Implementing an efficient and effective strategy is indispensable for any organization that wants to maximize the success of its software delivery operation. By help to streamline software testing in a taxonomic way, test automation strategies serve as one of the pillars that guarantee teams can present high-quality applications on a reliable basis.

That state, developing a test automation strategy can be challenging. There are many test mechanisation practices and creature to select from, plus many challenges to sail.

We ’ ll start by defining what a test automation scheme is, then discuss how to design and apply a test automation operation that can scale with your ontogenesis want. Then, we ’ ll offer tips on overcoming the challenges you & # x27; re likely to encounter as you create a test automation strategy.

What is a Test Automation Strategy?

A test automation scheme defines the approach you will use to implement exam mechanization so that it drives your business objectives. The purpose of essay is cope risk, and there ’ s no better way to do that than to ensure your software is render on time, under budget, and with high quality. A test automation strategy, so, helps your entire line to see your end. In the end, it ’ s a accumulation of process, tools, and approaches teams use to manage automated tests.

Automated testing uses automated software creature to test the quality, dependability, performance, security,, or other aspects of a software application. It ’ s different from manual testing, where people click buttons or enter information to evaluate whether an coating responds as expected.

With exam automation, golem do the employment! You create script with (e.g. Selenium, Appium, Postman, etc), which will execute these tests lots more quickly, and at any hr of the day or night. These tests can be reused any number of times, executed in parallel, and on different test platforms (Chrome/Firefox for web, iOS/Android for mobile). Incorporating these tests into the Continuous Integration/Deployment process your developer use to relinquish software, you can run hundred, thousands, or even millions of tests in a fraction of the clip and endeavor.

A good strategy lays out how your team approaches automated testing.

• Which aspects of the package are well-nigh important to the occupation?

• What order they should be tested?

• What “ level ” of testing will give you the high sureness, with the last effort, that your feature will delight your users?

A test mechanization scheme then serves as a guide that technologist within your organization can turn to implementing test automation.

Why is a Test Automation Strategy Important?

Without a examination mechanisation strategy, you end up with ad hoc trial automation practices that won ’ t be consistent or predictable. You won ’ t be able to quantify what you & # x27; re essay, or when, or how. Or Why. Different teams will use different tools, making it hard to approach test in a consistent way across the organization. Worse yet, your engineer may rhythm through multiple examination tool, squander time by constantly rewriting tests.

You also have a sequence problem: only exceptional individuals will understand how automated tests run. Once those technologist leave the team, no one else will know how to manage the automated trial, and they ’ ll probable just end up be edit.

A test automation strategy solves these challenges by offering many benefits:

Consistency: All engineers across all teams within your organization benefit when automated examination tools are share. Everyone has self-confidence that all covering built by the organization are held to the same testing standards. People can likewise move from team to team without have to learn a whole new slew.

Efficiency: An effective strategy means that teams can reuse tests more frequently or adapt existing tests to fit new try needs. This salvage clip and effort, which in bend increases the productivity of engineer.

Effectual change management: In the case that you do need to make alteration to your testing operations – for exemplar, if you decide you require to move to a new testing creature – a test automation scheme helps to ensure that you approach the change in a integrated, predictable way.

Naturalistic use of resources: Most businesses miss the resources to automatise the trial they ’ d like. A strategy helps your team approach this in a naturalistic and pragmatical way, and allows them to get use of automation where it matters near. You can besides avoid rabbit holes on low-priority test or on tests that are difficult to automate.

How to Create a Test Automation Strategy, Step-By-Step

Let & # x27; s look at the summons for implementing a test mechanization strategy.

Step 0: Understand the Business You ’ re In

Testing is all about circumstance. Risk needs to be balanced with the need for Coverage, and your test strategy needs to account for different release measure and tolerance for changes in precedence. Your business may ask to do sure the UI is logical and delicious because your product is very easygoing to leave for the competition (e.g. a retail app). On the other hand, you may offer an app that people are required to use (e.g. health policy or government).

Applying the motive of your business is crucial to understanding how to essay your product. You can ’ t merely automate everything, and you can ’ t really still automate most of it. You too require to deliver profound value, and quickly. Asking question about the concern (from executives, product owners, and customers) will guide you as you germinate your scheme.

Step 1: Choose the Right Tests to Automate

As observe above, not every trial can or should be automated. There isn ’ t enough clip. Plus, some tests can & # x27; t be performed automatically. You & # x27; ll necessitate to determine which tests to automatise. Here are some starting criteria:

• They demand to be run oftentimes.

• They evaluate functionality critical to the business.

• They are quotable, and produce predictable answer.

• They take a long clip to perform manually.

