What Tests to Automate Firstly?

August 07 10:05 2015 by Nataliia Vasylyna Print This Article

The first question that arises during the software product testing and which should be answered without bias is: “Is it advisable to use automated testing for this software?”.

In the answer to this question is affirmative than it is needed to determine the project requirements and to plan the steps for developing the automated tests.

Any kind of testing – functional testing, unit testing, usability testing – requires a specific set of tests. Automation likewise requires such data. However, a detailed listing of tests designed for automated testing of each function is completely pointless. It should be repelled from listing what project parts that are common to some categories of programs should be subjected to automation primarily.

Which Modules and Parts Should be Subjected for Automation?

Areas of code execution of which is difficult to visualize and to get tangible information about running processes (back-end processes, listing to the database and so on).
Typical frequent operations, that are typically associated with the data processing. For example the forms in which the number of fillable fields is quite significant. The goal is to automate entering the required data into the appropriate field and to validate the task after saving the result.
Error messages. The automation of the incorrect data separation into the appropriate fields and testing the correctness of data validation and error messages is required.
Comprehensive testing of the entire system’s behavior as a whole object (end-to-end testing).
Checking the numerical arrays needed for the reliable mathematical operations.
Testing the correctness of displayed search results in response to a request for the desired data.

The proposed list is only an indicative, and a software testing company can make its own, because everything depends on the system requirements for audited requirements, features which the selected for automated testing tool allows for realization, etc.