Automation plays a key role in any software development process considering its benefits such as flexibility, speed and reliability. However, with ever changing project requirements, automation scripts are also likely to change. This continuous modification in the scripts can become a tedious process and can have a detrimental effect on the development team. Therefore, it is essential to think why and when automation is required for your project.
The fundamental job of automation testing is to free up resources performing repetitive tasks by enabling them to work on latest features of the project. However, there are some other factors which might define need automation testing.
- Phase of the project: Before implementing automation, it is necessary to consider the phase of project. For example, if user interface of the project is not finalized and its requirement is constantly changing then implementing automation at this stage can be a costly affair.
- Budget: Before considering automation for the project, evaluating budget is important. Having right automation tools or framework can help in reducing maintenance cost of project. Trying other open source frameworks before moving on with actual framework can help in evaluating and understanding the impact of automation and cost required for developing it.
- Automation framework: To avoid rewriting scripts for dynamic project requirements, having a good framework is essential. An automation test framework can help in reducing repetitive efforts. But, having a good knowledge of testing process is necessary before beginning test automation. Furthermore the testing framework should be simple to adopt and use. The initial testing processes must be combined and should have some standardized protocols to perform testing.
- Automation team: While executing automation, having a team aware of complexities and standards is vital. The team should have basic programming understanding and also knowledge about the architecture of project. Training and educating the team on automation can be expensive and time consuming.
Automation testing is to simplify the testing process by eliminating the need of repetition but it is not everybody’s cup of tea. The results of automation testing still depends upon how well it is performed. Analyzing cost before investing into a framework is necessary and evaluating the right framework too. Nevertheless, consulting a test advisory who can help you with this can also be considered as a viable option.
