Building A Business-Productive Test Automation Strategy

The process of creating perfect software can get overwhelming at times. Most tools that land on the market often come with growing pains that pertain from the very beginning of the development lifecycle. However, every effort made to adopt the technology adds more value to the product. And since software testing is meant to yield the true potential of a product, it comes as a highly significant component of the development process.  

In simple words, integrating test automation services into your process brings you all the opportunities to save resources and create high-end technology solutions. Nevertheless, working on software testing is no breeze as jumping on to automation and simply expecting results can be too much to ask.  

On the other hand, when you need to enjoy smooth releases and effective output on a business software or service application, it is essential to have a well-thought-out and well-defined strategy in place.  

In this blog, we will aim at underlining the process of building a test automation strategy while keeping a focus on the design and implementation part of the software testing. Let’s begin.  

What Happens When You Don’t Have A Strategy? 

Before we jump into understanding the process of building a test automation strategy, it is vital to understand the consequences that an organization or developer may have to bear due to a missing or improper test automation strategy. It will not only help us understand the need for a test automation strategy but will even aid us in finding how a proper test automation solution drives value.  

Inability To Show Value 

Most of the time, the test automation service providers forget to consider the benefit aspect of performing performance or functionality testing. Though it is evident that testing is an important part of tech building and ultimately brings in business value, the inability to understand the real business value involved in the process can cause business loss.  

Lack Of Vision 

A missing action plan can make any team diverge from its vision. It means even when you are continuously working on automation and switching between frameworks as per the varying requirements, a lack of vision could easily cause the scrapping of any project leading to delays. 

Efficiency Loss 

A missing test automation strategy creates the risk of choosing the wrong test automation tools. Using technology that does not match the needs of the application you are building can cause extensive loss of efficiency. 

Enhanced Testing Grind 

The agile development process has become a significant part of the development lifecycle. However, the inability to understand what scripts you should cut and what is important to test takes away the entire business value. And all that necessary understanding only comes from a great test automation strategy.  

Test Automation Strategy: Exploring Details 

As we are done understanding the need and importance of a great test automation strategy, let us quickly jump on learning what a test automation strategy actually is. To put it in words, a test automation strategy is a pathway to your larger testing initiatives.  

It is necessary that the automation testing services you choose must align with your development operations and testing initiatives as both processes share points on what, how, and which part of automation. 

All in all, a test automation strategy should align with your larger testing strategy while working through the needs of end-users, developers, and all other metrics surrounding the development process.  

The Objective Of A Test Automation Strategy 

Just in case you are still stuck with the thoughts of learning the true purpose behind test automation, here’s how a test automation solution follows the process.  

• To identify all the risks and capabilities related to functionality and reliability of the product under test 

• To communicate defined goals and plans 

• To springboard new technology or concept 

• To audit all the development and planning done 

Building A Test Automation Strategy 

Your test automation strategy does not need to be a book, it should be a mind map that has the best test automation strategies. It should not necessarily contain all the details but must work on all the concerns. Since we have worked through the value and purpose of a test automation strategy, let us quickly explore the necessary steps that you need to take in order to build a great test automation strategy: 

Curious How Test Automation Works With AI & ML? 

Read Here: Test Automation Using AI and ML: Learning The Potential 

Define High-Value Tests 

The primary step to creating high-value tests is to define the flow of the tests that may cause the business to fail. This might require you to understand your business and create a proposal that includes all critical scenarios. Besides, it even aids you in demonstrating value through your automation plan making way for higher ROI conversions.  

Risk Identification 

Another key aspect of building a test automation strategy is to learn what must come first and what must come last in the testing process. This usually requires Automation Testing Service Provider to stick to a risk-based approach to understand what must come first in the priority list based on business impact and chances of failure. It even helps to overcome the exhaustive testing grind and streamline the entire test process.  

Technology, Tools, & Resources 

When working on a test automation strategy, it becomes necessary to understand how your test automation strategy could affect the overall test environment. It needs you to verify and process all the accounts, available libraries, APIs, and other important factors that can help improve the test initiatives. All in all, it is necessary to have a robust working solution that suits your framework and does not lead to any broken tests. 

Checking Data Quality 

Most of the time project failures happen due to test automation data quality. However, the failures that happen because of data can be skipped by validating any data related to pre-scripts before it gets into the automation framework.  

To validate data, you must begin with deeply examining the data, the data handling process, the data storage, and the source of the data. Such an approach would not only prevent extensive rewriting of tests but even helps you de-identifying data that cannot generate value.  

Focus On DevSecOps 

There are many build-and-deploy tools like Jenkins servers where testers could operate directly. However, the use of such tools must be defined in the automation strategy while defining certain factors like: 

• Where must the code be stored? 

• How must it be deployed? 

• In what environments will it be deployed? Are they safe? 

• Are the open-source code and libraries secure? 

In short, it is vital that the DevSecOps aspect must be considered for integrating security into the process.  

Understanding The Test Environment 

Defining and securing the test environment involves extensive documentation. These involve highlighting any requirements related to launching boxes, VPNs, etc. Also, the process needs testers to define how the process works, the responsibilities involved, and the patching process. Documenting all such information is necessary to simplify the onboarding process for testers and set up of the logins.  All in all, it is vital to understand the whole test environment in order to know where the code is running in process as well as documentation.  

Tag Your Tests 

When you have tags for all your test scripts, it does not matter if you have 1000 test automation scripts or 10,000 test automation scripts with you. Tags allow you to separate all the scripts for unit tests, smoke tests, performance tests, and any other tests that are vital for your product. If you don’t have tags in place, it may get difficult to understand what tests must run.  

Identify Test Efficiencies 

With rapid testing, the same test logic could be carried forward to other areas where there is a need for efficiency on time and resources. For instance, if you have different people working on unit, manual, and automation testing, you can cut off the hassle of running the same test. You can simply work on a test automation strategy that streamlines everything from unit tests to UI tests.  

Use Agile Tools 

When working on documenting your test automation strategy, consider embracing the available agile and DevOps tools. Such an approach can help you stick with your vision without any need to document everything. Just regular check-ins and frequent micro-strategy sessions can help a lot in streamlining the Automation Testing Service with your Test development lifecycle. 

Conclusion 

All in all, the process to improve your test automation strategy should overcome all the hurdles in communicating the process. It does not need to have a definite format but should help QA testers to deliver value while understanding how it can create a positive impact on people in your organization. 

More importantly, it is necessary that you constantly keep your business partners and project managers involved in the process to create a solid strategy based on outcomes. Also, the test automation strategy should work as a window to investing in technologies that can drive innovation into the existing technology operations.  

After all, technology is all about growth and innovation. 

Good Luck! 

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