Whitepaper Test Automation 10 September 2014 WHITEPAPER 1 Whitepaper Test Automation Test Automation For many organisations in highly competitive markets, the success of the business depends on the quality and speed of implementing IT systems - time to market. Adopting more efficient automated testing can help to make better, faster decisions and manage risk more effectively. Test Automation is also one of the essential enablers for Continuous Delivery. By using specialist software to control the execution of tests, you can move from a manual process to an automated one that runs more quickly and so more cost-effectively, especially when used repeatedly in regression testing. However, it can never completely eliminate the manual testing, which is crucial for thorough testing of software applications. Automated testing provides several benefits: • Reduced utilisation of manual testers • More efficient use of scarce hardware resources • Reduced test cycle execution time • Reduced cost of testing, after initial cost of implementation • Relieve the testing bottleneck and achieve faster application time-to- market • Deliver highly accurate tests and find defects earlier • Improved reliability of the testing (tests perform precisely the same operations each time they are run, thereby eliminating human error) • Repeatable tests, thus overcoming boredom-induced missed bugs • Improved test coverage, since testing may be done more frequently • Tests can be reused on different versions of an application and on different platforms • Integrated with nightly continuous builds When to automate your test cases? The ROI question. Test automation pays off relatively quick. Studies suggest that test automation is already saving costs after 6 software builds and related test cycles. However, there are no strict rules for this. Important factors that should be taken into account when determining your are: • The importance of time to market for your product • The number of test cycles • The lifecycle of your software product • The level of change of software features - features or the user interface need to be stable in order to automate tests. ISON - The Levi9 Test Automation Framework Successful automated testing requires a structured and well-designed automated testing approach. Simply installing an automated testing tool and recording scripts may jump start the initial automated testing effort, but this approach will become difficult to maintain and therefore more expensive. A more cost-effective solution is an architected solution. Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software. Principle #1, Agile Manifesto