discuss which part of the programs needs automation and test data.
6. To check the test process is reliable and accurate, you should perform test script development.
7. Then, execute the test in the chosen platform or tool.

Understanding Test Automation Strategy

Test Automation Strategy is a crucial part of software development for the execution of test cases of a software application to ensure the quality assurance of overall functionality for a development process that is easy and error-free before launching to the end user.

A well-defined strategy is crucial for QA testing to achieve overall success in software development. Also, it helps improve the quality of developed applications and customer satisfaction and reduces the cost of identifying and fixing errors in a development process.

Key Elements Of An Effective Test Automation Strategy

Clear Objectives And Goals

You have to keep in mind that not every test can run in automation testing, So defining a clear set of goals about which part of your testing needs automation is known as Automation feasibility analysis.

For a successful test automation approach, you should align your goals with the business objectives. You have to follow some steps.

1. Determine the repetitive tasks such as OTP entries or log-in process.
2. Define the tasks that should have undergone multiple browsers and platforms for testing.
3. Separate the tests that require the same action but in different datasets, regression test cases, and those tests that need a pass or fail approach.

Selection Of the Right Tools And Technologies

So, selecting the right automation testing tool requires some factors to consider. Let’s discuss these factors.

1. Character

Selecting the right tool depends on the software’s internal character. So, nature, in this sense, is whether your application is to be tested on the web or in a mobile app. For instance, the Selenium tool will work best to check if your application is web-based.

2. Programmer’s efficiency

Choose a tool or language that meets with the tester’s or programmer’s efficiency. Know which programming language he will perform the best in.

3. Checking For Open Source

Based on your budget preference, check whether the tool is open source or not, as open-source tools provide several testing features for automation.

4. Device access

You should choose a tool that can be accessible in cross-browser platforms, operating systems, and software to check compatibility. Also, the testing across real devices to work on multi-user conditions in real-time scenarios such as low battery, network strength, etc.

Some Examples of Automated testing strategy tools are Selenium and Cypress. Selenium is a type of testing tool that can test only web applications in multiple browsers. Cypress is a cloud-based open-source testing tool that can test any software application. It provides easier and quicker execution than Selenium.

Framework Design Considerations

Once you select your testing tool, then move towards choosing a framework that should comply with your project requirement because the right framework can be used multiple times to test several projects. An appropriate framework will define your test cases effectively for complex software programs.

For instance, let’s compare between data-driven and keyword-driven frameworks. If we talk about the Keyword-driven framework, then it consists of well-defined test scripts, data, and keywords that are easy to execute. At the same time, the Data-driven has only test scripts and test scripts and data.

Test Environment And Data Management

Setting up a test environment is an automation testing approach to execute the test cases effectively.

For effective management of data, the following strategies will be beneficial for executing test cases.

• Firstly, create a test case template that should be used multiple times.
• The developed test cases should be concise enough to be executed easily.
• Grouping your test cases based on the hierarchy feature on which the software is going to be tested.

Planning And Implementation

Developing the Test Automation Plan

Automated Testing Plan requires the following strategies for a well-defined test automation.

• In the first step, you have to define your test plan according to your project requirements and separate which part of the development will be required for automated testing.
• Then, determine both hardware and software testing tools for successful test automation.
• After that, set the total duration of your testing and set a budget for the entire testing process. In automotive software testing, these steps play a significant role in the testing process.
• Then, a suitable testing environment will be created in which test cases are executed and managed in a timely manner. It also helps in tracking the work progress of automation.
• In the next step, determine in which area the test can be implemented or rectified.
• Finally, always keep yourself updated with the trending technologies to upgrade your system with the latest version of the testing tool.

Let’s talk about some Roles and responsibilities in the planning phase.

• Role Of Test Manager- The test manager is responsible for the entire test execution planning to complete the test automation process.
• Test Lead- A test lead manages the testers who are executing the entire automatic test process in a software development process.
• Role of Testers- Testers are the most important personnel for conducting the testing process both manually and automatically. They determine which part of development will need a manual operation and which part will undergo automation.
• Developers- Developers are responsible for developing the software that will be used in the automation testing process.
• QA Manager- The Quality Assurance Manager ensures the overall automation process is running smoothly.

Building The Team

Successful test automation approaches require the following skills and roles in the execution of an automated testing process.

• Programming Skills- The test engineers have to be skilled in writing codes. So that they can execute the automated test scripts efficiently.
• Testing Methodologies- Testers should have efficient knowledge of different automated testing methodologies such as unit testing, load testing, integrated testing, etc.
• Automated Testing Tools- These tools automatically examine the test scripts. So, the test engineers have to be experienced in executing the automation tools running in different software.
• Analytical Skills- Analytical skills are highly important factors after the test processes have been done. The test engineers have to analyze the test results to identify any type of errors and then fix them and run them again on the program.
• Communication Skills- The test engineers have to communicate with all the team members to effectively run the software automation testing process.

A software development company should train its members by providing online, offline, or different workshop programs on advanced skills that will help the automation testing process to be faster. Let’s discuss these additional yet advanced skills-

• Agile And DevOps training

These two trainings have become popular in the recent software development industry. So, the professionals of agile and DevOps engineers will help the automation process in a faster and more accurate manner.

• CI/CD

The implementation of continuous integration and continuous development takes the testing process to another level of satisfaction. So, the development company should train their team members about these two technologies for a faster automation process.

