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Blog AuthorSweta
PublishedOct 04, 2024
Views2,329
Read Time15 mins
Table of Content
The Automation Testing approach has radically upended software quality checks. In nearly half (50 percent) of cases of a study, it is now found to handle over half of the testing workload. This often freed up time for other tasks, even for me. In my 15 years career, I have seen the power of automation testing benefitting many projects.
So, why do we use automation testing? Because these processes have greatly decreased the time and effort needed to check software before its release. In this blog, I will share my insights on when to use automation testing.
When you use automation at the correct time, it helps. You can make a huge difference to the development lifecycle. Also, you need a robust test management solution. It will help integrate manual and automated tests. Consider the example of shifting from a conventional testing framework to an Agile one. This move will support both manual and automated workflows. And this can be highly advantageous.
You have to identify which cases are best suited for manual or automated testing. In my experience, this is vital for an effective quality assurance strategy. So, consider automating test cases that exhibit the following characteristics:
When I decided to switch to automated software testing, I created a matrix with attributes like frequency and data needs. After evaluating each test case against these criteria, you can also determine its suitability for automation.
Also Read: Risk Management in Testing
That was just a gist. Let me show you some key scenarios where automation testing shines:
1. Regression Testing: This is one of the primary use cases for automation. When we make changes to a codebase, it is a risky step. You should take care that existing functionalities are not affected. You may find it tedious to manually test them again and again. Here, you need to use automation testing. This will help you to run regression tests accurately. With this check, you will make sure that new updates do not introduce bugs.
2. Large Scale Testing: Often, large-scale applications need quite a lot of test cases. So, when you try to manually execute these tests, it may turn out to be impractical. In my opinion, it may also consume a lot of time. Automation testing enables us to run extensive test suites efficiently. I have seen that it covers a wide range of scenarios in a fraction of the manual checking time. This is highly useful for enterprise-level applications. Here, you need to take care of its robustness and reliability.
3. Performance Testing: You can also use automation to assess the performance of an application under load. It is possible to simulate thousands of users or transactions at the same time. This will help you gauge how the system performs under stress. Such automation will help you identify bottlenecks. Plus, the application can effectively handle real-world usage.
Enrolling in an Automation Testing Course in Pune can significantly boost your preparation, providing you with crucial skills and insights that will make you a more competitive candidate.
This approach offers many advantages over manual testing as shown below-
1. Speed: In a continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipeline, speed is of the essence. I have seen in my workplace that automated tests run significantly faster than manual tests. Here, automated tests can be executed in parallel. This may provide rapid feedback. We also get to detect and fix issues early in the development process.
2. Accuracy: Manual testing tends to lead to human error. This usually happens when we deal with complex scenarios. Fortunately, automation decreases this risk. It executes tests with precision and consistency. Automated tests follow predefined scripts. This way, you can get rid of the potential mistakes that can happen in manual testing.
3. Efficiency: I strongly feel that automation increases testing efficiency. Once automated tests are created, you can reuse them across multiple projects and iterations. This reuse is particularly beneficial in agile environments. This is the space where we need to test frequently and iteratively. Automated tests ensure that we can maintain high testing standards. At the same time, we need not compromise on speed or coverage.
4. Coverage: Automated testing allows for more extensive test coverage. We can easily create holistic test suites. They can cover various functionalities and user scenarios. This level of coverage is challenging to achieve with manual testing alone. After automating tests, we can easily ensure that no part of the application is left untested.
When you know when to use automation testing, you know what to automate. Here are some guidelines that I follow for when to automate software testing:
1. Stable Features: You need to automate tests for features that are not frequently changing. This way, we can validate their functionality quickly and reliably. If a feature is undergoing constant changes, the maintenance overhead for automated tests may outweigh the benefits.
2. High ROI: It is wise to automate tests that provide a high ROI. This includes checks that are run frequently. Often, they have a significant impact on the application’s overall quality. So, as we focus on high ROI tests, we can maximize the benefits of automation testing. It often guarantees that our efforts are well-spent.
3. Critical Functionality: You can use automation to check for critical functionality. For such features, failure would have severe repercussions. For example, millions of transactions occur daily on Amazon. So, you need to ensure their smooth processing. An error here could lead to incorrect charges. It might happen that the customers end up receiving the wrong items. So, here, automated tests help a lot. With it, you can verify that critical functionalities are working correctly and consistently. This continually reduces the risk of catastrophic failures.
4. Data-Driven Testing: You should embrace automation for checks that require running the same set of tests with different data inputs. So, this is particularly useful for validating functionalities that depend on various input combinations. Automation allows us to efficiently test multiple scenarios. You can do this without manual intervention.
5. Regression Suites: Another good area with automating is regression tests. With this step, the new changes added by your team will not break existing functionality. I have experienced regression testing as a very labor-intensive aspect of manual testing. Automation simplifies this process to a great extent. You can run regression suites quickly and accurately. Now, our application will be certain to remain stable over time.
Also Read: Why Automation Testing
Automation has many benefits. However, there are scenarios where manual testing is more appropriate:
Don’t Automate These Tests:
1. One-Time Tests: Running them manually is often quicker for tests you only need to run once.
2. Exploratory Testing: You cannot automate unstructured testing to find unexpected bugs.
3. Frequent UI Changes: Automated tests tied to UI elements break with UI changes. This might need constant maintenance.
4. Non-Deterministic Tests: Tests with varying results due to race conditions, etc, are challenging to automate.
5. Tests Requiring Human Judgement: You cannot automate a usability test. It often requires a human to assess ease of use.
