How Applying Automation Early in the Testing Process Can Benefit Your Company

It is quite common for companies to have a single-minded focus on development and deployment when approaching test planning. While understandable, this approach is also short-sighted. And companies miss the myriad of benefits from including automation earlier (and often) in the testing process. Inserting early automation into the testing process allows planning beyond functional testing.

What are the Benefits of Early Automation in the Testing Process?

Many companies use methodologies like Agile, Scaled Agile (SAFe) and DevOps to bridge the gap between Software Development and Operations. Investing in automation early and thoughtfully can lessen project stress and ensure a smoother implementation.  Here are some benefits of early automation:

• Early Automation Allows Iterative Script Development
  Iterative script development creates the freedom to repeat testing process as frequently as needed until the desired outcome is reached. With early automation, iterative script development is possible because the automation framework is established parallel to code development. Iterative script development also increases the likelihood of an application’s success at go-live.
• Early Automation Broadens Testing Options and Flexibility
  Testing automation can be used in many ways. For example, a testing team can use automation to generate test date when it is not readily available. Automation can also be used to assist with Performance and Load Testing. By using different approaches to automation, such as API Testing, Unit Testing, and Database Testing, User Interface (UI) dependency is reduced, thereby allowing Testers to begin testing before the UI is ready. Automation also assists with verification of build health via smoke testing.
• Early Automation Enables Faster Delivery with Increased Correctness and Quality
  Applying automation early in the testing process ensures proper test coverage and early defect detection. Earlier defect detection leads to faster defect resolution and therefore quicker delivery.
• Early Automation Decreases Project Costs
  Early defect detection reduces long-term project costs for the project. In addition, the testing time saved using automation lowers costs as well. For example, recent clients who used iLAB’s automation framework, accelerators, and regression suite reduced regression testing time from around 100 hours to 15 hours for each regression run. These suites also gave clients the ability to reuse scripts, which saved even more time and prevented recurring changes such as annual fee updates.

How Can iLAB Help My Company Implement Early Automation?

Before you launch or head further into your project, let the team at iLAB be your guide. We can further explain the benefits of having test automation in place sooner rather than later. iLAB understands that early automation is crucial to the success of your project. We will partner with your company to create and implement an individualized early automation strategy tailored to your specific needs and circumstances.

There are several questions that need to be answered before a company can determine and implement an early automation strategy. iLAB can help your company answer questions such as:

• What problem(s) do we need to solve?
  For example: Are you trying to keep up with your Agile teams and ‘fail fast’ to deliver value to the business in smaller increments? Are we aiming to reduce redundancy and automate repetitive tasks so our QA team can focus on testing new and complex functionality? Are we developing Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for partners to use and do not have a user interface to test it with yet?
• How will we solve these problems?
  For example, which automation tools will work best for your company’s needs? Which tests should be automated?
• Do we have the right resources for early automation?
  For example, do our current team members have the required skill set for early automation. If not, can the current team members be trained? If the current team members cannot be trained, can we hire new people with the required skill set?

Set Yourself Up for Success with iLAB!

For more information on early automation, contact us at (317) 218-3258.