4 Vital Factors to consider for a Successful Start to Automation Testing

In current agile project management, automation testing is equally or more important than manual testing. For testers, it’s essential to be ready to adopt new changes in this dynamic working environment. Understanding when to initiate the automation process is crucial.

When to start automation testing – most people might consider this question as when to begin writing the automation scripts. However, in the real world, certain activities need to be completed before commencing the automation script writing process. Include automation testing activities in each step of the testing life cycle.

1. Planning and analysis:

In the planning and analysis process, if the project decides to implement automation testing, it is necessary to consider the following factors:

Automation tool selection: Choose a tool that best suits the project’s needs.

Cost and budget: After selecting a specific automation tool, the initial consideration should be whether the project’s budget aligns with the tool’s cost.

Skills and resources: Ensure that there are resources available with the required skills; otherwise, it is necessary to hire and provide training to existing resources.

2. Design:

In the design activities, automation testing is developed based on the planning.

Prioritizing test cases: During the design phase, testers need to write and prioritize test cases that should be automated. These are often end-to-end test cases, as automation is primarily used for regression testing.

Design test framework: This is a crucial aspect of automation. The test framework design is based on the project requirements. In the current agile model, most projects are adopting the BDD style, where acceptance criteria and test cases can be directly incorporated into the framework. This approach ensures that business users can easily comprehend the test scenarios.

3. Implementation:

This is the phase where we can say the scripting of automation tests begins. As mentioned in the planning phase, there should be a skilled resource available for automation. However, before that, it is necessary to ensure the following:

Completed Framework: The framework for automation testing should be finished.

Stable environment: A stable test environment should be ready so that automation scripts can be generated based on the functionalities of the application.

4. Execution:

The automation tests are executed at various testing levels, with most executions occurring during regression testing.

Conclusion:

The actual initiation of automation testing occurs during the test planning phase. To explicitly state when automation test scripting begins, it happens in the implementation phase, contingent on prerequisites such as prioritized test cases, skilled resources, a stable environment, and a completed framework.