In a new SISCOG Blog article by Mariana Cavalheiro, we provide a glimpse into SISCOG's unwavering dedication to delivering products of exceptional quality. This article sheds light on the challenges encountered and the insights gained during what is always an ongoing journey.
Mariana Cavalheiro, Testing Team Leader, @SISCOG | 5 min read
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In today's ever-evolving software development landscape, integrating test automation has become imperative for companies looking to streamline release cycles, raise software quality, and minimise expenses. This article addresses the main challenges of introducing test automation into SISCOG's reality and providing valuable insights to effectively overcome them.
WHAT TEST AUTOMATION MEANS
In the literature, test automation refers to the practice of automating the execution of tests in the software development lifecycle. It involves creating and running scripts or test cases that simulate user interactions, validate expected results, and verify the functionality, performance, and reliability of software applications. It enables efficient and reliable testing, increasing client satisfaction and supporting the successful delivery of high-quality software products.
Test automation is not a recent topic; it has been expanding exponentially in recent years and is now an approach present in the vast majority of software companies. This is because good test automation reduces manual labour effort through stable and repeatable processes, increases the return on investment in testing, accelerates testing and its feedback, and ultimately leads to reduce business expenses in the long run.
That being said, SISCOG did not want to miss the opportunity to take the leap and invest in the development of automatic tests for its products. We created a dedicated team that, over the last six years, has been experimenting with tools that best adapt to SISCOG's reality. We have also been investigating and testing various automation strategies to achieve the goal of having robust, scalable, and easy-to-maintain test scripts.
A dedicated test automation team has been experimenting with tools and testing various automation strategies that best adapt to SISCOG's reality.
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The return of automation may not be instant, but SISCOG understood the importance of building a rock-solid foundation to achieve enduring outcomes that significantly enhance product quality. Today, SISCOG already has extensive automation coverage that empowers comprehensive cross-validation of all its products and systems. This relentless commitment to increasing coverage inspires unshakable confidence in the exceptional quality of our solutions.
MAIN CHALLENGES
Dealing with high initial investment costs
One of the prominent challenges faced during the implementation of software test automation was the high initial investment costs associated with the infrastructure setup, tools, and skilled resources. Building a robust automation framework, acquiring appropriate tools, and training resources can require a significant financial commitment.
To meet this challenge, it was crucial for us to find ways to save money using affordable automation tools that fit our budget. While we considered using free, open source solutions to reduce the upfront expenses, in the end, a paid solution turned out to be the best choice.
Selecting the right tool
As part of our portfolio includes desktop solutions, we found it essential to incorporate this aspect when deciding on a new framework, limiting the range of options. Desktop solutions are built with technologies that are originally less adaptable to automation compared to web or mobile apps.
To surmount this challenge we combined the investment in test automation with incremental improvements to our legacy applications, making them more automation-friendly. This approach has been helping mitigate the upfront investment costs while ensuring long-term benefits.
Test data management
Ensuring proficient test data management has played a key role in the overall success of test automation. Maintaining an extensive and diverse set of test data that covers various scenarios and edge cases was intricate, particularly when dealing with a desktop application. Generating, storing, and manipulating test data for different test cases increased effort and started to show data inconsistencies.
To address this challenge, it was essential to establish a robust test data management strategy as part of the investment in automation.
Selecting a proper testing approach
Selecting a suitable test approach was of paramount importance when we started to implement test automation. The choice of the testing approach allowed to lay the foundation for the entire automation process and significantly affected the efficiency and effectiveness of testing efforts.
By carefully evaluating test objectives, complexity, and critical functionalities, the team was able to determine the most appropriate approach. A proper testing approach, aligned with the company's objectives, allowed to optimise the use of resources and ensured that automation efforts were focused on the most important areas.
Test case prioritisation
In the domain of software test automation, prioritising test cases plays a crucial role in optimising testing efforts and ensuring efficient use of resources. Prioritising test cases involved strategically ordering them based on their criticality, risk levels, and business impact. Neglecting to prioritise test cases can lead to suboptimal test results and inefficiencies in the testing process.
Our experience has shown that by effectively prioritising test cases, we were able to identify the most important and impactful tests and potential vulnerabilities, optimising limited time and resources. This approach prevented valuable resources from being wasted on less critical tests, improving efficiency.
Additionally, by prioritising tests that target critical functionalities and high-risk areas, we increase the likelihood of detecting defects early in the development cycle, reducing the cost and impact of issues discovered at later stages.
Sustainable maintenance and scalability
As our battery of regression tests has expanded over time, maintaining and scaling our test automation infrastructure has become a challenge. It required dedicated resources, including qualified automation testers, continuous monitoring and proactive maintenance.
To efficiently manage maintenance and scalability challenges, we needed to specifically allocate resources to maintain the automation infrastructure. This includes regular updates to tools and frameworks and proactive monitoring of test environments. Also, regularly review and optimise test suites to eliminate redundant or stale test cases, ensuring they remain lean and efficient.
Relentless commitment to increasing test automation coverage inspires unshakable confidence in the exceptional quality of our solutions.
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FINAL THOUGHTS
In the global software market, there is an ongoing controversy about whether test automation in testing activities should be promoted. From our perspective, test automation offers a great return on investment and enables us to achieve even higher quality software development.
We firmly believe that our automation journey is an ongoing quest towards the ultimate goal of providing unparalleled quality products to our valued clients. While we acknowledge the challenges encountered thus far, we are firm in our commitment to continuous improvement and innovation. By embracing the power of automation, we have made significant progress, yet we recognise that there is still plenty of room for growth and refinement.
With every milestone we achieve, we move closer to providing our clients even higher quality.