6 Things to Define for Successful Implementation of Test Automation

Automation testing has revolutionized the approach that QA  teams have towards  software testing. While the benefits are many, the initial investment required for setting up the environment for automation testing, is what some organisations consider to be the biggest hurdle in the journey towards implementing automation testing. However, what the organisations fail to realise is the fact that in the long run, benefits offered by automation surpass the costs involved. In other words, it is the fast and high ROI that forms the biggest USP of automation.

Interestingly enough, there are quite a few automated software testing tools available in the market today. These tools like QARA Enterprise, Ranorex, and Eggplant, offer QA teams the features they need in order to implement automation  successfully today in their projects. Now the question that arises is, how easy it is to implement test automation for great results? In this article, there is a list of pointers that need to be defined in order to ensure maximum success with the use of automated testing tools.

1] The tools to be used

The most important requirement for successful implementation of automation in an organisation is a good automated software testing tool. Now different tools come with different features, so which one a QA team chooses to use, depends on the project requirements. For example, if a team of manual testers is planning to switch to automation, zero coding tool like QARA Enterprise is a good choice.

2] The framework to work with

Test automation framework is a set of rules that define the approach towards testing. Choosing the right framework is as important as choosing the right automated software testing tool. Depending on the requirements of the project, the QA team can choose to go with keyboard driven framework or data-driven framework, or both. It depends on the goals to be achieved in the testing project.

3] Defining the goal

Now this one is really important to make the QA project a success. After all, every project needs a goal. Without a goal, the project is directionless and is likely to never succeed. To define the goal, the QA team need to draft a Product Roadmap that makes it clear what the team needs to achieve, and eliminates any confusion whatsoever.

4] The process or approach

Once the automated software testing tool, the framework and the product roadmap is in place, the next step is to decide on a process or approach in a way that ensures success and minimises the chances of failure. The test process should be defined while considering factors like costing, expertise of the team members, the list involved and training required.

5] Estimation of manual testing if required

It is common knowledge that irrespective of the project a team is working on, project can be completely automated. There is a part of the project that requires manual efforts. Before implementing automation with an automated software testing tool, it is important to have an idea about how much of the project would depend on the availability of resources for manual testing. This will help the team understand how much of the project is to be automated, and how much time it would take to complete the entire project, considering the fact that a certain portion of it would require manual intervention.

Conclusion:

While defining the parameters above can take some brainstorming as well as a significant amount of time, at the end of the day it will be worth it all. Hence, organisations should make it a point to have this information in place before going ahead investing in an automated software testing tool and getting started with implementation of automation.