Published on January 18th, 2023 | by Bibhuranjan

How Automation Can Help Your QA Professionals Be More Efficient

Automation testing is an essential part of software development, and it can help improve the quality of software products in a variety of ways. One of the main advantages of QA automation is that it can help uncover defects that might otherwise go undetected when using manual testing methods. Automation tools like Selenium WebDriver support multiple programming languages like Java, Python, C#, Ruby, JavaScript, and more. It is widely used for automating test cases for web applications across different browsers, operating systems, and devices.

Automated tests can also be run much more quickly and repeatedly than manual tests, which can help identify problems that might only occur under specific conditions or with particular combinations of inputs.

Automation testing uses specialized software and tools to automate the execution of test cases and to compare the actual results to the expected results. This can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the testing process by allowing more test cases to be run in less time and reducing the likelihood of human error. Additionally, automation testing can also help to improve the coverage of the testing process by allowing more complex test scenarios to be executed. It also helps reduce human efforts, saves time and money, and provides instant feedback.

What is Automation Testing?

Automation is the process of using software tools to automate the testing of applications and mobile apps. These tools can perform a wide range of tasks, including functional testing, regression testing, and performance testing. The primary goal of automation is to reduce the amount of manual testing that needs to be done and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the testing process.

By automating repetitive tasks, automation allows software testing teams to focus on more complex test cases and to find and fix bugs more quickly and effectively.

QA Automation

Quality Assurance automation typically involves the use of testing scripts, which are a set of instructions that the automation tools can execute in order to perform a specific test or set of tests. These scripts can be written in a variety of programming languages, depending on the automation tool being used. Once the testing scripts have been created, they can be run repeatedly by the automation tools, which will perform the tests and record the results.

The automation tools are used to simulate interactions between the application or mobile app being tested and a user. They can be used to test the application’s user interface, as well as its underlying code and databases. The automation tools can also be used to perform functional tests, which check that the application behaves as expected in different scenarios.

The automation tools also provide reporting capabilities, which allow the testing team to view the results of the tests in an organized manner. This can include things like test execution logs, screenshots, and detailed information about any bugs that were identified. The reporting feature makes it easy for the testing team to identify and isolate issues and quickly take corrective action.

QA automation is essentially a way of improving the testing process by using automated tools to perform a large number of tests in a shorter amount of time, with more precision, and without human error.

Benefits of automation testing

Automation testing offers a plethora of benefits that can add to the efficiency of QA professionals.

Saving time and money

Automated testing can save time and money by allowing tests to be run more quickly and at a lower cost than manual testing. Because automated tests can be run repeatedly at no additional cost, they can save significant time and money over the long term. Automation can also be run round the clock, allowing for faster delivery of functionalities and a shorter time to market.

LambdaTest is a cloud-based cross-browser testing platform that allows users to test their web applications on a wide range of browsers and operating systems. With LambdaTest, developers can perform automated testing of their web applications using Selenium and Appium, which are popular open-source automation frameworks.

It’s designed to speed up the testing process and improve the overall quality of the final product.

Improved accuracy and consistency

Automated testing can improve the accuracy and consistency of test results because the tests are run in the same way every time. Automated tests are not subject to human error, which can lead to inconsistencies in the results.

Increased test coverage

Automated testing can allow for increased test coverage by allowing more tests to be run in less time. This can help to identify and fix more bugs, improving the overall quality of the application or mobile app being tested.

A cross-browser testing platform like LambdaTest provides debugging tools to help you identify and fix issues in your web application. It also allows you to integrate with popular bug-tracking tools such as Jira, Asana, Trello, and Slack.

Automated testing can be particularly effective in supporting shift-left testing

It can be integrated into the development process and run automatically, making it easier to catch bugs early on. Automated testing can also improve test coverage and provide more comprehensive test results than manual testing. By automating testing, it is possible to perform regression testing more frequently and test more areas in less time. This allows you to catch issues early, which helps you improve your product quality, reduce costs, and get to market faster.

This additionally provides the following advantages:

Identify and fix bugs early in the development process, before they have a chance to become more serious and costly to fix.
Improve the overall quality of the product by catching issues early and addressing them in a timely manner.
Reduce the amount of time and resources required to test the product, as bugs are identified and fixed earlier in the development process.
Improve communication and collaboration among different stakeholders, including developers, testers, and project managers, which can help to enhance the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the development process.
Enhance the overall performance and security of the product, by catching and addressing any potential performance or security issues early in the development process.
It increases the reliability of the product, as it helps identify bugs early on.
More efficient regression testing

Automated regression testing can be performed much more efficiently than manual testing, and this can help ensure that new code changes do not break existing functionality.

Automation test scripts can be reused, increasing the efficiency and scalability of the testing process

Once written, test scripts can be saved and reused, which makes it easy to test new versions or variants of the application or mobile app, allowing the software testing team to expand the scope of their testing.

This is especially important in situations where large amounts of data need to be tested and managed, such as in large-scale projects or in projects that involve complex databases. Automation solutions can also be used to quickly generate test data that is specific to the requirements of a given test, which can help to improve the quality and relevance of the test data.

Testing becomes more valuable with test automation

Automating and integrating tasks can improve testing efficiency and save time by focusing on test cases that require significant manual effort or are executed multiple times during development cycles. This can include unit testing, smoke testing, functional testing, integration testing, and regression testing. To increase productivity, start with small, easy tasks that can be automated quickly and then continue to expand the automation process with each development cycle.

Additionally, integrating automated testing tools can help with routine tasks such as build deployment, regression testing, and test case management. This can free up time for QA teams to focus on more specialized tasks that support business and application development.

Distributed test execution

This is a technique in which test cases are run simultaneously on multiple machines, operating systems, or browsers in order to detect the behavior of an application in different environments. This is not feasible with manual testing, as testers can only test on one platform or device at a time.

Automated testing tools like LambdaTest, however, allow for distributed test execution by running various tests in parallel on different computers or devices. This helps to speed up the testing process, increase test coverage, and ensure that the application behaves correctly in different environments.

A more rapid feedback system

When a software project is in its validation stage, automation testing is absolutely essential. It vastly improves communication between programmers, product merchants, and designers, thus giving room for potential bugs to be fixed right away, which increases the effectiveness of the development team.

Summary

Automation testing is an important skill for QA professionals to have because it can help improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the software testing process. Automated testing can help to catch bugs and other issues early on, allowing them to be fixed before they become major problems.

By automating repetitive testing tasks, QA professionals can spend more time focusing on other important tasks, such as exploratory testing, test case design, and test data creation. Additionally, automation testing can help to increase the overall coverage of the test cases, which can help ensure that the software is as stable as possible.

Additionally, by mastering automation testing skills, QA professionals can also open new opportunities and explore various options in the market, such as taking on roles as an automation lead, automation architect, automation test developer, etc. By having skills in automation testing, they can become more valuable to their employer and take on more responsibility within their team.

All in all, automation testing is an important skill for QA professionals to have and can provide many benefits to the testing process and lead to enhanced efficiency.

Cover Image by Freepik

Tags: automation, automation testing, QA automation, QA testing

About the Author

Bibhuranjan Editorial Officer, technofaq.org I'm an avid tech enthusiast at heart. I like to mug up on new and exciting developments on science and tech and have a deep love for PC gaming. Other hobbies include writing blog posts, music and DIY projects.