In the highly competitive market today, Speed to Market (STM) and Time to Market (TTM) are buzzwords. The software development industry is also not an exception to it. Moreover, software requirements are also changing at a high speed. Hence, atomic development cycles are being followed by development companies.
Statistics say that almost 90 percent of best software testing course companies have been following agile development methods. When development becomes so fast, it is mandatory for other parts of the software development cycle to match the speed.
Software testing is an important and integral step in the lifecycle. However, there is a high risk of substandard software product delivery because of manual testing. It is not only a costly method but also lacks speed and visibility. Studies say that around one-third of software products fail because of a lack of time to thoroughly test the software.
Various automated testing software is available in the market. The best software testing course can teach the functionality of the software.
Manual Testing
It is the age-old conventional method of manually investigating defects in software by following a predefined testing plan. The plan typically comprises various test scenarios or test cases. The testers use these cases to check and analyze the behavior of software or app against them.
If the software functionally performs in synchronization with what is expected, the test is considered a success.
If there is a gap between the desired and expected result, then it is called a bug, which is subsequently reported to developers. They fix the bug after replicating the errant behavior. But the challenge is to perform all this within a very stringent timeline.
When the QA process requires behavioral and cognitive abilities beyond the limits of the software, manual testing is useful. It is good when a one-off case scenario is to be tested.
A project small in size and with a limited number of feature tests would be a good candidate for manual testing.
And the most important point is no machine is accurate enough to decide user satisfaction. Without the testing of actual human beings, end-user usability cannot be established.
Automation Testing
Automation testing uses frameworks to execute test cases. Each framework is unique, and it is powered by scripts that follow the rules of the framework in question. Various components of the framework are:
- Function libraries
- Test data sources
- Object details
Other than these, there are some reusable models that add to automated testing. The automated testing framework can be classified as Linear, Data Driven, Keyword Driven, and Agile.
Automation testing is useful when there is a large volume of repetitive tests with different input is required. An example could be data-driven testing of various regression tests. Here, the functionality remains the same and therefore, not much human intervention is needed.
Also, when you have human resources occupied on other activities that need higher cognitive abilities, automated testing can be an alternate. It is possible to run a large number of test cases without compromising the accuracy of the test.
One has to learn the functionality of test automation software first. Nowadays, a software testing course in Pune is available for understanding it better.
Way to move from Manual Testing to Automation Testing
If the need for automated testing has been justified in your organization, it is high time to move from manual to automated as quickly as possible. Thus, you can reap the benefits up to the best extent.
But how is the transition to be managed? It is not rocket science, but it is not as simple as ABC either. You need to follow a step-by-step approach to achieve success.
Let’s understand it in detail.
First, take all stakeholders into confidence
Everyone that is going to be affected by the automated testing should be brought on the same page. It is essential to get buy-in from all.
For that, you need to convince people that this change is inevitable and necessary. It is in the long-term interest of the organization.
The best thing to convince people is to make them understand the Return on Investment (ROI). How will it arise from the change?
Parameters that determine the ROI are:
- Higher speed: When you need to perform repetitive tests, automated test cases can do wonders. It will allow your team to do more valuable work by minimizing their load. Automated testing performs data-driven regression testing very speedily.
- Cost-effectiveness: Yes, there is certainly some initial cost involved in setting up an automated test framework. However, once it is established, you will be only reaping its fruits. Financial experts confirm that the cost of test automation goes a positive balance after the third test cycle.
Decide the Scope of Work
It is an important aspect. You need a proper test-automation strategy first. Which test cases do you want to automate? A few suitable test case scenarios are:
- Regression test cases are high-volume cases that need the same set of variables as input. You need to run them multiple times in the development cycle.
- Data-driven cases that involve various divergent data sets with positive and negative scenarios.
- Performance test cases are used for monitoring system performance in different situations.
Selenium is an automated, open-source testing framework that can validate web applications across browsers and platforms. It is possible to learn it by enrolling in selenium testing courses in pune and other cities.
Training in software testing courses can help in understanding its scope of work better.
A software testing course with placement also increases the chances of job prospects.
Set achievable targets
Since the journey from automated to manual testing is not smooth, it is important that the transition happens through small, achievable targets. It is better, to begin with, small goals. You should automate the test suite used in the regression testing process. It is important to isolate common errors and expand the scope gradually. The complexity of the automation has to increase as per test coverage.
Always aim for continuous testing
You should aim for continuous testing and thorough visibility. Three essential components of Agile are Continuous Integration to merge code changes daily, Continuous Development to incorporate changes, and Continuous Testing to change work as expected.
This is a systematic process of moving from manual testing to test automation.
Thank you…!!
