Traditional test automation tools have achieved little in terms of automation, keeping automation levels below 25% even after years of software testing. These tools were built more than a decade ago – some even more- to cover a limited set of technologies and the Waterfall Methodology, and are ineffective to meet the business demands of faster application delivery and faster time-to-market. In addition, businesses, are increasingly adopting Agile and Continuous Delivery, which introduces a new set of challenges.
Test Automation no matter if you are using a commercial or open-source testing tool, has hidden costs.
Although some tools provide a level of abstraction when they record user paths, will still require to re-capture and regenerate the scenario if there is a change in the structure of the web application.
Web applications have grown increasingly complex, and manually recording a sample set of testing scenarios with a record/playback tool can be very time-consuming. Test Coverage is very low as the tools are not able to record more than just a few possible user paths.
The files that are created are extremely large, they execute slowly, and get even slower over time.
Many of these tools also provide a scripting language, which means that the tester will need to have programming skills to be able to test.
The more time your people spend on coding, the less time they spend testing! The primary job of the testing team has moved from testing the functionality of the application to technical development and implementation of scripts, leading to low levels of test coverage and poor software quality.
In traditional QA methods, the scripts are developed only after the application is built and stabilized, so any defects found at that stage are 10x times more expensive to fix.
Scripting itself leads to more complexity and a higher cost to maintain the scripts. The expenses incurred in maintaining these scripts erode the advantages that automation can bring.
Even though they seem to be ‘Free’, open-source tools require a substantial investment of both time cost and resources which defeats the whole point of automation. Maintenance is actually the largest cost of automation. When you use open source software, you are actually responsible for maintaining the code. It’s up to your team to install updates, make security fixes, implement new modules, etc.
Open- source can end up being more complex and the learning curve is steeper. The time that is required to get it up and running means that less time will be available for testing. Selenium for example is exclusively a web test automation solution; automating other technologies will require the integration of additional components. Additional components will add more complexity and create an even steeper learning curve. Time lost in this learning process can have a significant negative impact on testing cycles.
‘Free’ is certainly an appealing word to the CEOs and CIOs, but it is true that all things come with a price!
Manual testing cannot obviously keep up with iterative, parallel tests on multiple devices, browser versions and operating systems in one go and it cannot match up when the scale is huge, as it is time-consuming and error-prone, and could end up causing unnecessary delays.
It is becoming tedious for the tester when there’s need for regression testing—checking to see if code changes didn't break the old, working functionality. After all, with Continuous Delivery and shortened development and testing cycles, comes Continuous Regression Testing.
Your ‘time to market’ will fall behind as manual testing take about ten times longer to execute than automated tests. This inevitably leads to teams missing release date deadlines and experiencing time-to-market delays.
Like it or not, we don't have time for manual testing in today's fast-moving market. Any delay or error can cost a company hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Record and Playback tools
When a new functionality is introduced in the system, the record and playback session will need to be completely re-run to record the new sequence of user interactions. The re-capturing process is still manual and typically takes the same time to perform, as it did the first time.Although some tools provide a level of abstraction when they record user paths, will still require to re-capture and regenerate the scenario if there is a change in the structure of the web application.
Web applications have grown increasingly complex, and manually recording a sample set of testing scenarios with a record/playback tool can be very time-consuming. Test Coverage is very low as the tools are not able to record more than just a few possible user paths.
The files that are created are extremely large, they execute slowly, and get even slower over time.
Many of these tools also provide a scripting language, which means that the tester will need to have programming skills to be able to test.
Script-based tools
Scripting and coding have forced Business analysts and SMEs to stay away from test automation due to its complex requirement of programming skills, creating a gap between Business and IT, domain expertise and technical automation knowledge.The more time your people spend on coding, the less time they spend testing! The primary job of the testing team has moved from testing the functionality of the application to technical development and implementation of scripts, leading to low levels of test coverage and poor software quality.
In traditional QA methods, the scripts are developed only after the application is built and stabilized, so any defects found at that stage are 10x times more expensive to fix.
Scripting itself leads to more complexity and a higher cost to maintain the scripts. The expenses incurred in maintaining these scripts erode the advantages that automation can bring.
Open-source tools
The same scripting problem applies to open-source testing tools, such as Selenium, as testers are required to have programming skills for example, to write XPaths for Object Identification and knowledge of how a Web page works, etc.Even though they seem to be ‘Free’, open-source tools require a substantial investment of both time cost and resources which defeats the whole point of automation. Maintenance is actually the largest cost of automation. When you use open source software, you are actually responsible for maintaining the code. It’s up to your team to install updates, make security fixes, implement new modules, etc.
Open- source can end up being more complex and the learning curve is steeper. The time that is required to get it up and running means that less time will be available for testing. Selenium for example is exclusively a web test automation solution; automating other technologies will require the integration of additional components. Additional components will add more complexity and create an even steeper learning curve. Time lost in this learning process can have a significant negative impact on testing cycles.
‘Free’ is certainly an appealing word to the CEOs and CIOs, but it is true that all things come with a price!
Manual Testing
Companies have reached a point where they need additional features and applications to be shipped faster, to keep pace with different user needs and retain their clients, and to stay ahead of the competition.Manual testing cannot obviously keep up with iterative, parallel tests on multiple devices, browser versions and operating systems in one go and it cannot match up when the scale is huge, as it is time-consuming and error-prone, and could end up causing unnecessary delays.
It is becoming tedious for the tester when there’s need for regression testing—checking to see if code changes didn't break the old, working functionality. After all, with Continuous Delivery and shortened development and testing cycles, comes Continuous Regression Testing.
Your ‘time to market’ will fall behind as manual testing take about ten times longer to execute than automated tests. This inevitably leads to teams missing release date deadlines and experiencing time-to-market delays.
Like it or not, we don't have time for manual testing in today's fast-moving market. Any delay or error can cost a company hundreds of thousands of dollars.
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