The Key Takeaways of Automated Software Testing

Before automated testing kicked in, manual tests were the norm, and QA engineers had to spend hours sitting in front of computers to write and execute tests. With a wide range of software testing types, such as stress testing, API testing, unit testing, performance testing, and heaps more. Can you imagine the workloads testers have to bear? And automated software testing has revolutionized the way we test software, making it faster, more reliable, and less prone to human errors. Let’s make automated testing simple by outlining its main points below:

What Is Automated Testing?

Automated software testing, automated testing, and automation testing alike are how people name the technique utilizing one or several test automation tools and frameworks to execute test cases.

By goals, automated tests are brought into the software development life cycle (SDLC) to, of course, automate the human-driven processes of validating a software product to ensure it functions as initially planned. With automation testing tools in place, developers can write test scripts, perform tests automatically, administer data, create reports, and keep track of the test environment with less human intervention. An ideal test automation tool can make test creation, execution, and maintenance easier and change how a test team operates in an efficient manner.

In terms of manual vs. automated testing, these two testing methodologies are distinct in nature, and they contradict each other like two poles of one magnet. However, it is no chance that software test automation may or will completely replace manual tests since there are certain things manual tests can bring but automated ones cannot, and vice versa. Therefore, these two testing methodologies should work in tandem to supplement each other instead of one taking over the other.

The Importance of Test Automation Strategy in Software Development Process

Currently, most Agile and DevOps projects adopt automated testing right from the outset as they recognize that software test automation obviously brings some tangible benefits to the QA testing process in terms of the following:

Test Coverage

Automated tests can be run on different hardware and software environments, which covers more areas of the application faster than manual testing.

Efficiency

Automation testing ensures that all tests are executed faster and with greater efficiency, allowing testers to spend more time on other tasks. As automating tests transforms how a software tester does his or her job and helps to facilitate efficient test management, a comprehensive test automation strategy should be well-crafted to ensure the automation effort is worthwhile and successful.

Continuous Testing

Automation tests can be integrated into CI/CD pipelines and executed continuously to ensure quality throughout the development process.

Velocity

When it comes to automated testing, there are two main benefits: Faster test execution and fewer human errors. An automated test case dashes with no breaks in between when executing tests on a server or local device. Also, running multiple tests at once is possible with automated tests. The more computing power, the faster the tests will run. As a result, the test team is able to test more in a shorter amount of time and detect any issues before they become serious bugs.

Accuracy

Compared to manual testing, automated software tests offer a higher level of accuracy and consistency when dealing with testing scenarios. Therefore, human errors due to manual testing are significantly reduced.

Costs

Although the investment in test automation is quite considerable, it does help to reduce costs on different fronts. Undoubtedly, automated testing offloads the teams from redundant, time-consuming manual tasks, which means you will need fewer software testers on the team. In addition, automated test scripts can be reused multiple times without any changes or adjustments required. Currently, IT businesses tend to outsource software testing to leverage external expertise and resources for their projects while still cutting costs. Partnering with a reliable software testing company can be even more cost-efficient for many businesses in terms of both financial investments and human resources.

What Types of Software Testing Should Be Automated?

Almost all the tests can be automated to some degree. However, there will be some that require more manual effort than others, so they should be prioritized to automate first.

Unit Tests

Unit testing accounts for the biggest percentage of the test automation pyramid and is also the very first to be automated. A unit test is tasked to check individual units or components of code. These software tests are usually written and conducted by developers to validate the functionality and production of small parts of their codes.

Integration Tests

Integration testing is the process of combining several small parts or modules of the software into a larger piece and testing them together to ensure that they work correctly. Integration tests focus on the compatibility between different modules and components of the software product. Automation of integration tests can be beneficial in terms of time savings since they cost a lot of time when done manually.

End-to-end Tests

End-to-end tests are utilized to verify the functionality of an entire system. These kinds of tests simulate user scenarios in a real-world environment and check whether the application behaves correctly when triggered by user inputs.

Functional Tests

As its name implies, functional testing is designed to check the functionality of an application by testing individual features and scenarios. Automating functional tests brings added value in terms of cost and time efficiency, as well as accuracy. The more scenarios that can be automated, the more quickly changes can be tested and evaluated for their correctness.

Graphic User Interface Testing

GUI testing or UI testing checks the usability and user experience of a software product through the visual elements. Automation of GUI tests allows testers to easily validate changes and updates in the user interface or make sure the UI is consistent across different platforms.

Regression Tests

Regression testing is used to ensure that the software still works after changes or updates have been made. Automated regression tests can be used to detect any issues that may arise from code changes quickly.

Performance Tests

In software development, performance testing is used to verify an application in terms of speed and responsiveness under different loads and scenarios. Automated performance tests are incredibly useful for optimizing applications, detecting any potential bottlenecks, and ensuring that the software can handle large amounts of traffic.