Test Automation Fundamentals for Complete Beginners

 What is Automation Testing?

Software testing helps testing teams ensure that products are in the best shape before releasing them to the public. There are two ways of conduct: automation testing and manual testing. Testers use both methods to execute test cases and compare the obtained with expected outcomes.

Automation testing is the practice of using an automation tool or other software to run tests, manage test data, and use the results to improve software efficiency. On the other hand, manual testing is a testing technique that requires human presence for the software codes to function. 

Automation testing has been proven to be more beneficial than manual testing, in terms of wider test coverage and handling repetitive tests with ease and quickly. It also tends to be more accurate in eliminating human errors/intervention and improving testing ROI.

Why  Automation Testing?

To help you  determine if test automation being the right choice, below are main reasons to consider:

•  Saving time and money

Carrying out your test manually can be time-consuming as testers perform the test without using automated scripts. For example, running a regression test manually needs repetitive execution to ensure quality output. With automation testing, teams can speed up and supervise hourly tests without additional cost. 

• Minimizing human intervention

.. Writing and reusing test suites manually is a rigorous and exhaustive task. Alternatively, automation testing is well-suited to handle physical tasks, allowing the testing team to avoid endless data entries, as well as reducing the risk of mistakes and failures when using manual testing.

• More test coverage and higher maintenance

Automation testing enables you to run tests across different platforms (hardware/software) simultaneously over a short period. In essence, automation testing increases the overall performance of tests, thus provides a broader test coverage.

Recommended: Types of Automation Testing: A Beginner’s Guide

Automation Testing Implementation

This means the process of implementing an automation test. Situations, where automation testing should apply, are:

Cases 

Before you conduct an Automation Testing, it is necessary for you to know your purpose for wanting to perform the test and what you aim to achieve. A test should match up with specific criteria for it to be successful. Here are some factors to consider before applying automation testing.

• High Stakes Cases Requiring Consistency and Precision 

Some cases are highly associated with severe risks and can influence the business negatively. These effects may include customer dissatisfaction and a bad user experience. When this type of risk-prone test is run through manual testing, the result is often disastrous as the software codes are usually filled with many errors. For cases like this, the most effective method that should be adopted is automation testing. An automation tool would prevent errors by finding and fixing bugs automatically during the process.

• High Repetition Cases

Test cases are often run as many times as possible. For such cases, adopting an automation testing tool relieves testers of the stress. Repeatable tests can run as many times as possible, without extra cost, and it also saves time.

Steps

 To run a successful automation testing, here are the steps that should be followed:

1. Define the scope of automation

The scope of automation is simply to cover all aspects you want to automate in your application. To define your automation scope, you must consider your team's expertise, the amount of test data, and the environment for execution. This can also be determined by:

• The technical feasibility

• The extent to which the same test cases can be used across different devices and platforms

• How complicated the test cases are

• Essential features in the test cases being executed

2. Select a test tool

When choosing a test tool, you need to pick the right one l that goes well with  technologies by which the application under test is built. Importantly, ensure you have a thorough understanding of several tool types and the purposes they serve. Also, consider your budget, the team's expertise, and ROI.

3. Plan and Build

After selecting the right testing tool, it’s time to create an automation strategy. The plan, in particular, should include the selected testing tool, designed framework and its features, as well as timeline for test scripting and executing. This plan should also contain the in-scope, out-of-scope items of automation and other deliverables of automation.

4. Execute and Monitor

After going through the steps mentioned above, the next thing to do is execute the test cases developed. In this phase, test execution is carried out with the input data's help, either directly, or by calling an application API, or through the user interface. Once executed, a detailed report comprising the summary of the steps taken in the automation process is made out of the result. 

5. Maintenance

This involves expanding your collection of test reusability. Maintenance of the previous test cases would keep your test updated even if the application changes in the long run.

Conclusion

Automation testing is essential to achieve the best results when running tests for software applications. Specifically, it improves the overall efficiency of test scripts and ensures error-free results. If you want to make an effective comparison between the actual product and the expected outcome of a software application, automation testing is one of the first options to consider. However, failure to adopt proper tools and procedures would lead to cost and error increases in the automation testing process.