6. Unstable Tests: Tests that frequently fail due to flakiness waste effort and provide unreliable results.
Also Read: Exploratory Testing in Agile Software Development
I hope you have grasped the above information, at least half of it. Just to emphasize, this is vital for squeezing the benefits of automation testing. Here’s a quick refresher for you:
What to Automate
1. Regression Tests: Frequent and repetitive tests that verify the stability of existing functionalities.
2. Smoke Tests: Basic tests to ensure essential functions work. Smoke tests are typically run after each build to validate that the most critical aspects of the application are functioning correctly.
3. Load Tests: Simulate heavy user traffic to assess system performance under stress. Now, load testing helps us identify bottlenecks for optimizing performance.
4. Data-Driven Tests: Many tests constantly require running the same sets with multiple data sets. So, automation simplifies the process of validating different input combinations.
5. API Testing: This check validates the functionality of APIs. Automated API tests ensure that our application can interact with other systems reliably and consistently.
Also Read: Test Scenario
1. Exploratory Tests: These checks require human creativity and intuition to discover unexpected issues.
2. Usability Tests: You need human judgment to evaluate the user experience.
3. One-Time Tests: These are not expected to be run frequently. Automating these tests might not be cost-effective.
4. Ad-Hoc Tests: Spontaneous and varied tests that are not planned in advance. Automating ad-hoc tests is challenging and often unnecessary.
Also Read: What is Hyperautomation?
So, what is the use of automation testing? In my experience, it is commonly used across various sectors. These methodologies are vital for different stages of the software development lifecycle. According to me, these are some common uses-
1. Load Testing: You can use automation for checking system performance under heavy loads. Automated load tests simulate large numbers of users or transactions. This way, they can gauge how the system handles stress. This helps us identify performance bottlenecks. It also ensures that the application can scale effectively.
2. Unit Testing: I use it to validate individual components or functions. Automated unit tests focus on the smallest parts of the application. This often assures that each unit performs as expected. I have used it many times to catch issues early in the development process.
3. Functional Testing: Checking that the software behaves as expected. Automated functional tests validate that the application meets its functional requirements. This includes verifying that different features and functionalities work correctly and interact as intended.
4. Integration Testing: You can also use this type of check to make certain that different parts of the application work well together. You can do this via automated integration tests. They will verify that various components of the application integrate seamlessly. This is particularly important for complex systems with multiple interacting modules.
Also Read: Codeless Automation Testing Tools
I have seen many cases of using AI to enhance software testing processes. Here are some prominent examples-
1. Testsigma: This cloud-based continuous testing tool utilizes Natural Language Processing. With it, I can create test cases. It comes with an AI-powered core that maintains all automated test cases. Testsigma simplifies the automation of test cases, making it accessible for all project stakeholders. They can even participate in test case automation.
2. Applitools: Applitools employs AI-driven visual testing. I use it to compare screenshots of different software application versions. The app identifies visual discrepancies. I can easily find layout changes and missing elements. So, it explores graphical defects across various browsers of different screen sizes.
3. Testim: With Testim, I can create and maintain automated test scripts. It records user interactions. Data such as clicks and inputs are considered. So I can use it to automatically generate test scripts. They can adapt to changes in the application’s UI.
Also Read: How to Learn Automation Testing?
In my experience, it is vital to pick the ideal automation testing tools like selenium and more. Here are some of the best tools I have come across:
Components:
Open-Source: Free to use.
Behavior-Driven Development
Team Collaboration: It boosts collaboration among developers and business analysts by using human-readable test scenarios.
Also Read: Automation Testing Coding Interview Questions
Automation testing is a vital component of modern software development. It offers speed and accuracy as you learn to understand how to use automation testing tools. This has made it indispensable for maintaining high-quality software in fast-paced environments. However, I have to add that it is crucial to understand when and what to automate to maximize its benefits.
So, after leveraging the right tools and practices in automation testing, we can significantly enhance our testing processes. As you know, when to use automation testing, you can harness it to ensure robust and reliable software.
With over 15 years of experience, I can attest to the value of automation testing. It has been a success enabler in every project I have worked on. It gave me the answer to my query, "what is the use of automation testing?" It is utilized in small applications and large-scale systems. So, adopt automation testing wisely. I hope that you will see remarkable improvements in your software quality and development workflow. If you want to learn more about Automation Testing, you can enroll in the automation testing course provided by StarAgile which is the choice of 300k+ students globally.
Also Read: Automation Testing Metrics
Automation testing is used to handle repetitive tasks in software development. It can run tests repeatedly, freeing up testers to focus on other tasks. It’s commonly applied to tasks like verifying code functionality. You can also use it to check that the applications look good and function uniformly on different devices.
I choose to consider manual testing as a personal inspection. It’s ideal for identifying unexpected issues or checking elements that change frequently. You can use automation for repetitive tasks or those with clear rules. You can verify button functionality with it. You can also ensure that the calculations are correct. They complement each other well.
Speed: Automated tests run much faster than manual ones, saving significant time.
Accuracy: Automated tests follow the same steps perfectly every time. I feel this goes a long way in getting rid of human error.
Repetition: Automated testing handles repetitive tasks, freeing up testers to focus on more engaging work.
Not entirely. I think it is challenging to automate the checking of an app’s usability or visual appeal. These are best handled by human testers. In my experience, it is a collaborative effort between automation and manual testing.
Learning automation testing requires practice, but it’s manageable. There are various tools and languages available to assist. This makes it an enjoyable skill to acquire. Even a small bit of automation can save a lot of time.
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