Everything you need to know about Automated Regression Testing

Many development and testing teams tend to misrepresent or undervalue the time and effort regression testing will need. Most often, it’s confused with retesting, when in fact there’s more to it than reviewing the performance of just one chunk of code. 

If done correctly, regression testing gives developers the ability to assure that the entire system (not just a selected component) serves flawlessly after any code change.

Should regression testing be automated? How does it enhance the team’s productivity? Which tools and practices should a tester use for recording and executing regression testing sprints? Let’s get a deeper look at automated regression testing,

What is Automated Regression Testing?

The value of regression testing to product performance is exceptional. For one, it has a huge scope of activity as all the layers of the project are included.

Regression testing is capable of giving teams insights that could be simply ignored otherwise, enhances the quality of problem-solving, and encourages the team to be proactive during project maintenance. 

Regression tests need a lot of time to be executed in an adequate way. A comprehensive testing session needs developers to:

• Examine all features of the system;
• Define how a code change has triggered several behaviors;
• Fix the source of the problem;
• Reiterate system evaluation;
• Monitor the project over a widespread time frame. 

As there’s no reason to ignore regression testing, teams are obliged to put up with the challenges it presents. To be able to combine regression testing into the general project management framework and not have to involve the team in running it, companies use automation. Setting up and executing automated scripts needs a high level of skills. 

Yet, in the long run, it has a ton of advantages to give— it simplifies iterations, builds unified standards across all projects, saves time, and stops the team from having to fix human error-based problems. 

How to Do Automation Regression Testing?

Because of its high coverage and technical complexity, regression testing is a multi-layered method. Here’s a step-by-step guide on addressing regression testing and integrating automation into the workflow. 

1. Software change analysis — at this stage a developer measures which system component will be modified as well as the extent of the change. 
2. Software change impact analysis. This stage involves outlining all the possible implications of the code change over the system, recognizing all systems that would be affected by a new fix or a feature, measuring potential damage to the system and the ways of managing it. 
3. Building a regression testing strategy. At this step, the testing team outlines the workflow step-by-step. A regression testing procedure could look like this: 1) collect test data; 2) estimate the time for test cases execution; 3) automate test cases; 4) perform tests; 5) report; 6) iteration. 
4. Creating a test suite. At this step, a QA specialist writes tests that’ll be automated. Later, the regression testing automation engineer builds scripts for execution in a scripted language decided beforehand by the team. 
5. Executing regression tests. When driving automated tests, be sure to prioritize cases and estimate the reusability of test modules. Ensure to maintain a high frequency of testing and set up a flexible reporting system. 
6. Reporting. At this stage, QA specialists require to explain the result of the testing to stakeholders — a project manager, the end client, and anyone else involved. To write an efficient summary report, a developer has to generate the metrics of analysis, the scope of testing, and develop on how the testing session helped the team accomplish a goal set during the planning stage. 

Best Practices

To assure regression testing will incorporate all facets of the system and give a detailed, objective outlook on a project’s functionality, it’s necessary to have a fixed set of practices to be followed during every session. 

At TestUnity, we assure that the testing workflow involves the following principles: 

• A regression pack is continually updated. Broadly speaking, a regression pack is a collection of all tests managed by a company as soon as a new code change is out. To assure a test suite corresponds well to the latest version of the app, it’s best to have a regression pack up to date as well. 
• Re-run successful test cases. Many companies make the mistake of forgetting to re-run tests — that system has moved through successfully — after a new change. However, keep in mind that the following code change might have influenced the components of the system that employed to be working flawlessly. That’s why it’s important to reiterate all tests, including the successful ones. 
• Concentrate on paths with high traffic. All cases that involve frequently visited pages should be your first priority. Before going on to testing other features of the system, ensure that the elements that fuel core interactions and features are completely in the clear. 
• Be data-driven. Relying on datasets enhances the efficiency of testing by huge numbers. To start, it enables developers to build scripts using less code, get rid of redundancies, and store all collected information as a database of manageable records. The number and the accuracy of insights are higher for data-driven tests as well. 
• Utilize a diversified automation toolkit. This way, you’ll be able to improve test coverage, increase the range of testing opportunities, and use a chosen scripted language to its greatest extent. 

Automated Regression Testing: Put It to Work for Your Team ASAP

Software development is a creative effort like no other, but the path to obtaining its rewards is full of risks. One of the risks when writing code is to break existing functionality while appending new ones. Even when fixing defects, we can make older ones—that we thought were dead—come back to life. Each small and apparently insignificant change poses the risk of a dreaded regression.

Also Read: How To Incorporate Regression Testing To Allow Your Business To Grow?

Need to implement automated regression testing in your project? Think no more! TestUnity provides the testing services on-demand, serves with projects of any scale, and is ready to start with a few days’ advance notice. Choose to team up with a QA services provider like TestUnity. Our team of testing experts specializes in QA and has years of experience implementing tests with different testing software. Get in touch with a TestUnity expert today.

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