What is Automation Testing? Types, Examples, Process

Those in the technology industry are acquainted with testing. In other words, constructing and refining a product or software application, then repeatedly testing it until it's perfect.

It is an integral aspect of the product development cycle and is crucial for ensuring that your product is as fantastic as you want.

Currently, testing is more complex and complicated. We have begun to use automated testing to reduce the effort of the rest of the team and provide precise findings.

According to the findings, automated testing is 70% faster than manual testing.

This article will go further into automation testing, covering its definition, benefits, process, types, and how to use it in your business.

What Is Automation Testing?

Modern software development has been changed by automated testing.

Test automation, also called test automation or automated quality assurance (QA) testing, uses automation tools to keep track of test data, run tests, and look at test results to improve software quality.

When appropriately implemented, it reduces the amount of manual testing required. All tests had to be done by hand before test automation, and this was slow, prone to mistakes, and costly.

Automation Testing Market Size

At a CAGR of 16.4% between 2022 and 2027, the market value of automated testing is expected to increase from $24.7 billion in 2022 to $52.7 billion in 2027. Due to the rise of the mobile workforce and the popularity of cloud-based services, there has been a surge in the need for performance testing of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, mobile apps, and web-based services to assure their smooth operation. There is a growing need for automated testing due to the necessity of faster and more efficient software deployment to satisfy the needs of a more diverse and global customer base.

Read our full article for more detail about Automation Testing: Market Size, Share, Trends & Dynamics.

How Does Automated Testing Work?

To automate tests, a company will often follow a set of established procedures and use a predetermined set of resources. Frameworks for data-driven and keyword-driven test automation, linear scripting, and modular testing are widely used.

While the linear scripting framework is well suited for smaller applications, it does not offer reusable scripts and thus does not allow the usage of a test script without much preparation. To cut down on unnecessary testing, software testers use modular testing frameworks to write scripts for individual, standalone tests.

Unlike modular alternatives, data-driven frameworks allow software testers to write scripts that apply to numerous data sets and give extensive quality coverage with fewer tests. Testing frameworks that are keyword-driven often use table formats to specify keywords for each function and execution method, allowing software testers who lack a strong programming background to generate test scripts using the defined keywords. Hybrid-driven frameworks use the best features from many methodologies and blend them into one.

Selenium, Robotium, and Cypress are examples of open-source test automation frameworks and technologies. Selenium supports various programming languages and browsers, including C# and Java, and automates and runs test parameters. Automated user acceptability, function, and system testing for Android devices are made easier using Robotium. Cypress's functional, integration, and unit tests can run locally or in a browser. Cypress offers a browser-based debugger and access to distributed object models.

Automation Testing Goals And Objectives

Before starting a project, it is crucial to consider at the goals and main goals of automated testing.

• To cut costs and time spent testing.
• To cut down on redundancy.
• To speed up the process of testing.
• To help make Quality better.
• To improve the Test coverage.
• To cut down on manual work.

The goals are broader aspirations, while the objectives are more specific tasks that will help us get there.

• Software quality gets better with each phase of revision.
• Improved security and dependability.
• Understand the system being evaluated better.
• Creating a Test Section That Can Be Run
• Developing Simple To Maintain Tests
• Increasing Testing Coverage
• Improving the effectiveness and motivation of QA engineers
• Getting your team to feel more confident about putting out a product and avoiding false positives and negatives

To learn more about test automation goals, read our guide: Automation Testing Goals And Objectives: A Guide.

Why Is Automation Testing Used?

To guarantee high-quality software, testing must be executed often during the development cycle. Rerunning software tests is necessary for any software development process involving source code changes. Each software update can undergo comprehensive testing across all platforms and hardware variants. Repeating these tests by hand is time-consuming and expensive. Automated tests are quicker and more cost-effective than hand-run tests, and once they've been developed, they can be performed again without further effort. Software testing automation can reduce manual testing by a significant margin, from days to hours. It's a time-saving measure that will help you save money in the long run.

Automated testing can significantly expand the breadth and depth of tests regarding improving software quality. More extended tests, often skipped in favor of more frequent shorter ones during manual testing, can be executed without human intervention. They can be used on a wide variety of computer systems. To verify proper operation, application memory, data tables, file contents, and internal program states can all be examined by automated software testing. Test automation makes it feasible to perform hundreds of unique, complicated test cases in each test run, ensuring impossible coverage with human testing.

