Automation Testing Process: How to Start Automation Testing

This article will provide a detailed overview of the automation testing process—a comprehensive, step-by-step manual for commencing automation testing on your project.

In many organizations, quality is the first preference. If you find yourself in such an organization and formal test automation has not been done yet, you could be the person to initiate it.

It will assist your organization to build more quality products in less time and likewise be able to market them early. 

=> In this third part of the ‘Test automation tutorial series, I will discuss the test automation process and how to start test automation in your organization. It is important to understand which step is to perform first and why.

Implementing Test Automation in Organization: Key Steps

Following these steps will help you introduce automation seamlessly and allow you to avert some common pitfalls that lead to automation failures.

Here is a step-by-step test automation process and guide to help you start automation testing.

Let’s start.

#1) Convince the Management

If your management is not convinced about the benefits test automation offers, no matter how eager you are to initiate test automation in your organization, you won’t be able to do anything.

It is a universal fact that test automation is expensive. The tools are expensive (HP QTP/UFT license costs around $8K per machine). There is also the cost of a test automation architect or engineer.

The benefits of test automation cannot be seen immediately. Wait 2-3 months before your scripts are prepared and tested, so that can run reliably for you to test the application.

Convince the management to bear the pain of these expenses and also you have to tell them to be patient before test automation can start giving them results.

So how will they be convinced? Tell them about the cost-benefit analysis. For example, you can ask questions about how long it takes to test the BAT (Build Acceptance Testing) of our application. If it takes a day, with test automation it will take about 2 hours. The cost is that you have to purchase the tool, train the resource, and wait for the results for two months.

After two months, run BAT in two hours. This will save you almost 6 hours of manual testing each time a new build is released. If the build is released 4 times a month. You can save almost 24 hours or 3 days of manual testing!

That doesn’t mean that manual testers don’t have any work. They will use these 6 hours of testing to focus on the new and important functionalities of the application, while automation will take care of the regression issues. This setup will overall improve the quality of the product a dozen times.

If your management is not willing to pay for the quality of their products, then nobody can force them to do so. They will learn when clients will complain about the products. Quality affects everything.

It affects your sales, your relationship with clients, as well as your perception of the minds of consumers. So, intelligent management has always invested in the quality of their products.

Here are five points to remember about convincing your management:

1. Tell them about the benefits of test automation.
2. Inform them that test automation is expensive and it will require an initial investment, but the cost will decrease once scripts are prepared and executed.
3. Tell them they have to wait for around 3 months before expecting any results from test automation.
4. Test automation does not replace manual testers, but instead supports them by enabling simultaneous testing of multiple scenarios.
5. Test automation does not mean more testing in less time. It means more testing at the same time. (If manual testers are used to test the BAT in 8 hours, they will be able to test the BAT plus new functionality plus many other things in the same 8 hours in the presence of automation.)

As we have seen earlier, convincing your management is the first and most important step in introducing test automation in your organization. If you cannot convince them, forget about test automation or consider changing your organization 🙂

#2) Find Automation Tool Experts

There are two kinds of automation experts.

1. Automation Architects
2. Automation Engineers

Automation Architects are a unique and scarce group. They are hard to find, extremely expensive, and necessary for the success of the automation project. These people are usually responsible for building automation frameworks. (We will discuss the automation frameworks in detail in a separate article)

Automation architects are experienced in different tools and they usually know the strengths and weaknesses of each tool. They will also help the management in selecting the right tool for automation by carefully analyzing the application and technologies used in that application.

They will help build the framework, design the naming conventions, and create rules for scripting. Additionally, they will help in prioritizing which test cases to automate initially.

If you can find the right resource for the post of automation architect, you will have completed half of the work needed for successful automation in your organization.

Automation Engineers are the people who will convert manual test cases into automated scripts. They will work under an automation architect and will create and execute scripts.

Some companies hire automation engineers externally, while others do in-house hiring by training their existing manual testers. He/she should well know object-oriented programming. A combination of one automation architect and two automation engineers is great for most products.

#3) Using Correct Tool For Automation

This point is worthy of its dedicated article. This is another difficult step in the process of starting automation. There are various tools in the market, but you have to select the ones that are best for your application.

I’ll summarize the top considerations for tool selection. A separate article will provide a detailed explanation of the tool selection process.

The most important things to consider while selecting the right tools are given below:

1. The tool must be within your budget. Automation tools are really expensive. So the company should have the budget to purchase the tool.
2. The tool must support the technologies used in your application. If your application is using Flash or Silverlight, the tool must support it. If it is running on mobile, the tool must be able to execute scripts on mobile. You can purchase a single tool that supports all technologies used in your application or you can purchase separate tools for each technology. For example, you can use selenium for your web applications, Robotium for your Android applications, and MS Coded UI for desktop applications. However, it should be under your budget.
3. You must have the necessary skilled resources who can use this tool or learn that tool in less time. For example, if you have hired an automation architect who has only experience in QTP, and you are purchasing a license for MS Coded UI, the resource might not be comfortable using it. Good tools are like good cars, but they also require skilled drivers.
4. The tool must have an appropriate reporting mechanism to show the results to stakeholders after each execution.

