The importance of testing a software product has
become quite pronounced in recent times to meet the business objectives. The
objectives include providing a rich UX, complying with regulations, staying
ahead of the competition, and meeting the ROI. In addition, the growing
competition has necessitated the need for delivering quality products or
services quickly by meeting resource and cost considerations. The challenge is
to reach the market ahead of others with products that can disrupt the market
and bring benefits to the users.
In an increasingly Agile and DevOps cycle of
development and testing, codes are tested for glitches concurrently with
development. The testing exercise requires the codes to be tested across
browsers, devices, platforms, frameworks and networks. And if glitches are
found, the codes are rewritten followed by carrying out renewed testing across
the digital dimensions. If this process is done manually, then, needless to
say, it can be repetitive for the testers besides being time consuming and
error-prone.
Test automation can take care of the inadequacies of manual testing. In this, not
only the test iterations can be repeated innumerable times, but the test
coverage area can be increased as well. In fact, automation testing can be scaled as per the needs of testing and
carried out across systems with varying configurations. Automation testing can relieve the testers from doing repetitive
tasks who can then be deployed in more productive areas. In fact, by taking
away the testers from the hassle of manual testing, they can be skilled in
using the latest test automation
tools.
With the establishment of a test automation centreof excellence, tests like regression testing, functional testing, usability
testing, and integration testing have become incisive and comprehensive.
Furthermore, given the fact that implementing test automation solutions can be costly initially, enterprises
should consider the feasibility of such a testing. And if the feasibility is
established, then the right QA automation tool should be chosen. Let us list
the criteria to choose the right QA automation tool for your specific business
needs.
Know the project requirement and testing objectives
As selecting a tool can turn out to be a costly
proposition, one must understand the project requirements. These include the
scope of testing and the devices, frameworks, platforms and networks on which
the application is to be tested. The testing team should know the codes to be
tested and the types of tests to be conducted, such as functional, performance,
usability, security, etc. In order to realize the ROI of investing in a tool,
the areas of testing and the type of test cases should be identified
beforehand.
How easily can the tool be adopted?
To adopt a particular QA automation tool, the level
of expertise in handling the tool should be identified. If the core test team
is skilled in using the tool then other members of the team can be brought on
board through upskilling as well. However, choosing a tool that needs a
thorough learning by the core test team can be counterproductive.
The tool should be compatible with the existing
systems of an organisation besides facilitating continuous testing. In fact,
the built-in compatibility issues can mar the performance of the tool. The QA
testers should be able to easily write the automation scripts by building
frameworks and making use of subroutines, IDEs, etc. For example, if your
system uses Ruby, the tool should have Ruby supported frameworks like Cucumber,
RSpec, etc.
Versatility of usage
The QA automation tool should allow the easy
writing of test scripts in any of the programming languages. This criterion
would preclude the test team from learning a new language for the purpose of
testing thus saving precious time. Besides, the tool should provide support to
test web and mobile applications. For otherwise, the complexity of handling two
different tools can be overwhelming. The best example of a versatile test tool
can be cited as that of Selenium where the writing of test scripts in any
language is possible with the availability of a number of frameworks and IDEs.
Test virtualization
The tool should be able to create virtual test
variables to validate various scenarios, processes, and functionalities.
Cost advantage
Whether to choose an open source platform or a
licensed one should depend on the above mentioned reasons including the
presence of a robust reporting mechanism. The tool should be backed by a strong
technical team that provides crucial updates from time to time. The final
decision of choosing a tool should be taken after carrying out a proper cost
benefit analysis.
Conclusion
This post is originally published at Medium.com – How to choose the right Test Automation tool for your specific business needs?