Benefits Of Automation Testing

Automated testing can make a QA team more efficient. Here are some benefits of automation testing:

Improved accuracy Superior capacity for reporting Enhanced protection Optimization of available means Better debugging capabilities Better ability to reuse

A software tester can make mistakes while manually reviewing a system, particularly if the system in question has hundreds or thousands of lines of code. The QA team can use automation to speed up the application testing process and reduce the likelihood of human error.

Reporting features are included in several test automation platforms, allowing users to see the results of each test run. A tester can evaluate the software's performance regarding requirements and expectations by comparing the findings to other reports.

In general, automated testing frees up time and resources by removing the need for manual testing. A quality assurance team can reuse automated test scripts to guarantee that every check is conducted similarly. In addition, automated testing facilitates early problem discovery, which can cut down on development time and expenses.

What Is The Difference Between Manual Testing And Testing Automation?

In contrast to automated testing, which relies on pre-existing scripts, manual testing requires human input at every stage. Developers have to sift through the software via SQL and log analysis, test usage and input combinations, compare collected results to the projected behavior, and record all outcomes, which can seem like extra work but allows them to draw insights from the examination of each step in the process.

On the other hand, automated testing eliminates the need to pay attention to each intermediate step after the test has been created instead of concentrating on producing the desired result. However, this enables continuous testing by allowing tests to be frequently run apart from the involvement of developers. In contrast, manual testing necessitates that developers repeatedly carry out each stage of the process whenever a test has to be run on a particular section of code.

More extensive tests that were skipped during manual testing are often done using automated testing after the product has been built. Using automation, these long tests can run in the background across a fleet of machines with varying specifications.

Read our ultimate guide: Manual Testing vs. Automation Testing - What is the difference?

The Automation Test Process

Since we've covered different kinds of automated testing, let's look at the overall procedure for automating tests. 

In this process, it is important to have a test automation strategy. To determine what should be automated, when it should be automated, how it should be automated, and which automation solution is best for your company, you need to develop a test automation strategy. We recommend you read our article about Test Automation Strategy.

Test automation consists of three main phases: planning, execution, and result reporting.

Planning Stage

Starting with a clean slate, including the state, test data, and testing environment, is essential. As we've seen, most tests require a predetermined environmental state before a result is returned. Usually, this calls for preliminary steps, and the information or the program state must be changed to get the desired result.

Executive Stage

It's time to act once the state and environment have reached the desired shape. The test driver will execute the test by requesting an application's API or user interface or by completing the code directly. While the test driver is in charge of "driving" the tests, the test management system is accountable for organizing and reporting on all aspects of the testing process.

Report Outcomes

The outcomes of tests will be recorded and reported by an automated system. These findings can appear in various ways and could even trigger tickets or issues in a project management tool. But ultimately, everything boils down to a simple pass/fail outcome. Each scenario in the exam is often accompanied by a green or red light.

Automation Testing Tools

As we've already explained, it requires a specialized tool to automate a manual test. This can be anything as basic as the Jest testing framework, as complex as the Selenium software framework, or as comprehensive as a whole platform. You can read our guide to learn more about automated testing tools: Top 20 Automation Testing Tools.

With the help of test automation tools, testers can easily write and execute automated tests and get real-time feedback on their results during the build or sprint process.

Some automation testing platforms need coding skills to create test scripts. Many other solutions exist to reduce the learning curve for testers by hiding the necessity to know how to code. Hybrid tools have both options, so testers can use the best methods to make tests that fit each test case best.

Selecting a testing tool can also be based on the development environment you're working in. Whether you're looking to test desktop software, online software, or mobile software, you may want to consider changing testing tools. Based on your budget, preferred level of support, and purpose of the program for testing, you can select between open-source and premium options.

Which Automation Tool Is Best?

Finding the appropriate tool to use can be challenging. The criteria listed below will guide you toward the most appropriate instrument for your needs:

• Environment Support
• Testing of Database
• Minimize training cost of selected tools
• Image Testing
• Object Mapping
• Support for various tests – including functional, test management, mobile, etc.
• Support for multiple testing frameworks
• Easy to debug the automation software scripts
• Object identification
• Scripting Language Used
• Error Recovery Testing
• Ability to recognize objects in any environment
• Extensive test reports and results

 Read Also: 7 Automated Testing Tools For Web Applications in 2023.

Test Automation Framework

Automation Framework is not a single tool or procedure, but rather a set of tools and procedures that allow automated testing of any application. Libraries, test data, and re-usable modules are all part of the whole.

