Automation testing of an application involves writing test scripts and executing the same on the target environment. Automated test scripts are used to execute test cases or test scenarios to test whether the entire application follows the correct sequence of execution.
Before beginning with automation testing, we may think of conducting an automation feasibility study and preparing a test strategy.
A feasibility study is to ensure whether the application under test can possibly be covered completely by automation testing. After we are sure about the success of an application's automation testing, we proceed further to automate the testing process by preparing a checklist.
Test Automation Checklist:
Begin with a meeting - Automation test experts, test engineers and stakeholders organise a meeting to define the purpose, needs, requirements and plan for test automation.
Requirement gathering - The automation team collects requirements and further the same is evaluated in the light of the following points :
Determine the technology that is being used for application development.
Identify the domain and product knowledge that is available at our disposal.
Identify the architecture of the application to be developed including the API's used, web services and database connectivity.
Choose an automation tool wisely that best suites the requirements to be accomplished.
List of Use Cases - Use cases are a great way to understand the specifications through a pictorial depiction. Therefore creating use cases are an efficient way to portray the logical flow or the structure of the application.
Test Automation Strategies - Strategies for test automation includes the way tests are going to be conducted, test languages to be used, test interface and test data. This helps to gain an efficient automation solution.
Automation Tool Evaluation - The automation tool to be used must be wisely chosen taking into account the various factors like the type of application to be tested, the platform on which it is to be tested and so on in order to fetch the results efficiently.
Review of Use Cases - The automation team reviews the use cases and ensure that it serves the needful purpose. This step basically helps to form a consensus from all the team members about the scope and strategy of the project.
Developing basic framework - The test automation team begins with development of a basic framework that is essential for automating use cases.
Test Script Creation - Finally the automation team begins with automating use cases as per predefined goals, creating data and documenting the scripts followed by verification.
Batch Execution and Analysis - The automation scripts are executed in batches to verify the interaction with the application is done properly and the application under test does not encounter any unexpected test script failures.
Demo and Reporting - On the completion of the test suite, it's time for the automation team to present the automated test reports. This may facilitate training of stakeholders for successful future endeavours.
Conclusion:
Automation is the need of the hour. Automating an application's testing process is a quick way to fetch results and gather daily or weekly reports so that the team takes necessary steps to improve testing process by conducting meetings to discuss about issues and eventually resolve the same.