DEFINITION
According to ISTQB (International Software Testing Qualifications Board) the definition of test automation is the following: The use of software to perform or support test activities.
For Apply QA, This definition is too short and doesn’t describe everything that falls into this category. Let us try to break this down:
- Support test activities (Test Case)
- Supporting test activities is a pretty general statement. There are many test activities that go into conducting a test. For example, lets start with the typical 1st step is creating a test case with proper criteria to check if pass or fail. There are many test case and defect management systems in the market today but the successful one’s are able to integrate into build pipelines and keep statuses automated.
- Support test activities (Test Code)
- Secondly, today most developers and testers equate test automation as using code designed and developed to test application against code that was designed and developed to deliver functionality or performance. This is the most widely understood and focused effort to automate. Once this test code is created, it can easily be re-executed in a regression state for each build of software with some minor refactoring. Saving developers and testers hours of time running tests and validating.
- Support test activities (Test Data)
- Third, you need the proper data setup to conduct the automated test over and over again. The best setup would be an automated script that would create and delete after each successful test. For failed tests, keep the data in current state to review for debugging.
More QA Information
Knowing when to apply which type of automation is what makes Quality Assurance experts needed.
Please visit Apply QA to let us help you cover all aspects of automation testing your product or service.
For more QA related information, articles, or services, please visit https://applyqa.com