The automation framework helps the team in documenting the test script in a standard way and provides the additional benefit of code reusability across use cases. Thus, the test automation framework manages all problems.

In order to get a more detailed information about test automation framework, we suggest you read our Test Automation Framework: Benefits, Types & How to Choose.

Failures in Test Automation

Did you know that around 64% of the time, automated testing fails to meet expectations?

It is well-known that the use of test automation is anticipated to greatly improve the efficiency and productivity of software development companies while also yielding substantial benefits to the quality of the software they produce. 

Long-term success with automation means establishing realistic goals, using the right tools, and, most importantly, having the right mindset. One simple approach to these goals is to study automation in depth to find out how and why it fails.

Read our guide we listed the most common test automation failures and solutions: 5 Failures in Test Automation: Best Practices for Dealing with Them

How Can Enterprises Utilize Automation?

Let’s discuss the more general ways in which automation can help businesses enhance their operations.

Removing Time-Consuming & Routine Tasks

Most jobs require doing administrative work, which can take up a lot of time. However, businesses are increasingly turning to intelligent automation in order to eliminate the need for human intervention in routine processes.

The following are examples of time-consuming, repetitive operations that are frequently automated:

• Invoice reminders
• Payroll
• Data entry
• Keeping files safe
• Information Gathering using Online Forms

By automating these tasks, your employees will have more time to think creatively and come up with new ideas. In addition, it speeds up these processes, making the business as a whole work better.

Analysis of Data and Predictions

In the digital world of today, businesses can't survive without data. With this data, you can come up with useful information and analysis. Organizations may routinely employ intelligent automation for data analysis and predictions in a variety of contexts, including but not limited to the following:

Sales Forecasting

By automating formerly manual procedures, companies can more easily establish and evaluate success against objectives.

• Analyzing marketing campaigns
• End-to-end project management
• Goal-setting and reports on progress
• Tracking web and social media traffic

Using these, we can determine which parts of our strategy are succeeding and which ones require work, as well as which concepts can be safely abandoned.

Improving the Customer Experience

Automation helps both the business and the customers in a number of ways. These tools' benefits and uses are often neglected. But once it's set up, intelligent automation can be very helpful.

Some of the ways companies use automation to improve the customer experience are:

• Chatbots and virtual assistants make it easier to help customers faster and outside of normal business hours.
• Scheduling and disseminating information 24/7, not just during business hours (for example, social media scheduling tools)
• Immediate submission of and translation of online forms
• Shortened the time it takes to handle requests or products
• Voice-activated options over the phone
• Putting emails and phone calls into groups so they go straight to the right department

How Do I Start Test Automation?

No matter how eager you are to learn about and start using test automation in your organization, you will not be able to do anything if your management does not see the benefits. Everyone agrees that test automation costs money, and you need to persuade the bosses to pay for these costs and tell them to be patient until test automation starts giving them results.

The second step to testing automation is finding people who know how to use automation tools. There are two types of automation experts: Architects and engineers who work on automation.

The next step for automation is to use the right tool. This is another challenging part of getting started with automation. There are many tools on the market, but you need to choose the ones that work best for your purpose.

Analyzing different applications to find out which ones can be automated best. If your company is working on five other apps, not all of them have to be automated. When choosing an application to automate, we must think about many things. After selecting the tools and hiring the resources, the next step should be to train the resources. The other step is to make the test automation framework. The automation architect's biggest job is to develop an automation framework that will support long-term automated testing.

The next step is to plan how to carry out the project. Choosing where the scripts will be run is part of the execution plan. The environment has different hardware configurations and an operating system (OS). When the framework is made, the execution plan is clear, and the people using the new tool have been trained, it's time to start writing scripts.

Most of the time, the reporting feature is part of the tool. But we can make custom ways to report, like sending the results to management automatically by email.

The last step is to keep up with the scripts. Maintenance will not be complicated if best practices for programming are used and the framework is sound. Most of the time, maintenance happens when an application needs a change. To ensure that this change does not mess up the execution, the scripts should be updated immediately.

Here is a step-by-step explanation of the automation testing process and how to start it in your organization. I hope that your automation will go well if you follow these steps.

How Do I Start Test Automation as a Career?

How to start a career in Automation Testing? There are no specific eligibility criteria or academic prerequisites for entering the field of Automation Testing. But if you have a degree in a certain field, like a Bachelor's or Master's in Computer Science or Information Technology, etc., it will help you a lot because it will not only teach you the basics and how things work, but it will also help you get some great jobs. 