There are several other factors while selecting the right tool and I will cover them in a separate article.

Read this guide for the latest top automation tools

#4) Analyzing Various Applications to Determine Suitable Ones For Automation

If your organization is working on 5 applications, each doesn’t need to be automated. We have to look at the various factors while selecting any application to automate.

Applications that should be automated must have these factors:

1. The application should not be in the early stages of its development. (The application should have all or some modules that are stable and tested by manual testers)
2. The UI of the application must be stable. (The UI must not change frequently)
3. It is necessary to write the manual test cases for this application.

The main goal of automation is to make sure that if the application is bug-free in one build, it should remain bug-free in the next build. Automation should identify regression issues, so manual testers do not need to waste their time finding them.

So to find a regression, we must have an application that is already stable and has some test cases written for it. The automation team will convert these test cases into scripts and will run these scripts on every build to make sure no regression appears.

Suggested Read => How to Select Correct Test Cases for Automation Testing

#5) Training the Team

After tool selection and resource hiring, the next step is logically training the resources.

If the manual testers are converted into automation engineers, they have to be trained on automation terminologies and concepts. If an automation architect is hired from outside, he should know about the product to test, the manual testing process, and what management is expecting.

Give resources some time to try different things until they finally come up with a winning automation strategy. Train them on the tools that the organization is already using bug tracking software and requirements management software.

Good training and strong communication between the manual testers, developers, and the automation team is really necessary.

#6) Creating a Test Automation Framework

The biggest task for the automation architect is to come up with an automation framework that should support automated testing in the long run.

The automation framework is a set of rules and careful planning to write the scripts in a manner that results in the least amount of maintenance. If anything changes in the application, the scripts need little or no update to cope with that change.

Also Read =>> Top websites to learn Automation Testing.

There are five kinds of automation frameworks, namely linear, modular, data-driven, keyword-driven, and hybrid. In a separate article in this series, we will provide detailed coverage of these frameworks, including examples.

You can also start reading more on automation frameworks in the following tutorials:

=> Why Do We Need Framework for Test Automation?
=> QTP Framework examples
=> Selenium Framework examples

#7) Developing an Execution Plan

The execution plan involves selecting the environments in which the scripts will be executed. The environment includes OS, browser, and different hardware configurations.

For example, if the test case demands that it check the website in 3 browsers, namely, Chrome, Firefox, and IE, then the automation team will write the script in such a manner that it can execute in each browser.

This should always be stated before writing the scripts because it will be taken care of in scripts if the automation team knows it beforehand. The execution plan should also state who will execute the scripts. Normally, the automation team executes the scripts on every build, but it varies from company to company.

Some managers ask developers to execute these scripts on their build before release. Others hire dedicated resources just for the execution or run scripts in unattended mode, which of course requires no additional resources.

#8) Writing Scripts

Once the framework is designed, the execution plan is known and resources are trained on the new tool. Now is the right time to write scripts.

It is important to write scripts in an organized manner with the appropriate naming conventions. The source code should be maintained in source control to avoid code loss. Version control and history should be maintained.

Test automation is just like software development. All good programming practices should be taken care of while writing the scripts.

Also Read => How to Translate Manual Test Cases into Automation Scripts

#9) Reporting

The reporting feature is usually provided by the tool. However, we can create custom reporting mechanisms like auto-emailing the results to management.

We can create reports at the end of each execution as charts and tables if management needs them. Management should always be informed about the test case coverage, which manual test cases are covered in automation and which are remaining.

#10) Maintenance of Scripts

If the best programming practices are followed and the framework is good, then maintenance will not be a problem.

Maintenance usually occurs when there is a change request in an application. The scripts should immediately be updated to cope with that change and ensure flawless execution.

For example, if you are writing some text in the textbox through the script and now this text box becomes the drop-down list, we should immediately update the script.

There are some other kinds of changes also. Earlier the scripts were running on the English application, but now there is a change in request that the application should support Chinese. Your framework should allow you to update your scripts to support execution in Chinese as well! That is why automation architects are expensive.

If the framework is not good and best practices are not followed, then maintenance will become a nightmare. Most automation projects fail because of poor maintenance of scripts.

Conclusion

This article effectively describes what the automation testing process is and how to start automation testing in your organization from start to end in a step-by-step and detailed manner. If you follow the steps mentioned in this article, I am sure that your automation process will be a success.

Suggested Reading =>> Best IT Process Automation Software

Some parts (like Automation Tool Selection and Automation Frameworks) require detailed analysis and should be dealt with in separate articles. Hence, we will cover these in the upcoming parts of this automation testing tutorial series.

=> Meanwhile, you can click here to check all the tutorials we already posted in this series.

I covered all aspects thoroughly and incorporated my own experience into this tutorial. Hopefully, the readers will find it valuable. Please post your feedback in the comments section below. We would love to hear from you. 

If you feel that something important is missing or some portion of this tutorial needs a little more explanation, please let us know in the comments section. I would love to answer your queries.

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