QASource Blog

There is a better way to test.

Every step of your software testing process contains hidden efficiencies that can help you achieve even better results, faster. Some are the result of planning, some stem from test design and some you realize through better test execution.

All improvements come with experience. When you have automated more than a million test cases, you learn what works and what does not. More than that, you learn what works best.

There’s no denying that automation and automated testing is winning the day. For teams using the Agile method, automation is the only way that repetitive testing can keep up with the pace of the team. It’s faster, more cost-effective, and less prone to human error, and it’s essential to running a large quantity of tests across a variety of different platforms in little time.

All that being said, there’s still a major case to be made for manual testing. Manual testing is really the only tried-and-true way to test for the end user, and it’s still worthwhile for any product company designing and delivering to humans.

Great automated test scripts go unnoticed. They hum away in the background of your development cycle free from intervention, silently churning hours of would-be human engineer time and resources into efficient, quantifiable, reliable, predictable results.

Successful software development projects that embrace the advantages of Agile methodologies rely on careful planning and execution. The cycle of coding, testing and refining a product through repeated iterations works only if the underlying automated test scripts keep producing results without drama.

Here at QASource HQ, we consider ourselves very lucky to work with over 700 incredibly talented engineers as well as some of the best testing tools on the market. Because we work with different clients in different industries on a wide variety of projects, every project setup varies.

QASource recently presented the webinar, "Get The Best Test Automation ROI Through Continuous Testing With SoapUI Pro And TestComplete" with its partner, SmartBear.

In this webinar, Anand Ramakrishnan, QA Director at QASource, highlights the challenges with test automation prior to using SoapUI Pro & TestComplete, how these tools helped overcome these challenges, best practices and value added features with these test automation tools, and who should consider using SoapUI Pro and TestComplete.

Your test automation strategy is the foundation of your final product. The difference between delivering your app’s potential impact to market or having to watch it fail comes down to the rigors of your QA process. A test automation strategy is your plan for executing that process.

It needs to be comprehensive enough to consider every variable of your testing process, from the nature of your workflows through to the section of the right test tools, from the selection of your QA expert to the makeup of your Agile development team.

There is a threefold way to improve the value of your QA investment. Stacked one atop the other, these three elements combine to make your software testing faster, better, and more cost effective.

The strategy looks like this:

1. Taking advantage of test automation saves you time.
2. Outsourcing that test automation to a QA expert increases your test coverage and improves the quality of your product.
3. Engaging a QA expert located offshore dramatically reduces your resource cost.

Regression testing keeps you on track as your web application evolves. This process of checks and balances offers reassurance that the software improvements you have made are going to translate into a better user experience. You cannot innovate without risk, but regression testing balances out that risk.

That is why choosing the right automated regression testing tools for web applications is so critical.

Test automation will save you time and money. That is why it was developed, and that is why you want to use it. To access all the speed and efficiencies of automation testing, you need to have the right foundation in place.

That foundation is your test automation framework. To put it plainly, the test automation framework is a set of rules, guidelines, standards, and conventions governing the testing process. In a manner of speaking, your test automation framework is the race track upon which your lightning-fast test automation race car can run.

Humans make mistakes – it’s a natural phenomenon. However, errors can be costly for highly complex and stringent operations often seen in the legal domain. Though manual efforts are beneficial and provide insight into the demands, impressions and reactions of human beings, organizations often make mistakes because they are highly dependent on manual procedures. Companies that choose to implement a workflow automation strategy are given the opportunity to resolve these issues and improve their overall workflow process.