Challenges with Functional Test Automation

Today automated functional testing is conducted in almost every software project. And as we've discussed earlier, a majority of these projects don’t deliver the expected benefits. Why do you think this happens? Some of the reasons include- a degree of isolation from the business needs, adding automation as an after-thought, etc. However, there is more to it than just these factors.  After speaking to several test automation experts and conducting an in-depth analysis, here's what we think are the reasons why functional test automation is rarely successful.

Why Functional Test Automation Isn’t Successful?

Mismatch in Expectations

Often the management has the wrong expectations from Test Automation projects. They expect of all sorts of miracles to follow. These expectations, in turn, have an impact on the design, development, and execution of the test strategy. And since the expected results are not clear, there are no criteria for measuring the success of the project.

 Trying to Achieve 100% Test Automation

Most organizations focus their efforts in achieving 100% test automation. The truth is that not everything in testing can be automated and efforts to do so lead to failure even before they start.

Lack of a Test Automation Strategy

Appropriate planning and a test automation strategy is essential for the success of test automation. Paying close attention to the approach, strategy, and the test automation software in use are critical factors.

 Maintenance of the Test Automation Suite

Like any other product, the automation suite needs constant attention. However, maintenance is rarely considered as a crucial factor in test automation projects. Failing to make an allowance for the maintenance of the suite eventually ends up being problematic for the whole project.

Environment Issues

Environment issues such as difficulties with the test environment, the CI server, the deployment scripts, etc. have a severe impact on the development and test automation efforts. These issues consume a lot of time and slow down the deployment process, leaving little consideration for testing.


The challenge is that we invest a lot of effort in automating functional testing and completely disregard the factors that contribute to its success. To make functional test automation successful and get the desired ROI, organizations need to first be clear on the objectives of automated testing and then map the ROI with the objectives. Organizations need to understand that test automation is not a replacement for manual efforts or even for improving test processes. In reality, test automation is conducted for faster testing, reliability and a reduction in the overall cost.

Article Source: http://www.apsense.com/article/challenges-with-functional-test-automation.html

The Future of Software Product Testing

The process of software product testing will change to follow the new realities of interconnected smart devices. QA professionals will now have to account for the data input from several other types of sensors such as accelerometers, gyroscopes, ambient light sensors, GPS locators, etc. Boundaries of these inputs will also have to be tested.

Testers will now have to imagine real-world scenarios to test outside of the test environment. This will help testers gain insight into the user experience. Testers will be pushed to grow beyond imagining user scenarios on paper and will now have to make widespread use of test subjects. In case of software product testing, testers will also need to collaborate with subject matter experts who have knowledge of smart devices as well as other experts across industries using the smart device. When testing other smart devices that require performing chemical analysis, testers will need to coordinate with chemists who can synthesize the chemicals to use in testing.

QA will change its focus from active testing of the device to a planning and management function. The tester will be required to plan the tests, coordinate with the test subjects and subject experts, and analyzes the test results, while also managing the defects and their analyses.

What will Remain Unchanged in Software product testing?

While certain aspects of testing are changing, there’ll also be a few that don’t. In most scenarios, QA teams perform detailed and planned work as part of the testing process; however, in the world of smart devices, this is a necessity that cannot be ignored. Testers with complicated field testing will require planning to obtain all of their needs before they’re needed. This involves the designing and developing tests, managing test assets such as test cycles and releases, test cases and scripts, requirements, test sets, and defects. Testers will also have to ascertain and associate requirements, releases and cycles, test cases and scripts, test executions, and errors. Planning is hence crucial owing to the complexity and variability of software product testing.

The Role of Testers in the Future of Software Product Testing

The software product testing scenario will change for smart devices. This category of devices will bring users and testers with alternatives in hardware, release tools, operating systems, deployment tools, and a lot more. Testers who have worked on Web testing would have an idea of this since the same Web application in different browsers proved to be annoying. Was that too complex? Now imagine testing every single browser on every single operating system in every form factor in a new world of combinations and increasing alterations. Testers will need to adapt to managing testing an enormous number of combinations. The new era will primarily facilitate knowledge sharing, and specialized skills by removing the gaps in communication, thereby encouraging the delivery of quality systems. Therefore, QA’s focus will be on preventing defects rather than finding them.

Article Source: https://medium.com/@avani_12279/the-future-of-software-product-testing-67686e9d3554

Why Automation Testing Tools Aren’t Enough to Drive Quality?

In today's world, technology is growing by the day. A faster and easier life is what the world demands, and following the system of demand and supply, IT companies across the world are investing both money and human resources to cater to this need. However, it’s not just about new ideas and making them available, it’s also about making sure that they function in the way they were supposed to. Although software testing was being conducted for decades, the slow pace and the unreliable nature of manual efforts wasn't serving the purpose. So, to solve this challenge, automation testing tools were introduced.

