Stepping Towards Successful Autonomous Software Testing

Most companies spend thousands of hours creating QA tests for applications, meticulously tearing down the application, and debugging it from release to release. This enormous amount of time employed in manual testing produces a very little result as it slows down development and influences productivity. Automating the testing by injecting test automation scripts into each stage of the test cycle addresses the problem of lost productivity by providing testing engineers the time and space to do more complex tasks.  

But test automation is not enough in the long term as they still need human assistance and guidance for test logic and maintenance. Testers are required to match the test scripts to each different situation and each slight change in the test environment. This suggests that even with automation, the tests can not only stretch out the test cycles but also decrease the test coverage.   

A substantial amount of QA engineers’ time goes into creating the test scripts for automation, changing the parameters, and monitoring the test success. This problem enforces the pressing requirement for autonomous software testing to reduce the time and effort spent in building tests for repetitive procedures even for unknown test scenarios. 

As a result, autonomous software testing is an increasingly popular method of testing using AI and ML and in which machines manage tests automatically and spinning up test scripts autonomously without human help. These autonomous machines present the QA team with the ability to expand the test coverage and also enhance the speed of application releases. It seems like a dream situation for many, but autonomous testing has successfully and widely affected the way organizations perform QA.  

Autonomous software testing is now able to not only improving test coverage and the pace at which applications were released but also decreased testing costs to a large extend. This capability of machinated autonomous testing can be employed to the maximum as companies are finding it harder each day to catch up with the huge demand for application testing. Yet, studies indicate that not many organizations are implementing autonomous testing despite the profits that it offers to testers.  

The challenge lies in determining the right tools and proceeding with a robust plan to pave the way towards stable autonomous testing. 

Recognizing the current organizational maturity for implementation is the first step. Once the team is ready for transformation and has familiarized themselves with every stage of automation, they can securely rely on the autonomous platform to do the rest without guidance.  

Heading towards autonomous software testing stage by stage 

Autonomous testing is a method of transformation from manual to assisted and moving to the fully autonomous stages in the following stages.  With all of these stages, autonomous testing tools increase the QA team’s skills to rely on automation for faster software development.  

The first few stages include more manual test building, manual executions, and regular maintenances. It will be substituted slowly by integrating automation by leveraging automation tools to ultimately accomplish autonomous testing. Let’s look at each of these stages individually. 

1. Manual testing 

Manual tests are an advantage for smaller, beginner projects to learn the very basics of the application and what makes it work. Unless a QA engineering team begins from the manual stages of testing, they may not be able to produce huge strides in automating processes as the team needs a deep application understanding and expertise.  

Manual tests utilize the tester’s intelligence to apply human intelligence and function into the application development which a machine cannot provide by itself from the very start. This type of testing sets the stage for recognizing those processes that can be automated and those that require further improvements. Quite naturally, this stage will also require higher maintenance and fine-tuning to accomplish the ideal test results.  

2. Assisted testing 

When we have recognized the testing processes for which test automation scripts can be generated, we proceed to the next step which is the first step towards automating the tests. Employing automation tools, several parts of the test cycle can be automated, however, it still needs the test engineers to regularly maintain the tests and also manage them to ensure quality. 

This stage is important in the whole transformation process as it describes your test automation framework. Throughout this stage, the right tools and technology that support the automation processes are set in place. This may include the right object identification and storage that some tools can offer. Particularly in UI testing, there should be a plan for defining Ui objects. Clearly set objects enable cross-platform testing and ensure that there is a creation of meaningful tests.  

3. Partial automation

In this stage, a large part of the testing pipeline is taken over by the automation tool. Most duties that were experimented with for automation have discovered success and are running smoothly.  

Some industry best systems will propel automation in this stage. They include processes like building proper test blocks in which the test engineers have concluded the testing logic. The application should be correctly running tests for different form verifications and user accessibility. A constant feedback system and some agile methodologies are used that will benefit engineers in further automation efforts.  

However, at this stage, the testers and engineers are still responsible for managing the tests, figuring out the test logic, and inspecting the application performance for any failures or bugs.  

4. Full automation

Partial automation gives way for automating the complete test pipeline by dealing with more complex testing methods. Here, the testers are automating tests in parallel and distributed environments.  

The automation tools take nearly full control of the testing pipeline by even maintaining source control or version control systems and updating changes. Version control systems work well in supporting the QA team by giving statistics and maintaining application quality across the board.  

However, the testers and engineers are still accountable for maintaining the tests, figuring out the test logic, and ignoring the application performance for any failures or bugs. 

5. Unassisted automation

The purpose of autonomous testing is the independence of the test engine from the regular monitoring and tweaking of tests for every change in the test environment or situation. Hence, the QA team is now implementing ML to support the automation tool to figure out how to make changes and maintain the tests.  

This is the step where advanced concepts like intelligent self-healing systems and AI-powered test script generations are explored with. The testing tool can create new scripts for fresh scenarios and is prepared daily to make its own decisions for any changed circumstances, manage the tests, and fix bugs.  

6. Autonomous testing 

The last destination for all the previous efforts, autonomous testing is achieved through the effective use of platforms and tools. The complete test effort should end in a system where the test engineers are open to experimenting with different sides of the project while the existing system runs like a well-oiled machine. The automation tool is now capable of learning from past failures, learn concepts and modify each test according to the changes in each feedback cycle. 

Ai-driven QE services are the most sought-after services in the industry today. End-to-end automation through reusable frameworks and AI-led functional and security tests are driving the underlying tech for driverless vehicles with seamless software integration and improved safety.  

At TestUnity we have an expert team of QA Engineers. This enables us to give our clients the support they require to ensure that their software hits the market in the right circumstances.  When it comes to QA, nothing is better than having the correct people in charge. That’s why we make sure that everyone in our team is qualified and accredited on some of the industry’s best practices. 

Contact us for a free consultation and see for yourself why TestUnity’s QA approach is the best choice for your software.

TestUnity

Testunity is a SaaS-based technology platform driven by a vast community of testers & QAs spread around the world, powered by technology & testing experts to create the dedicated testing hub. Which is capable of providing almost all kind of testing services for almost all the platforms exists in software word.