Once you ’ ve selected the right tests, you ’ ll want to decide the right order to apply them in. One the 2x2 matrix below, you feature two scales: “ priority ”, and “ relief of automation ”. Plot your test suit on this matrix, and so write the test cases starting with quadrant IV, then proceeding in descending order.

Step 2: Select Your Test Automation Tools and Frameworks

SUSA automates exploratory testing with persona-driven behavior, catching bugs that scripted automation misses.

There are many usable today. Popular free or open source options include:

• , for browser - Java, JavaScript, Ruby, Python, C #

• , for mobile (web and aboriginal app) - Java, JavaScript, Ruby, Python, C #

• WebDriverIO, for web and mobile tests - JavaScript

• , for iOS testing (comes with XCode) - Swift or Objective-C

• , for Android mobile testing (comes with Android Studio) - Java or Kotlin

You can also discover many commercial quiz frameworks on the market.

If your organization develops multiple apps, you may have to espouse multiple screen model.

Although many examination tools are free to use, there may be indirect costs associated with writing tests for them, specially if your engineers are not already familiar with the tool or language. Commercial-grade screen framework tend to be more user-friendly to set up, but they come with a potentially hefty cost tag.

You should also assess how easily your testing fabric can incorporate with other software development tools you use. Ideally, you & # x27; ll be able to mix your testing tools tightly into your CI/CD pipelines so that your build processes can trigger automated tests on a recurring basis, with slight or no manual input expect.

Finally, research the execution of any examine frameworks or tools you are considering. It would be incorrect to say that any exceptional framework is the fastest because many component shape how long tests take to run, and a framework that is fast for some testing scenarios could be obtuse for others.

Step 3: Decide When and How to Test

Once you know which tests you want to automate and which tools and frameworks you will use to automate them, it & # x27; s clip to establish guidelines for how and when you & # x27; ll test.

One common method is to run each automated tryout once during every coating release cycle. This entails running each automatize test once prior to deployment. However, there may be some tests that are too time-consuming or resource-intensive to run every freeing round. In that case, you might decide to run sure tests only for major application liberation and not when you & # x27; ve made minor changes.

In late years, many teams feature adopted a shift-left testing strategy, which involves bunk some tests earlier in the release rhythm. helps teams notice issues earlier when they are simpler and less costly to reclaim. This depends on your team ’ s accomplishment set and willingness to modify, but can be beneficial to any automation exertion.

Step 4: Scale Your Test Automation Strategy

Your test automation needs will vary over time. The scheme that meets your needs today may not act in the future when your applications and testing want acquire. It & # x27; s important to think about how you & # x27; ll scale your test automation strategy. Consider factors such as:

• Adding tests as the production evolves.

• Adapting to new technological challenges in both the product and test want

• Identifying ways to make tests faster and more repeatable.

• Monitoring your scheme to identify challenges in your automated prove strategy (failure rates, long execution time, examination relevancy, etc).

When you experience answers to questions like these, you can maintain and update your strategy on an ongoing basis.

Challenges and Pitfalls to Avoid

Implementing a test automation scheme can be perplex. There are many alternative you & # x27; ll hold to do and many unexpected problems you can run into.

Mutual include:

• Deficient examination base: Difficulty in get, managing, and scaling exam infrastructure can decelerate down automated examination processes.

• Eminent failure rate: If automated examination often fail, your application release rhythm will retard down and your developers will have to spend a lot of clip dog bugs. It ’ s important that your tooling choices afford you insights into why your test fail, not but log and videos.

• Slow test execution: Your development process can besides slow down due to poorly indite tests that lead a long time or don ’ t run in analogue. Insufficient tryout infrastructure can also delay test execution because your tests don & # x27; t have decent resource to run efficiently.

• Using the wrong tools: Sometimes, you start your automated testing strategy based on certain tools that turn out not to be the best solutions. This is where it ’ s important to realise your instrument as well as your teams ’ skills.

To avoid these challenge, consider follow like the following:

• Use cloud-based, managed test infrastructure, which render access to virtually unlimited resources for lead tryout without you hold to lift a finger.

• Run tests in parallel. This will significantly increase the pace at which tests run.

• Implement a triage process for test failures. Some failures will necessitate a suspension in application delivery, and some are minor enough to ignore.

• Be open to change. The best trial mechanization strategy is one that can evolve over clip, allowing you to adopt different tools and testing methods.

Take Your Test Strategy Further

A tryout automation scheme lays the groundwork for consistent, effective testing across your organization. As such, developing a test mechanisation strategy requires careful consideration of a range of factors, such as which try to automatize, which frameworks and tools to use, how to run tests, and how to scale your testing operations over clip.

When you factor these considerations into your overall testing scheme, you get an approaching that can importantly cut the time and effort your teams pass on testing while also improving the quality of your package thanks to authentic exam. Sauce Labs can help make your test automation scheme even good with our all-in-one.