Automated Test Design for Successful Testing

Test design is a step in the process of executing test cases using an automation tool, and it is an important step. However, it is different from planning, which is all about documenting the test schedule of the QA team and also outlining the tasks they will be taking up as a part of the process. Test design, on the other hand, is about defining the environment, the approach, the steps to be followed during execution and also the instructions to be adhered to while executing. It also involves defining the desired results for the execution so that it can be used to determine the performance. However, many beginners tend to get confused between the two.

When it comes to software QA, experts believe that the process should also be properly mapped out and designed so as to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness. This article takes a closer look into the importance of automated test design.

Why Automated Test Design Plays a Key Role

Automation is gaining huge popularity all over the world and organizations across the globe are embracing it to witness the multiple benefits like increased test coverage, increased efficiency & productivity, faster executions, higher accuracy, minimal regression testing time, and more. However, sometimes enterprises make the mistake of moving straight to the implementation of automation followed by the execution process, by investing in zero coding automation tools that make the process fast and easy. They start writing the test cases and executing them, expecting great results. In doing so, they miss out on the crucial step of automated test design and as a result, many a time it leads to the creation of test cases which are of little use to the product or application. To put it in one word, the test design has the potential to make or break the success of automation.

What is Automated Test Design

The concept of test design is to define what needs to be tested and what doesn’t. It involves a detailed analysis of the specifications and intended performance of the product to figure out which are the tests that will best serve to validate the functionality of the product. As simple as it may sound, skipping this step will invariably lead to execution of tests that could easily have been avoided, resulting in waste of time and efforts. An automation framework is a set of instructions that can be used as a reference for designing test cases for automation. Even a new age zero coding automation tools like QARA Enterprise is based on a Selenium framework that defines the guidelines for the same.

An important point to note here is that you need a human – a domain expert – to create a test design because it involves a lot of analysis and needs to be prepared with a keen eye for details. Given below are some characteristic features test cases created with effective automated test design:

• Easy to read, write & maintain.
• Created not for bug detection alone, but also for enhancing the user experience.
• Easy to maintain, even by people who have not created them.
• Needs less investment, efforts and time involved in writing and executing.
• Closely aligned with the goals and objectives of the organization.

Important Points

The following points are important for the process of automated test design.

• Detailed analysis of the product specifications to come up with a list for the QA Team.
• Using methods like Model-based testing and other similar methods to write the test cases.
• Defining or creating test cases for identification of bugs, enhancing the UI and other required criteria.
• Referring a standard set of guidelines for the process.
• Categorizing the test cases into relevant modules.

Conclusion:

So, test design is indeed important to make automation process a success, even if it means you’re using the modern zero coding automation tools. What the tools do is making the automation process faster for your organization. However, investing in the tool alone won’t work if you don’t have a team of domain experts to analyze the QA goals and design the QA process accordingly.