• Cloud Computing

Developers must have experience with cloud computing systems. Recently, cloud services have been booming in software testing services due to their adaptability to run on any kind of software application, etc.

Also Read: Ultimate Guide to System Integration Testing: Strategies and Best Practices

Test Script Development And Maintenance

The best practices for successful test automation assessment require the following steps to write and maintain the test scripts.

• Using Version Control

Version control plays a major role in determining the test code writing and maintenance. The version control tracks the changes in the test code and compares it with other tester codes. It also allows testers not to overwrite the codes and always maintain the consistency. You can use GitHub and SVN version control systems.

• Maintain The coding Standards

Coding standards determine certain rules and regulations for writing, formatting, and structuring the test scripts. Developers can easily write readable codes by following the coding standards. You can use tools like SonarQube or Pilynt to enforce code standards.

• Test code and Script Documentation

The documentation refers to the addition of some comments or explanations to your code for communication and future debugging procedures. You can use some documentation tools such as Doxygen or Java Docs to do this.

• Test codes and script review

Review your entire process of writing code so that you can find out the error associated with the code script. By using tools such as Codeclimate, you can easily debug your codescript.

• Automate your test code scripts

With the automatic code script tests, you will be assured that your program will run perfectly and be free from any errors. The automated testing tools will do that for you. You can try Selenium, Appium, TestNG, etc., to test your code script.

From the above, we get a clear idea about what is the benefit of developing an automation strategy using version control on code scripts. In a nutshell, a version control system helps developers write and run code scripts with other code scripts and maintain their codes if any changes happen in the code format.

Measuring Success and Continuous Improvement

Continuous improvement in software testing involves updating the testing equipment or tools so the integration of the testing environment becomes easier. It also helps achieve enormous success in software testing development. Let’s discuss some important factors that measure the success path in an automated testing environment.

• Key Performance Indicators (KPI)

Incorporating key performance Indicators in automation testing involves several benefits to the testing process, such as:

• Analyze the performance- KPI plays a vital role in determining the performance of your team. The indicators create insights reports about whether your testing team has done their part effectively or how they are progressing towards the completion of the testing process.
• Strategy planner- The indicators, if any fault in the testing process, then guide the team with perfect strategy insights about how to make improvements in the testing process to run smoothly.
• Track Test Project- KPIs track the test progress. They ensure that the testing process is transparent and allow the testers to make a proper decision-making approach to the ongoing test results.
• Encourage accountability- The testing process involves lots of errors, so, in that case, taking accountability and collaborating with the team to fix them is challenging, but KPIs play a pivotal role in encouraging the team members to run the test series smoothly.
• Skills Improvement- KPIs play a major role in the continuous improvement of skills among the team members to make the testing environment faster and smoother.

Some useful KPIs for successful test automation include:

• Automation Index- It determines how many percentages of software development processes need to go for automatic testing. It also helps in determining your competitor’s testing environment and decides which part needs exploratory testing or manual testing.
• Automation Progress- The process tracks the testing progress toward your automation strategy. It also determines the automation progress by calculating how many parts of your tests are automated over how many parts of the programs are automatable.
• Test Automation Coverage- The KPI indicators determine how much your codebase is covered in the automation process. Also, which part did not get enough automation? The coverage is based on test priorities and associated risks.
• Defect Reduction- The KPIs help in detecting any defect before launching products. It determines how many percentages of defective bugs are caught on code reviews, unit testing, automated and manual testing.

• Feedback Loops And Iterative Improvements

• Feedback loops and retrospectives are equally important factors that help in continuous improvement in the development process. Feedback loops help gather the quality of codes across various resources and retrospectively, in the end, determine the team spirit about how well the team reacts to the tests that need improvement or went very well and do not require any change.
• Feedback loops help improve the testing progress and check the quality of the test. It helps in reducing the cost of the test process. For instance, when a bug or error is detected in the software, then feedback loops ensure the testers should learn from the bug.
• On the other hand, retrospectives help improve software development projects. Faster feedback from other team members or businesses and customers helps in the development process to meet the project goal in the scheduled time.
• Feedback loops also help improve a test-driven environment, behavioral improvement, and unit testing of software development when you apply a version control system.
• Also helps in static analysis of how much of your project will be finished, which part needs automation, which part needs manual testing, and how you can improve the code easily.
• A pair loop is an important aspect of the feedback loop that helps software developers improve their skills. It is a cost-effective option, but many organizations ignore the pair looping.
• Code reviewing is another important feature of the feedback loop. When a developer properly pushes the notification directly into the version control system, then the code will be improved efficiently.
• Let’s talk about the Agile retrospective. When skillfully organized, it efficiently provides feedback that helps improve code quality. In a nutshell, feedback loops and retrospective applications on a regular basis help the development process to be faster and bug-free.

Also Read: Salesforce Performance Testing Best Practices for Optimal CRM Efficiency

Stop Struggling With QA: Build A Winning Test Automation Strategy!

An automation strategy helps improve your overall software development process faster and makes your developed products bug-free before launching to the end users. From planning a test goal to selecting the right automation testing tool for your development process, all of your problems will be solved by a reliable automation testing company.

So, start investing in a testing company that will provide you with assistance in software development planning, testing, and launching of the final products to the end users. Do not wait; select the perfect partner for your software application.