Why Automate Software Regression Testing?

 

At the core of every digital transformation exercise is a software application, which, in consonance with the hardware, runs the system and achieves the desired objectives. However, the software application needs to be updated periodically to address the challenges of the day such as the advent of new technologies or changing customer preferences, among others. Software regression testing helps to identify and assess if the changes made to the software application have met their objectives and/or the changes have created a new issue. For example, a photo-sharing service decides to introduce video compatibility. However, when the new service/feature is implemented, the photo-sharing service takes a hit.

Regression testing is to find out such unintended change(s) and fix it before the software application is released to the customers. Thus, QA regression testing ensures the software application is updated to meet the market/technical/customer requirements and is free of any issues.

Scenarios to conduct software regression testing exercise

There can be scenarios or situations for the QA specialists to conduct regression testing to bring about stability to the software application. The below-mentioned test cases are some of the scenarios that necessitate the conduct of such testing:

·       Complex integration test cases

·       Functionalities to be frequently used by the users

·       Scenarios showing the working of a software application’s core features

·       Functionalities to have undergone some recent changes

·       Boundary value test cases

·       Samples of successful or failed test cases

Why regression testing in software testing be automated?

When changes are made to a software application prior to its release, regressions (resident glitches in a functionality or feature) can get triggered. These can negatively impact the release schedule of the software application and increase the development cost. However, there is one way to accelerate QA regression testing and meet the delivery turnaround time – automation. In fact, manually looking for the unintended changes in the application can be time-consuming and entails engaging the testers for extended periods of time. And since testing in such cases can be repeatable in nature, automated regression testing can reduce the time and effort of testing. Since regression testing checks the functioning of the existing features of a software application, it is important to have the maximum test coverage courtesy an automated regression testing strategy.

Factors to consider while deciding a regression testing strategy

QA specialists should consider the following factors while contemplating the decision to pursue automation in regression testing.

# Is test automation suitable for the project?

Test automation, including when used in regression testing, is not suitable for every project. For example, short-term and small projects such as developing small mobile apps, do not need automation to test regression as the time to write automated test scripts may exceed the total timeframe of the project. Hence, automation in regression testing should be for projects that are of large or medium scale, comprising several sub-systems such as enterprise applications and multi-user gaming software with many releases.

# When to write the automated test scripts?

It is not possible to write scripts for automated regression testing beforehand for the process depends on the manual test cases that have found bugs in the past consistently. Since such manual test cases are not available at the start, testers should proceed with automation when stable software modules are present.

# Which are the tests to be automated first?

Regression test scripts may be developed based on repeatable test cases wherein bugs were found consistently through manual testing. Such tests cover core functions and exceptions like boundary conditions or negative test cases impacting other functional areas of the application.

# Quantum of regression testing to be automated

For most software applications around 70-90% of manual test cases that have detected bugs consistently can be automated. The rest 30% are the manual cases that have detected bugs inconsistently or showed false outcomes.

Pitfalls to consider while conducting automation of software regression testing

Test automation experts should keep the following pitfalls in mind while devising an automated regression testing strategy:

·       Review and maintain regression test suites to ensure the efficiency, accuracy, and speed of testing

·       Do away with false positives generated by automated regression testing suites by verifying the results with a manual smoke test

·       The complexity of automating any regression testing process should not come in the way of its implementation

Conclusion

Since regression testing is crucial to ascertain the proper functioning of existing or old functionalities when changes are made to the application, it is crucial and should not be overlooked. Through automation, any regression testing company can maximize test coverage using a minimal number of test cases thereby saving time and cost significantly. 

Article Original Source:
https://dev.to/

Debunking the Common Regression Testing Myths

With customer experience driving enterprises towards delivering better quality products, they are going the Agile-DevOps way. In this, any product or service needs to be continuously upgraded to meet the changing realities of the day. The realities may include the following:

·       Advent of new technologies that have the potential to increase efficiency, quality, and productivity

·       Changing customer preferences about products or specific features of any product

·       New and better quality products being brought to the table by the competitors

·       The products need to comply with the new security or industry guidelines

·       The products should be workable across devices, browsers, or operating systems, and their updates

Therefore, while in pursuit of Continuous Integration and Delivery (CI and CD) goals as required by Agile and DevOps, the product needs to be updated periodically. While this is a good practice, for it ensures the product remains trendy and technically superior, it can be challenging as well. The updates to one part of the software or the whole software can trigger unlikely changes. These changes can affect the smooth functioning of the software or introduce glitches. So, on one side, the software is updated in consonance with the market or customer demand, on the other, it fails to deliver the best customer experience. To pre-empt such a situation from developing, the QA team performs software regression testing.

What is regression testing?

It is a type of testing that ensures the functionality of an application is not affected by a fix or change made in that application. When a tested software undergoes a fix or update, which does not necessarily affect the whole software, the QA team does not test all the modules. Instead, only a few test cases are executed ensuring adequate test coverage. Any regression testing in software testing can be a fit for test automation due to the overwhelming number of repetitive tests to be conducted.

Benefits of regression testing

QA regression testing accrues a number of benefits for the QA team. These include

·       Ensuring any changes (enhancements or bug fixes) made to the application or a specific module of the application do not affect the tested code

·       Improving the overall quality of the product and making it trendy and customer friendly

·       Reducing the testing time as only a limited area of the software is tested

·       Identifying the bugs or glitches causing the issue and fixing them

·       Helping to implement a Continuous Integration (CI) setup. Here a build triggered by a code is tested automatically in the form of an automated regression testing

Debunking the common myths about regression testing

With time, some myths have gained credence in the minds of QA testers related to regression testing.

Limited testing of functionalities may not be a good idea: Here, instead of testing the already tested codes, only a specific area/feature/functionality of the software is tested. And since the entire software is not tested, the glitches triggered by the fixes or updates in one part of the application may not be identified. This is where the QA specialists need to be meticulous with their planning.

Automation is mandatory to plan any regression testing strategy: Since repeated testing of the already tested code (not the whole application) is done in such type of testing, automation is preferred to save time. However, this does not mean that manual testing can be completely replaced. It is helpful to get a human insight into testing, which automated testing may not always offer. Also, test automation requires proper maintenance of test scripts and test cases lest they deliver the wrong outcome. Further, in cases where quick fixes are needed, manual testing can do the necessary QA regression testing since test automation may take time to setup.

Regression testing lasts long: Any automated regression testing can check and recheck the codes, which no manual checking can accomplish in a reasonable period. Since the scope of testing is small, the testing need not take ages to complete.

Regression testing is not obligatory: This is often put forth by enterprises that give precedence to ‘faster time to market’. However, doing away with regression testing services can backfire as any quick fix to an already tested product can trigger changes elsewhere. And without identifying and fixing those changes (read inclusion of glitches or bugs,) the final product will not be of superior quality.

Conclusion

Notwithstanding the above-mentioned myths, the need for regression testing has become mandatory given the frequent updates received by software applications. It helps QA specialists to do away with any unfavourable changes to the application and delivers the best possible user experience.