How to Overcome Automation Testing Challenges?

How to Overcome Automation Testing Challenges?
How to Overcome Automation Testing challenges

The new software development techniques and methodologies such as Agile and DevOps have shortened the software development life cycles (SDLC). It has made a surge in the number of products and applications in the market.

So, these days, businesses are in quest for faster and quality releases before their competitors do.

How to foster a perfect product without compromising on the quality then?

To ensure the quality and security of applications & software, robust automation testing tools are required.

The market of automation testing is expected to grow during 2021-2026 at 14.2 CAGR. It is evident that automated testing products are evolving faster than ever. Unlike manual testing, these are big time-savers!.

How automated testing acts as a substitute for manual testing?

Manual testing requires human intervention and kills precious time while performing tests on application screens, trying various input combinations and usage and input, comparing results with the expected outcome, and recording observations. These tests are repeated when there is a change in the source code, operating environments, and hardware configurations.

On the other hand, automation testing is an advanced method of software testing in which automated frameworks and tools are used to test the applications. Once the scripts are written by the coders, these scripts will be running automatically using automation tools. Thus, it saves the time and efforts. In other words, it automates manual testing.

This method

  • provide wider test coverage,
  • faster time to market, and frequent and thorough testing.
  • saves time and efforts of QA teams in performing repetitive tasks,
  • tracks the overall testing process quickly and effectively,
  • minimizes the regression cost and time, and
  • reduces the test cycle time

Though automation testing has a myriad of benefits, the developers often face some challenges as mentioned below.

Common challenges faced in automated testing:

I. Challenges in Web Test Automation

40% of issues occur due to test scripts and frameworks. These are the common challenges while performing Web UI Automation testing:

  • Due to the addition of new features, functionalities, and integrations, the components of a web application’s UI are prone to frequent changes. So, handling frequent changes in UI and maintaining UI test scripts are tough rows to hoe.
  • Multiple error handling will be a tedious process especially for large projects with complex scenarios.
  • It is tough to effectively handle image comparison in automated UI testing as pixels vary in size, shape, colour, and format.
  • Testing UI elements is also a challenging one.
  • The execution time for test cases took longer as the number of test cases are increasing.
  • Today’s applications have become complex with the addition of embedded frames, diagrams, maps, and flowcharts, etc. All these lead to increased complexity in testing.
  • If the UI keeps changing, then test scripts also keep changing resulting in increased time spent on web UI testing. If this is the scenario, it will be difficult to calculate accurate ROI.

II. Challenges in Mobile Test Automation

  • Device, platform, and OS Fragmentation
  • Each test case scenario for Native, Hybrid, and Web-based, is different. So, it will be a tough task to perform performance, compatibility, stress, and conformance testing on various mobile app types.
  • Security: Security challenges in mobile test automation include coverage challenges, false positives and negatives, and reporting challenges.
  • Most of the mobile applications include third-party integrations for SMS, analytics, and crash reporting, and others. As a result, QA teams need to switch between multiple devices throughout the test scenario. Thus, application complexity due to third-party integrations increases the work to test the applications.

III. Interoperability issues

As mentioned in the challenges of mobile test automation, people use different operating systems and browsers. Pulling data and testing the end-to-end functionality between various systems will be challenging. Besides, the web application renders differently even though browsers are similar. This is because of the overall software configuration and different screen resolutions.

IV. Other challenges of Automation testing include

  • Lack of skills in QA teams
  • Selection of wrong automation tool
  • Automating tests without stabilizing it first
  • Dynamic test automation
  • Sorting through all the heaps of data

How to overcome all these challenges?

Challenges are common in every field. What differentiates successful organizations from others is the way they deal with them. Here are the best practices to address these challenges and overcome them.

Read on.

For web test automation challenges:

1. Adopt codeless platforms such as Qatts to automate the process of writing tests scripts. It reduces the time for developers and testers and they can focus on the product development. The benefits of a codeless platform include

  • Ease of usage
  • faster test execution
  • easy reviews
  • optimum utilization of resources

2. UI elements are the building blocks of applications and are responsible for the interaction between the application and user. So, use common UI elements to make testers understand them easily and make UI testing uncomplicated.

3. Create a shared object repository for dynamic applications as it reduces the efforts of test maintenance. At the early stages of testing, reduce the UI test cases and increase the count as testing move forward.

4. Adopt the best practices of automation testing. Have governance mechanisms and well-established practices for our organization to deliver sustainable results.

For mobile test automation challenges:
  • Use Mobile emulators (Android and iOS)
  • Use standard protocols for all devices
  • Leverage cloud-based software or mobile app testing technology
  • Make sure reporting should include proper descriptions, proof/context that the issue exists, and remediation techniques.
For interoperability issues:
  1. Use the right cross-browser testing tools.
For other automation testing challenges:
  • Hire skilled and experienced QA team
  • Hire an experienced software testing company that help you choose the right automation tool that fits your business needs.
  • The best practice to stabilize the test automation is building a modular approach. Run the tests daily and ensure balanced execution. Then, increase the test coverage.
  • Each stage of the SDLC requires a unique testing capacity. Start small, then scale, and run parallel testing (to maximize coverage).
  • DevOps holds heaps of data that is needed to be reviewed and analysed. For this using the right test analytical tools is the best practice.
Solve test automation solutions with QATTS:

We have been delivering exceptional cloud-based automation testing solutions for all business verticals since our inception. We are adept at creating and implementing unique testing tools for website testing, mobile testing, data-driven testing, APIs like Chat API, Voice API testing, etc.

Also, our certified and experienced QA teams help you select the best automation testing tool that suits your business needs. Associate with us today!.

Bottom line:

To sum up, automation testing helps you maintain the superior quality of your products and secures your applications and software without hassles. Businesses just need to address all the aforementioned automation testing challenges by following the best practices before they affect their applications’ quality.

Why wait?. Leverage the benefits of automated testing in the development process of your applications. Verify and validate functionality and security through automation and let your customers experience greater UI/UX with your product, software, or application.

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