In today's agile development environment, automated testing is of great significance. With the help of automation, testers can prepare test data and execute complex test cases that may be located on different platforms. Test automation is a vital subset of software testing. By using automated testing, we can speed up the software verification process and increase the scope of testing. Nevertheless, the implementation of test automation to the application under test (AUT) faces many challenges. Without coming up with the solution for these challenges, testers may face unlimited nightmares, which can subsequently lead to software failure.
One way to get rid of automated testing problems is to consult an automation testing company for its professional services along with your in-house team of testers to make it a better approach to deal with all the security issues and threats involved.
In this article, we aim to outline the top five challenges that have the greatest impact on overall automated testing efforts and project success. Also, we hope that the sooner you understand these challenges, the better solutions you will be prepared to meet them.
Here are the issues associated with the modern Q/A or automation testing;
Unreasonable expectations - It is not a secret anymore that test automation has plenty of benefits. It supports the team of software testers to save time, effort, and resources. Does this mean that automating as many processes as possible will increase efficiency accordingly? Well, not at all. Unrealistic or silly expectations of test automation will mess up the entire test process.
The unrealistic expectation of automated testing is due to the lack of clarity of the testing strategy. Therefore, careful consideration is necessary.
Use of wrong tools - the use of a wrong tool would eventually fail your automated testing efforts. Today market is chock-full of testing solutions by which any organization can be easily scammed. The choice of wrong tools can lead you to face scalability problems and also you will not be able to meet your desired set of testing goals. To solve this test automation problem, you need to understand your business needs. Before deciding to use which type of tool, set the requirements and goals you want to achieve.
Neglecting essential tests while doing useless testing - Unfortunately, with respect to the automation, testers often begin with random automated test cases. This makes their test coverage very low, and there are too many useless tests. Moreover, possibility of missing important defects is common.
For this purpose, it is recommended that before writing test scripts, you must conduct research. Discover the value of automation, and then you can start implementing automation where it has the greatest impact. Choose an appropriate test method, pay attention to test indicators and reports.
Inappropriate testing timing - Today, many teams still view testing as what happens after development. QA can only start work when the entire build is ready. This conventional and old method cannot assure the high quality of the software. It does not allow QA personnel to test all layers correctly and usually does not have much time to test.
That’s the reason testing must not be conducted in the final stage. If an organization wants to ensure the effectiveness of their test automation efforts, it recommended to start running tests from the early stages and this must be continued till the completion of a software development life-cycle.
Absence of proper testing - This the trickiest problem that may arise while conducting automated tests. When QA relies too much on automation and focuses on passing tests instead of finding errors, there will be a lack of proper testing. The problem is that automation gives an inappropriate sense of security. As automated tests are run repeatedly, it is easy to reduce manual intervention and responsibility for results. This method has devastating results, such as poor test design, inconsistency, and invalid tests.
However, to tackle this situation it is necessary to train your team properly. Make sure they have a complete understanding of their role in the software development process and possess quite enough technical skills to support testing.
Conclusion
Quite a large number of organizations want to reap the benefits from automation testing as much as they can. But this is not obvious for every organization. Silly and unrealistic expectations can may lead to face a disaster instead of heaven planned by the business owners. Choosing wrong time, neglecting important areas of testing are all the highlights of bad testing.
But fortunately, all of these issues have a solution. With the defined set of requirements, prioritizing the areas to test, appropriate timing, and use of a tool that complies with the business requirements, can may open up the chances of great success for organizations.
