Test automation has permeated the world of testing and there has been a major transition from manual testing to automated testing across many organizations. Especially owing to Covid-19, various sectors are adopting automation of testing as part of their overall strategy, including healthcare, telecommunications, retail, energy, power, etc.
According to Global Market Insights, the Automation Testing Market size was over USD 15 billion in 2020 and is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of more than 16% from 2021 to 2027. With faster testing speeds, better test coverage, enhanced quality of testing, and reduced time to market the final product, automation testing has been a boon for the industry.
While automation has these benefits enlisted above, among many others, choosing the most relevant test cases is a very critical business important decision to be made. Not every test case needs to be automated or some test cases can’t be automated at all. Hence this step is crucial to ensure that the Return on Investment of test automation remains high. If you are curious about how the ROI is calculated for test automation.
Despite the popularity of automation testing, QA teams find it difficult to choose the right test case scenarios that maximize the benefits of automation. It is important to remember that not all tests should be automated. There are quite a few factors that should be taken into consideration.
Before we move on to see how test cases can be identified and the best ones are chosen, it is important to understand what a test case really means.
A test case describes how to test software, application, or a particular functionality contained within the application. It is a comprehensive document that contains the test data, assumptions or preconditions, input steps, expected outcomes, testing environment, and post-conditions. This document helps to check the compliance with a specified requirement, which is basically, comparing the expected outcome with the actual result.
The testing tools and test frameworks are chosen based on the test cases that are identified for automation. If incorrect test cases are selected, then the tools and technologies employed will not be optimal, leading to a wastage of time and resources.
To have the requisite test coverage, any feature or functionality needs to definitely have two test cases- negative and positive. A group of test cases is organized together in a test suite that pertains to a particular feature contained within the Application under test (AUT).
The decision of what test cases to automate, as we observed, is a crucial one. There are certain kinds of tests that should be considered for automation. Let’s have a look at these below:
Repetitive tests
Tests that are repetitive in nature must be considered for automation. Automating such tests would help save time and effort. Moreover, when tests are repetitive and manual testing has been deployed, the chances of errors due to human fatigue are much more. Automation, in such a case, gets rid of these instances of errors thereby improving the quality of testing.
Tests involving large datasets
Often there are components in a web application or software which involve inputting test data that is large and varied. Again, manual tests could mean that the chances of errors are much higher. In such situations, automation testing is a better alternative. An example of such a test could be a web page requiring the filling up of a form.
Tests that are critical to the overall development of software
There are certain test cases that are key to the functioning of the application or software being tested. For avoiding human errors in these tests, it is best advised to automate them.
Tests that are complex in nature
Such tests should also be considered for automation, since, manual testing will prove to be inefficient.
Frequent tests
There are instances where testing may have to be undertaken frequently and it is in such scenarios that automation proves to be helpful. Just like in the case of repetitive tests, manual testing can lead to a higher level of errors when tests need to be done frequently.
Testing for multiple environments
There are applications or certain features within the application which require testing to be undertaken for multiple test environments. This could mean multiple browsers, operating systems, and devices. For that, automated testing helps to increase the test coverage and ensure that the quality of testing is not compromised.
There are several other things to be kept in mind while choosing test cases. For example, the timing of automation in the development of applications or software is also important. When a new feature is being developed it would be wasteful to invest in automation because it would be too early to do so. Another factor to be considered is the skill set of the Quality Assurance team. This is important because certain software might need the knowledge of coding for automating tests. It is up to the organizations to decide whether it is worth investing in upgrading the skill set of employees for automating test cases for the application in question.
Before diving into the test cases that would justify automation and those which won’t, let’s quickly see the range of tests that would be typical of software testing:
-Functionality test
-User interface test
-Performance test
-Usability test
-User acceptance test
-Exploratory test
The above list is not exhaustive but gives us an idea of the wide array of tests that comprise the testing phase in the SDLC. Each test will have a different significance in a particular instance and hence, will necessitate or allow for automation depending on the situation. As a general rule, the following includes some tests that will be efficient only when automation is involved:
Regression tests
These include smoke tests and sanity tests. Regression tests tend to involve high levels of investments in terms of time and resources when done manually. Automation of such test cases is the best option.
Performance tests
These include load tests and stress tests among others. These are repetitive in nature and require a lot of time for testing. Test cases relating to the analysis of performance should also be automated.
Unit tests
These are undertaken for the smallest units of an application. The units are tested individually and independently to ensure that they are functioning well and hence, can fit well into the whole software environment. This is done for the early detection of errors at the lowest possible unit. Such tests should ideally be automated as well because of the need for undertaking testing multiple times.
Data-driven tests
The idea to use automation is to minimize the instance of human errors in situations where the data-driven testing framework is being used.
Cross-browser tests
Since these test cases would involve testing for various combinations of browsers, operating systems, and devices which means repetitive testing, cross-browser tests call for automation for the best results.
As we have already noted earlier, even though automation is generally a beneficial exercise when it comes to testing, there are test cases that when automated would have a negative impact on the testing quality and hence would lead to a reduced return on investment. let’s look at some of the test cases that are best left for manual testing:
Exploratory tests
These tests are undertaken more on an ad-hoc basis rather than properly planned. Though exploratory test cases are important, they will lead to wastage of resources if automated.
Usability tests
Usability tests are more geared toward how the app or a particular feature of the app will be used by the customer. These basically test the user experience of the app. Since these tests would require humans to determine the outcome, automation of the tests will not work at all.
Irregular low-risk tests
There may be certain tests that are not a regular part of the testing process, these may be done randomly and intermittently and hence, are usually low risk in nature. Automation will unnecessarily add to costs without adding any value.
Ultimately there is no one-size-fits-all solution to choosing the test cases. The above points give an overview of the do’s and dont’s when choosing the test cases that need to be automated. But these are by no means complete. Organizations will have to decide based on the project at hand, budgetary constraints, final business goals, levels of risks, and many other such factors.
Out of the points earlier, some prove to be golden rules of sorts for choosing test cases for automation. Test cases that are time-consuming, ones that are difficult to test manually, and the ones that involve a lot of data must necessarily be considered for automation while testing.
Conclusion
Thus, the task of choosing test cases needs to be carried out carefully, so that you have a positive return on investment of test automation. Choosing test cases is one of the several best practices that organizations need to keep in mind to ensure the most optimal use of automation. Get a peek into a comprehensive list of best practices for test automation by reading this: https://bqurious.com/test-automation-best-practices/