Test Automation in Agile

Agile development, encouraged by the increased adoption of DevOps to meet the market demand for faster updates, is today the most preferred methodology of software development.

Faster time to market, constant additional enhancements, reduced regression run time and enhanced test coverage demand a need for Agile Test Automation Services.

Almost 70% of software project is estimated to be primarily maintenance and enhancement.

While Agile ensures seamless coordination between teams, Test Automation enhances test coverage and reduces regression test cycle time to meet the deadlines of rigid sprint cycle.

• Story Time: Instead of documentation, the development is guided by stories and wireframes for each feature – the scenarios for which a feature will be needed, how it should behave, and the dependencies.
• Backlog: All these features and their requirements are stored in what is called the backlog. Developers pick up the ideal mix of features from this backlog, sometimes abandoning or adding some features depending on dependencies and business priorities.
• Integrated Testing: Testing happens in parallel, and not necessarily by a separate team. As each unit is developed, it is tested simultaneously. At the end of it, integrated testing, system testing and user acceptance testing are conducted to ensure smooth flow.

Agile has disrupted the way testing was approached earlier:

• Manual testing too slow for the agile environments, there is no time to wait for a stable build.
• While the features backlog is a referral for development and testing, the sequence cannot be predicted in advance. Even planned features maybe shelved, rendering all advanced preparation for test cases useless.

Framework-based Test Automation

With a test automation framework such as Indium iSAFE 3.5, which meets the needs of agile environment, these challenges are easily overcome.

It enables ‘In Cycle Testing’, whereby test cases are automated in parallel to the development process and kept ready. An iterative testing model, it enables multiple sprints. Though the first time it is manual testing, it enables automating subsequent test iterations.

It facilitates test driven development, whereby the testers set the expectations and inputs on the scenarios they will be testing for.

This helps avoid the back and forth between developer and the tester and reduce the test cycle.

Our frameworks are customizable, portable and reusable, they are capable of enhancing test coverage, running target based parallel execution and efficiently analyzing the root cause.

All our frameworks are branded under ‘iAccelerate’ suite of tools and frameworks.

Timely and Relevant

Milestone driven testing solution from Indium assures customers return on investment even when ensuring on time, quality assured development. Some of the components of this include:

On demand resource ramp up and ramp down: The team size varies and can be expanded or reduced depending on the testing needs in the development cycle.

While the ability to expand teams contributes to shortening of the testing process, the reduction brings down the cost as the customers pay depending on the team size at any point.

Tool mix: Indium recommends the right mix of tools for testing, keeping cost and quality in mind.

CoE: Indium’s Centre of Excellence is a repository of knowledge, constantly researching trends and tools.

This helps in constantly upgrade the skills and tools on offer, and provide optimum testing solutions that are cost and time effective. Finding the right Test Tools is an important contributor towards optimizing and accelerating the existing QA processes.

This can be achieved with a well-planned and controlled tool selection process.  Indium Software is a tool diagnostic shop, which offers a complete tool assessment services based on automation coverage, support for specific set of technology/platform, roadmap for RoI, etc.

Indium’s blog is a great resource sought by many developers and testers, answering queries in difficult hurdles they face during development and testing.

The learnings have been honed from the experience gained since 1999, when Indium was started as a dedicated testing service provider and pursued development of IP driven test automation solutions under the iAccelerate brand.