Tips for Selecting the Right Test Cases for Automation Execution

In modern times, automation is everywhere. From buying groceries to parking tickets to withdrawing cash from ATM counters, automation has become the new nation. This new technology has become helpful for people as it saves time and revenue. Thanks to various advancements within automation, we are able to implement it in different types of testing like integration testing, regression testing, functional testing, etc.

It is no more a secret that automation has changed the entire testing scene and simplified the overall tedious process for good. If you are still thinking about whether automation is required or not, here are a ton of reasons why you must implement it before it’s too late. And the first step exploring automation testing is to identify its need and create test cases around it. So let’s dive in.

Identifying test cases for automation execution: 

Creating a proper plan to select the right test criteria for automation is crucial. This becomes a guide for you to leverage the utmost advantages of automation testing efforts. This does not require you to start from scratch, but you must pay attention to some critical aspects for identifying automation test cases.

Automation is definitely required for test cases that have redundant steps that can be time consuming and tedious. Keeping in mind the resources required, it is imperative for testers to check various operating systems, device requirements, platforms, databases, and browsers when running test cases. Another crucial test case identification factor is checking for test cases that require complicated features or have defined outcomes. So now that you are aware of automation test criteria, you must choose the right automation test cases. Careful comparison of these test cases is highly required.

Which test types are fit for automation? 

• Performance test – These types of tests are time-consuming and repetitive to fulfill the desired coverage.
• Regression tests– These types are time-consuming and require enormous resources as they are considered one of the essential tests before releasing the apps to the market.
• Repetitive test runs – These test types are repetitive and must be automated. It can be helpful to get accurate and precise results.
• Data-driven test – This specific test is generally conducted on the application’s special feature. It implements automation to reduce potential human errors on data and critical components within the product.
• Extensive test- These test cases include massive data sets that require automation. This also improves the risks of errors with manual testing out of the way.
• Complex test cases- Automation is required when there are too many complicated test cases to execute as it can help you to save a lot of time.

Which types of tests do not require automation?

Even when automation is considered a highly accurate and quick process, it is not suitable for certain specific test cases. Following are some of the test cases that you must refrain from automating.

• Exploratory Testing – These test cases do not have a set pattern and hence cannot have a definitive flow which is a crucial requirement for automation. By nature of exploration, automation cannot be a viable option.
• UI/UX Testing – As automation will not be able to understand human expression and emotion; it is not a good choice for any form of UI/UX test such as usability testing, UX surveys, etc.

How to identify the right automation test cases? 

To determine the right automation test cases, you need to perform the following steps.

• Find out test cases that require automating:

At first, you require choosing the test cases that you want to automate, as it is not always the right choice to automate every testing scenario. So conducting manual testing for the test cases occasionally is mostly preferable. The right test cases are the ones that require massive data to process. Remember that test automation aims to allow repetitive test execution for new releases.

In case you require running the test once, the effort becomes higher compared to the benefits. In such cases running regression tests frequently can be a better choice as the changes in the product require complete testing.

• Try understanding the product: 

It is always recommended to start by making a product roadmap. You require spending time studying the application during the design phase. Creating a mind map that is a graphical model, helps to represent the product in an understandable manner. It will again help you to understand the characteristics and use automation at the right place.

• Find a testing frequency and execution time:

When you get the answer of both frequency and time, you have a clear idea if you want to apply automation for the testing tasks that are frequent and time consuming. This principle is equally applicable for test suits where it includes additional elements of test cases present within the suite.

• Requirement of resources:

It includes the number of browsers, devices, platforms, OS, and databases required to run test cases. Understanding the scales of resources needed will help you gauge the redundancy that a test case will have and hence makes it an easy case for automation.

• Characteristics of test case: 

It is a must to find whether the test cases have defined outcomes to generate for testing application or if it has flaky and new testing features. Remember that with critical or complex cases, it is more likely to become an excellent choice for automation to reduce the chances of human errors.

What are the advantages of choosing automation testing? 

Most testers and developers practice automation execution testing to ensure that the app or product operates as designed or intended. It is generally done to make sure that it meets the quality standards and requirements. Professionals like testers and programmers typically run scripts using an automation framework to check the app’s functionality.

Following are some of the most common benefits of choosing automation test execution.

• Cost reduction: Automation test execution helps teams find issues within the application early on in the development phase by making use of automated testing. It helps to resolve the problems early on in the application life cycle, thereby making it less expensive and easy to fix issues.
• Improve productivity: Since automation requires little to no human intervention, it can automatically run as scheduled. This can be beneficial for testing and development teams as it helps them concentrate on other crucial responsibilities instead of manual testing these use cases.
• Generates helpful Feedback: Automation testing can be an excellent way for testers to analyze the test cases quickly as it provides reports about the execution status and can detect errors quickly execution. The feedback generated by the tools helps improve the outcome to make the required changes quicker than usual.
• Better insight: Making use of automated test execution helps to evaluate the program by running more test cases. It can be helpful to generate a complete report and get valuable information.
• Faster development: It is no secret that application development is a tedious and lengthy process. However, an automated testing approach can help make early improvements and quicker results. As it is accurate, effective, and fast, it can reduce the rework efforts in the development cycle.
• Accurate results: Compared to human testing or manual approach, automation testing tools are more accurate as they are not subjected to human errors.

Summary: 

We have explored how we need to look at different aspects before applying automation and also understood at length the various test cases where automations becomes a non-negotiable life saver. Automating every process or case will require considerable time, money, and app maintenance. Hence, paying attention to the automation test case criteria is essential while deciding on the test cases to accomplish the goals.