#softwareqaautomation

Software test automation for enterprises can be a challenge given the need to adhere to heterogeneous architectures, quality processes, and compliance requirements. This begs the question: is it possible to achieve the level of test automation that complex systems and modern delivery schedules demand for big enterprises? The answer is “yes”, provided enterprise intelligent automation is implemented for end-to-end business-critical and complex features in phases. So, what is enterprise test automation all about and why is it important for business enterprises? Let us find out in the below-mentioned segment.

What is enterprise test automation?

It refers to the testing of processes or value chains of business enterprises to validate their smooth functioning in an omnichannel environment. Since every enterprise app or website is mission-critical and helps stakeholders derive insights and make critical decisions, they should perform at their optimal level and be devoid of any vulnerabilities or bugs. The apps could be BI tools, ERP solutions, and payment processing solutions, among others. Given the scale and complexity of enterprise applications and websites and their need for achieving cross-device and cross-platform compatibility, manual testing should be given a go. It is only through enterprise process automation using the right frameworks and tools that the performance of these software solutions can be evaluated for end-to-end business processes and their ability to meet business goals.

What should be automated in software QA automation?

Any automation testing services for enterprises should include the following elements or aspects:

Website or app that is business-critical for the enterprise and needs continuous monitoring.

Web or app features that are too complex for manual testing and are prone to human error.

Time-consuming features that need to be tested repeatedly to ensure optimal software performance.

Unit tests to check whether the class or function can operate in isolation.

Integration of APIs to check if various components of the app or website and any connected third-party software work seamlessly.

Performance tests to evaluate the software application’s scalability, accessibility, stability, and performance when subjected to different thresholds of traffic load.

End-to-end testing of a user’s journey across software components, both at the API or UI level.

However, it is not easy for any automation testing company to implement automation for software applications that form part of any enterprise’s software suite. Let us discuss the strategies that test automation services can implement to remove the barriers to automation.

Apply automation across the technology stack: Any test automation process is preceded by the development of a framework. It is only when the framework is ready for implementation after testing that test scripts are used. With changes in the software application to be automated, the test scripts and framework need to be updated and tested on a continuous basis. This requires suitable resources to be tapped into so that they can take a specific approach to script-based automation. Any QA tester finds it time-consuming to build, scale, and maintain the scripts and framework.

This type of challenge gets amplified several times for an enterprise. For instance, to test a heterogeneous application stack comprising packaged applications such as Salesforce, SAP, Oracle EBS, databases, mainframes, mobile and web front ends, and others, multiple frameworks need to be built. Further, more tools and frameworks need to be configured, learned, and integrated. So, ensure every technology, tool, and approach is connected to provide centralized visibility and foster collaboration.

Address the test maintenance issues: Test scripts and frameworks should be maintained for the success of any test automation activity. Or else, the test results can be riddled with false positives or negatives, thereby losing their credibility. So, test stability should be considered from the beginning of the test automation initiative. Check how the tool responds to expected variations and how to keep it in sync with the application’s changing requirements. Make sure the tests are run with appropriate data and within a completely stable test environment. Also, test suites should be built from modules that are easily updatable and used all across the board.

Conclusion 

Enterprise test automation is the pressing need of the hour, given the quality and security dimensions of applications taking center stage. Any software test automation service should plan the processes or applications to be tested by streamlining the bottlenecks and achieving, in the process, a well-performing enterprise ecosystem catering to the needs of all stakeholders.   

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James Daniel is a software Tech enthusiastic & works at Cigniti Technologies. I'm having a great understanding of today's software testing quality that yields strong results and always happy to create valuable content & share thoughts.

Every software application under development needs to be tested on various parameters to ensure they meet the exact quality standards envisaged by the client and the development team. It is also done with the objective of making the software application acceptable to the end-user. However, given the scale and the number of software applications that are released to the market courtesy the use of Agile and DevOps methodologies, the testing process is always under stress. The traditional waterfall method of manually testing the software post-development is fraught with errors and inadequacies. Besides being extremely complex and time-consuming, it is incapable of delivering a flawless software application to the end-users.

To rule out such issues and ensure the software application meets every quality parameter and regulatory standard, a test automation framework is integrated into the development cum testing process. With mobile and web applications being churned out like hot cakes, it is only by leveraging software test automation services that quality considerations are not lost count of in the overall scheme of things. These help businesses to test any software application under development across devices, operating systems, browsers, and networks within an omnichannel environment. A test automation framework helps testers to standardize every test automation asset and drive the testing process seamlessly, quickly, efficiently, and cost-effectively. Let us understand the framework in some detail.

What is a test automation framework?

An automation framework is a set of processes and tools used to execute software QA automation of any software application. It is also a set of guidelines, rules, protocols, or best practices to create automated test cases and make efficient use of test resources. The framework comprises elements such as test data, libraries, and various reusable modules.

Why use an automated QA testing framework?

To understand the need for employing an enterprise intelligent automation framework, let us consider a scenario. If the testing team comprises members who are used to working with different automation testing tools, they may find it difficult to understand the scripts or code updated by one of the team members for a specific project. This is where an enterprise process automation framework can offer the option of reusing the code or script in various scenarios as well as writing the script in a standard format. Further, the framework can help to reuse the test scripts many times for different builds. The other benefits of using such a framework are as follows:

Follow a standardized policy to achieve design uniformity across test suites

Drive the testing process quickly and efficiently

Enable root-cause analysis for the application under test

Easy maintenance and reusability of test scripts

Achieve optimal utilization of resources and maximum test coverage

Achieve continuous testing and delivery of code as per DevOps

Achieve accuracy in testing

What are the types of software QA automation frameworks?

The various types of test automation frameworks are as given below:

Linear automation framework: Also called the record and playback framework, it is commonly used to test small applications in a linear manner. It does not entail the writing of custom code and automation scripting is executed incrementally with new interaction being added to the tests. Modular testing framework: Here, the entire application is broken down into smaller modules based on the client’s requirements to create independent test scripts. The scripts so written are easy to maintain and scale. Further, for each component or module, an abstraction layer is built that is hidden from the software application under test. The abstraction layer ensures the changes made to other parts of the application do not impact the underlying components.

Data-driven testing framework: In this type of enterprise intelligent automation framework, test data is loaded into variables inside the script after being read from external files, namely, text files, excel files, ODBC sources, CSV files, and DAO objects. It allows testers to create test scripts by using different test data sets. Here, a single script can execute multiple test cases with different data sets.

Behaviour-driven development framework: This type of framework creates a platform wherein every stakeholder in the project can participate, namely, developers, QA testers, and business analysts, among others. The testers can use natural language to build test specifications, which can be easily understood and analyzed by non-technical people.

Keyword-driven testing framework: Also known as table-driven testing, the framework is useful to test applications for smaller projects. In this application-independent framework, which is an extension of the data-driven testing framework, keywords and data tables are used to execute actions on the application. Also, since a single keyword can be used across test scripts, the code can be reused.

Hybrid test automation framework: It is a combination of data-driven, modular, and keyword test automation frameworks, which leverages the benefits of other frameworks. It is a flexible framework that can be custom used to test different applications with different processes.

Conclusion

The above-mentioned automated QA testing frameworks can be utilized efficiently to test the code as per the project requirements, budget, and team expertise. These help to boost productivity, efficiency, and test coverage through standardization.

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James Daniel is a software Tech enthusiastic & works at Cigniti Technologies. I'm having a great understanding of today's software testing quality that yields strong results and always happy to create valuable content & share thoughts.