We have also put together a simple plan that covers all the ways to have a successful career in Automation Testing:

• Develop Expertise in Programming Languages
• Gain Knowledge about Databases and SQL Queries
• Know the Principles of Automated Testing
• Learn About Automation Testing Tools
• Gain Hands-On Experience in Manual Testing

If you want to start a career in automation testing, we recommend you to read our comprehensive blog: Test Automation Engineer Career Path: Strategy & Skills.

Automation Testing Projects Ideas for Beginners

Test engineers sometimes struggle to show their skill set. It is important to have a test automation portfolio to demonstrate your level of proficiency to potential employers.

But before creating your portfolio, consider the following questions:

• Why did you decide to make this portfolio?
• Is it to impress potential employers with your technical ability?
• Is it so that you may demonstrate the viability of a proposed new tool in your workplace? 
• Do you need a collection of samples to use as inspiration for your own YouTube demonstrations and guides?
• Do you need to evaluate the new features in a library or language by comparing it with older versions?

The following six test automation projects can help you stand out from the crowd and add to your portfolio.

• Automating Web Browsers
• Mobile & App Automation
• API Automation
• Multiple Languages and Libraries
• Data-Driven Automation
• Creating a Generic CICD Plugin

To learn more about test automation projects, you can check our blog article: Automation Testing Projects Ideas For Beginners in 2023.

Top Free Online Resources to Learn Automation Testing

Competence in test automation has gone from being a "smart" investment to a "required" expertise to service fast-moving enterprises due to the increasing number of large-scale projects and the requirement to decrease value-to-market.

However, there are a number of obstacles associated with learning automated testing, including high tuition costs, a lack of a defined learning path, and inadequate professional support.

Fortunately, we have internet! You can find many online courses and training programs that can help you learn automation testing. Here are some online automation testing couses: 

• Udemy

It is one of the most well-known places to learn online. It was launched in 2010, and since then it has gathered over 155,000 courses. These courses may be found in a broad variety of topics. There are several excellent courses to choose from on Udemy, including RPA Automation, API Automation, Appium - Mobile Automation Testing.

• Coursera

Courses offers the most comprehensive collection of online training modules, certifications, and degrees in the field of automation testing. Both live lectures and recorded lectures are available on Coursera.

• EdX

Automated software testing is taught for free on EdX. Additionally, they provide a Professional Certificate in Automation Courses from prestigious educational institutions.

We have compiled a list of best websites where you can take free online courses to learn automation testing in our article: How to Learn Automation Testing: 22 Free Online Courses

Test Automation with Ronwell Digital

Test automation is great for handling standard, repetitive, and high-volume testing. Using Ronwell Digital, managing and coordinating testing efforts is significantly more straightforward.

With the automated testing and quality assurance services from Ronwell, you get to know the truth about how your product is tested and put into use.

So, how can Ronwell help you with test automation?

Integration from end to end

We ensure that your web and mobile apps work well with all platforms, browsers, devices, and operating systems to reach your target audience anytime and anywhere.

Document processing

A big part of compliance is ensuring the proper paperwork is kept in a safe and well-organized place. Ronwell takes care of that for you by helping you figure out what needs to be on a document and what you need to do to ensure you are in full compliance.

Security and privacy monitoring

Your customers and we care most about the security and privacy of your customers. We ensure your security system is vital so that it can't be broken into by a third party and put your business at risk.

Automation testing

We have a wide range of software testing tools that help us find and fix problems before your product goes on the market. We do not run tests at random. Instead, we use a structured method to determine if any tests are needed and then estimate how many are required. This saves time and cuts out extra costs.

Bottom Line

In conclusion, test automation helps improve quality and speed up the process. But not every test can be done automatically. There's no doubt that you have to put money into it, and there are so many tests that it's essential to find the right mix. The test pyramid is a simple rule of thumb that can help you get this right. It says most tests should be unit, service, and user interface (UI) tests.

A test automation system manages test data, runs tests, and keeps track of results, among other things. Test automation is the next step for teams struggling to do the same manual tests that should be automated repeatedly.

Contact us to learn more about how Ronwell can make all kinds of testing easier and better at every stage of the development cycle.

Sources

Functionize - Automated Testing 

Guru99 - Automation Testing

SmartBear - What is Automated Testing 

Global App Testing - Automated QA Testing 

Lambdatest - Automation Testing Tutorial 

Polaris Market Research - Automation Testing Market