The arrival of automation testing tools made the quality assurance process much simpler. Especially repetitive tasks such as regression testing.  However, the quality assurance procedure, demands way more than the use of automation testing tools. It requires a sharp-minded QA team that considers quality to be their topmost priority. The issue is that testing teams often fail to understand the vitality of their roles. But just like everything else, this aspect can be taken care of as well.

Aligning QA Teams with the Business Outcome

Organizations can make QA teams understand the importance of their role through effective communication. At the end of the day, what is it that a business demands? - New clients, retaining existing clients and boosting revenue. And how is this possible? - By offering solution-based products and services that make life simpler. While developers do a great job in the creation of these products and services, only quality assurance professionals can make sure that it is living up to its claims.

So at a more strategic level, here’s what can be done:

Teamwork: It is important to inculcate a team approach between Development and QA from the very beginning.  Frequent interactions between the two not only help develop clarity but also help avoid misunderstandings.  As individuals, these two teams are often caught pointing fingers at each other, however, if a team spirit is adhered to, then together their focus can be aligned to providing a breakthrough solution, thereby achieving the business goals.

Customer-centric Approach: While working on a project, having a customer-centric approach would work wonders for a QA team. Focussing on usability and customer satisfaction can be a game-changing attitude in the quality assurance process.

Feedback Mechanism: Collecting and sharing reviews and feedback with QA teams is yet another great way of making them aware of what the customer thinks of the product. Knowledge of the user experience can enable QA teams to take corrective actions quickly.

Today, as the market has gotten more competitive, organizations have come to realize the importance of quality assurance. Companies across the globe have seen that the lack of strategically planned QA practices won’t just cost them the failure of worthwhile products but will also lead to a loss in revenue and stain their image. While automation testing tools, have made life easier for testing teams across the globe, the quality assurance procedure will not be 100% successful until QA professionals understand the vitality of their role. By using the above-mentioned practises you can align your QA team with the business outcome.

If you’re looking for an automation testing tool that will increase the productivity of your testing team by up to 5 times, then Qualitia’s script-less automation tool is the one for you. It reduces the time spent on regression testing by 60%. Further on, it’s simplicity and ease-of-use allows even manual testers and SMEs to automate, that too without any prior training.

Article Source: http://www.apsense.com/article/why-automation-testing-tools-arent-enough-to-drive-quality.html

How to Make Agile Test Automation Successful?

We all understand the criticality of agile test automation. Likewise, it is even more essential in bigger companies. However, the problem lies in that fact that it doesn't always work. In my experience, here are a few reasons why agile test automation fails to work in large organizations:

1. Poor Collaboration: Most large-scale IT development companies depend on large, diverse teams of specialists for product development. These teams often are assembled quickly and work together virtually, many-a-times over long distances, thereby restricting collaboration to online interactions.
2. Reliability is a Concern: Asynchronous waits and concurrency often cause flaky test scripts. These are a huge hindrance to Test Automation.
3. Maintenance Issues due to Scope creep: Existing automation suite might consume a lot of time for maintenance since Agile permits scope creep.
4. Presence of Specialized Skills: In large companies, most employees possess specialized skill-sets. Although this is a boon, it also has its drawback, especially while implementing Test Automation. For example, a skilled automation engineer will focus only on the programming aspects and not the functional ones and will lack domain knowledge.
5. In-sprint automation is Only a Dream: As much as we’d like it to be, automation doesn’t get implemented in the same sprint.

How to Roll Out Agile Test Automation Successfully?

1.  Adopt CI/CD: By adopting Continuous Integration/ Continuous Delivery, you can get benefits of collaboration and cross-functioning from the same team. This in turn, significantly improves the speed and software delivery process. Since CI/CD encourages shared working, wherein development, integration, and testing take place in real-time, it makes the entire agile cycle more effective.

2. Choose the Right Automation Tool: And most importantly, select the right test automation tool.

1. Features to ensure the success of the test automation in an agile environment include:
2. It should follow shift-left principle for application delivery. Start automation early in the game, when the requirements are being written
3. It should be OS and Browser friendly. The larger the number of operating systems and browsers it supports, the better it is for teams to perform testing.
4. It should meet end-to-end testing requirements.
5. It should be script-less, since productivity increases when no programming language is required.
6. It should provide integration support with cross-functional tools like continuous integrations, test management tools, bug tracking tools, etc.
7. The tool should be user-friendly and intuitive. The navigation, functionality, and UI should be easy-to-understand.
8. It should be robust and produce quick results so that testers can promptly respond to the test results.

If implemented appropriately, agile test automation can yield a lot of benefits. However, it is vital to have a proper automated testing strategy to understand and decide what tasks are worth automating. Tasks that are performed once in a way out shouldn’t be automated as the effort required to automate them generally doesn’t pay off. If you’re thinking of adopting agile test automation, the script-less software testing tool by Qualitia is the one-stop solution for all your needs. Its script-less approach allows you to leverage your existing team by empowering even manual testers and subject matter experts to participate in the process of test automation.

Article Source: How to Make Agile Test Automation Successful?