Automation Testing Tutorial: Process, Benefits and Tools

What is Automation Testing?

Automation testing is a process which uses applications to conduct entire Software development life cycle. You can implement the whole life cycle in half time of the manual testing process.

Automation testing includes so many tools which are designed to run testing processes which can help developers to save their time, effort and cost.

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The name automated means that the test procedures run automatically with the help of backend algorithms and writes scripts by its own. The testing procedures help test engineers to test the load, performance and stress points of the application or website.

But to implement a successful automation testing, you have to design the software development lifecycle perfectly. Because if the base is strong, the results will also be accurate.

Also, with the help of automated testing procedures, you will be able to record the test suite and re-play it as many times you want to check the accuracy of the process. And the test results produced by the automation testing will be clear and accurate as compared to the manual testing.

The main goal of automation testing is to reduce the test cases and not to replace manual testing. On the backend of these tools, actual algorithms run which follows the criteria of manual testing with some added features and technology. In other terms, you can say that it is a technology made with the manual testing and advanced features of testing.

Need to conduct automation testing

There are so many reasons which encourage conducting automation testing.

• It is inexpensive as compared to the manual testing, and also you need to put fewer efforts and time in automation testing.
• With the help of automation testing, you can easily increase the test coverage area.
• It is easy to test sites with multi languages.
• You can find all hidden errors which are not easy to find in manual testing.

Automation testing process

It is very important to follow the right steps to perform automation testing successfully. Kindly follow the below-stated steps carefully.

 Testing Tool Selection

There are numerous testing tools available in the market, and you have to select those tools which are suitable for your application or software. Always test the tool with dummy application and then select one after satisfaction. Don’t follow install and go method always test the tool first, and then implement it with the targeted applications.

Scope of the automation testing

The scope is the basic concept on which the whole testing process is dependent. Following important points will help you to figure out the scope.

• Important features of the business.
• Amount of data to be used.
• Application’s common functionality.
• Technical feasibility.
• Reusability of the business components or modules.
• Test case complexity.
• Scope and Reusability of the test cases.

If you don’t know why you are conducting the testing, then you can never figure out what you want from the test reports.

Planning, Design and Development

In this step, you have to plan, design and develop a strategy to conduct the automation testing. While doing these things keep the following points in mind.

• Which are the selected automation testing tools?
• What are the design and features of the framework?
• And What are the in-scope and out-of-scope elements of automation?
• What are the timelines and schedules of the scripts and test executions?

While making a strategy try to find the answers to all the above questions. This will help you to make an effective and strong plan or strategy.

Test Execution

In this step, all the scripts of automation testing will be executed. The input data should be adequate before running the scripts. When the tool executes the scripts, it will generate the testing reports.

The report contains all the information about applications like success points, errors, bugs, loopholes, crashes, load time, etc. Your task is to read the reports carefully and make the appropriate changes in the application to enhance the performance, reliability and efficiency of the application or software.

Maintenance

As you know, all the things you need to change in the application during the testing process. Now it is important to maintain the reliability of the application to provide a better experience to the user.

It is always advisable that after every change in the code, the test engineers must run regression testing procedures to check the effect of the change on the application.

Benefits of automation testing

To use an automated tool to perform specific tasks always proved beneficial for the organizations so as automation testing. Below are various benefits of test automation services.

• Saves money
• Saving time
• Saves efforts
• Increase productivity.
• Enhance consistency.
• Produce reliable results.
• Improve accuracy
• Generate re-usable test reports.
• Enhance software quality.
• Support multiple applications.
• Increase test coverage.

List of various tools to perform Automation testing

The following is the list of various tools which can help you to perform automated testing. Remember, these are hand-picked tools, and there are many more than them.

• Test complete
• WinRunner
• LoadRunner
• SkillTest
• WATIR
• Selenium
• HP Quick Test Professional.
• Visual Studio Test Professional.
• Mabl
• QTP (MicroFocus UFT).

Conclusion

Automation testing is the best way to meet all the testing goals with a wide range of resources and less time. But you have to be careful before purchasing an automation testing tool for your applications. Always remember a tool must have capabilities to be with you for a long time and also provides you accurate results.

To select the tool, you must need skilled staff, which can make important decisions with proper research. The automation testing tools are not here to eliminate manual testing. There are so many organizations which still believed in manual testing instead of test automation services.

And it is advisable to test engineers that they should not trust these tools completely. So, a combination of automation and manual testing methods can help your organization to develop effective products for the client or users.