Following
steps are followed in an Automation Process
→ Test
Tool Selection
→
Define scope of automation
→
Planning, Design and development
→
Test Execution
→
Maintenance.
Test
tool selection
Test
Tool selection largely depends on the technology the Application
Under Test is built on. For instance QTP does not support
Informatica. So QTP cannot be used for testing Informatica
applications. It's a good idea to conduct Proof of Concept of Tool on
AUT.
Define
the scope of Automation
Scope
of automation is the area of your Application Under Test which will
be automated. Following points help determine scope:
1. Feature
that are important for the business
2. Scenarios
which have large amount of data
3. Common
functionalities across applications
4. Technical
feasibility
5. Extent
to which business components are reused
6. Complexity
of test cases
7. Ability
to use the same test cases for cross browser testing
Planning,
Design and Development
During
this phase you create Automation strategy & plan, which contains
following details-
Automation
tools selected
Framework
design and its features
In-Scope
and Out-of-scope items of automation
Automation
test bed preparation
Schedule
and Timeline of scripting and execution
Deliverables
of automation testing
Test
Execution
Automation
Scripts are executed during this phase. The scripts need input test
data before there are set to run. Once executed they provide detailed
test reports.
Execution
can be performed using the automation tool directly or through the
Test Management tool which will invoke the automation tool.
Example:
Quality center is the Test Management tool which in turn it will
invoke QTP for execution of automation scripts. Scripts can be
executed in a single machine or a group of machines. The execution
can be done during night , to save time.
Maintenance
As
new functionalities are added to the System Under Test with
successive cycles, Automation Scripts need to be added, reviewed and
maintained for each release cycle. Maintenance becomes necessary
to improve effectiveness of Automation Scripts.
