Bridging new and old features through Regression Testing

Regression Testing

To remain competitive, companies need to reinvent their products with new features and functionalities from time to time. It is observed that the end consumers are wont to change their preferences for products based on factors like new features, faster loading, cost, and seamless functioning. Hence, the incorporation of the above-mentioned factors can increase the adaptability of the software applications to their end customers. However, the newly added features or changes can trigger changes in the old features, which if not addressed, can impact the user experience adversely. This is where regression testing comes into play, wherein the functioning of the existing or old features is tested. It ensures that the new code additions do not render the existing functions infructuous. A well-planned regression testing strategy investigates the bugs that might creep into any new build inadvertently, while making sure that the previous ones are eliminated.

Remember, any change in a software application can cause unforeseen consequences, thus, adversely affecting the user experience. These unforeseen consequences or side-effects aka regressions can appear in components, features, functionalities, and systems that are not part of the software changes.

 A regression testing exercise flags such regressions or changes and helps the QA team to:

·         Identify and fix the inherent or newly-introduced glitches into the existing system because of the new build.

·         Boost the performance of the software application.

·         Look into any changes to the hosting environment. 

Regression testing can be executed during any of the below mentioned QA tests –

·         Unit Test: In this type of QA testing, the smallest testable components of any application aka units are tested to check if they are performing as expected. Any glitch in the individual components can have a cascading effect on the whole software when the same gets integrated.

·         Integration test: This is unlike the unit test where the integrated groups (a combination of units) or modules of an application are tested in various ways.

·         System test: This follows up from integration testing where the performance and functioning of various components are tested to check how they interact with each other as part of an integrated system.

·         Acceptance test: Since every application needs validation on the litmus test of user acceptability, the acceptance test finds out the degree to which the application addresses the user requirements and gets their approval. This type of testing is named as beta testing, field testing, end-user testing, or application testing. 

Therefore, regression testing in software testing usually takes place at the end of each test cycle. Importantly, it includes unit regression testing where each unit code is validated by rerunning the unit tests. Since regression testing can be repetitive and time consuming, it is often automated to reduce the execution time and free up the testers for other important tasks. 

When do you execute a regression testing strategy?

Whenever a software application is modified by adding, changing, or removing features or functionalities, regression testing is needed to be carried out. Let us understand the same with the following examples. 

Addition of new functionalities:  A software application allows a user to login using their email credentials. However, a new functionality is added wherein the login can be executed using Facebook as well. Here, regression testing would check if the old functionality of logging in with email is working or not.

Any Change Requirement (CR) is implemented: The password option is removed from the login page to facilitate quicker login.

Fixing a defect: In case the login button develops a glitch and is fixed by the developers, the QA team should perform an automated regression testing to check the fixed login button and other associated functionalities are performing as expected.

Fixing a performance issue: In case a slow loading software application is fixed, reducing the load speed from, say, 5 seconds to 2 seconds. So, when the code changes are made to reduce the loading speed, some glitches may enter or old functionalities might get affected. This is where regression testing services can execute the test and pre-empt any glitch from affecting the performance of the application.

Change in the framework or environment: If the database is updated from MySQL to Oracle, the resultant code changes need to be validated to prevent any unforeseen consequences. 

How to go about executing regression testing – manual or automation?

Given the tedium and complexity of such tests, they need to be automated. Since these tests are needed to be executed after every build or deployment, they should be automated to save time and effort. Moreover, running thousands of test cases manually would be practically impossible and can lead to several glitches remaining unchecked. 

 

How to strategize a sound regression testing methodology

The success of any product change depends on the success of its regression testing. Let us find out the steps that QA experts should take in executing a sound regression testing strategy.

·         Monitor any changes in the test cases, which are based on the modifications done on the software application.

·         Analyze the changes (if any) and their impact on the components.

·         Identify the risk prone areas in the test cases.

·         Set priority for the test cases. Select the right automation tool and test environment.

·         Automate test cases and set them for testing.

·         Keep the test suite with the latest test cases. Remove the redundant ones.

·         Execute the tests for different scenarios and dependencies.

Conclusion

Any successful regression testing ensures a software application runs all guns blazing, especially on parameters like speed, accuracy, security, efficiency, and performance. The testing should not be an afterthought but put into practice the moment any new build is initiated.

Check out this case study to find out how Automated Regression Testing helps in the healthcare sector to reduce its Maintenance Costs significantly.

Diya works for Cigniti Technologies, Global Leaders in Independent Quality Engineering & Software Testing Services to be appraised at CMMI-SVC v1.3, Maturity Level 5, and is also ISO 9001:2015 & ISO 27001:2013 certified.

How does Interactive Application Security Testing improve your software

The spectre of cybercrime is spreading thick and fast with companies and individuals being defrauded of sensitive personal and business information and money on a humongous scale. It is estimated that by 2020, the world shall witness an annual outgo of $5 trillion because of cybercrime (Source: www.cyberdefensemagazine.com). Strands of malware, ransomware, viruses, and trojans are wreaking havoc worldwide with around 31% of organizations having experienced cyber-attacks on their IT architecture and IoT facing attacks to the tune of 600% in 2017 alone (Source: Symantec.)

The only way to address the alarming situation is by increasing the security budget and adopting the best cyber security practices. First and foremost, businesses should ensure their software architecture conforms to the regulatory protocols such as PCI DSS, GLBA, SOX, and HIPPA among others. Furthermore, they should ensure any software application being developed to undergo rigorous application security testing. To ensure the same, it is about time businesses embraced Interactive Application Security Testing (IAST) instead of the dated Static and Dynamic Analysis (SAST and DAST).

IAST is being hailed as the next big thing in the arsenal of cyber security testing for its plethora of benefits including an expansive test coverage. It has emerged as a potent disrupter in the world of application security testing with an innate capability to elicit information from an application undergoing QA. The information may comprise data flow, stack trace, libraries, runtime requests, and control flow among others. Let us understand IAST better in the following segment.

What is IAST?

As the code of an application is run by an automated test tool or human tester (manual testing) to test its functionality, the IAST or Interactive Application Security Testing analyzes the code for any built-in security vulnerability by using agents or sensors. IAST doesn’t include testing the entire software application but only the codes that are being part of the functional test. Needless to state, IAST is best leveraged when the QA environment encompasses an automated functional test. In addition to monitoring the existing security vulnerabilities in an application, IAST can verify them and declare them as potential threats. Thereupon, IAST can produce a vulnerability test report with the suggested course of action needed to fix the same. The report and its attendant guidelines enable the development team to fix the issues on priority. Typically, IAST is implemented shift-left in the SDLC resulting in early identification of runtime vulnerabilities. This pre-empts delays and mitigates the risk of breaches leading to cost savings.

What are the benefits of IAST?

IAST offers a host of benefits as listed below to identify vulnerabilities and strengthen the security framework of applications.

• There is no process disruption in executing IAST as it can run concurrently (and transparently) with existing software security testing. Since there is a premium on testing time due to a business’s obsession with time-to-market, IAST offers no disruptions or checkpoints. This is due to the fact that an IAST technique executes application security testing by leveraging activities that are already running.

• There is no need to rewrite the test scripts as IAST can be run by reusing the existing ones. This results in savings on time, effort, and money.

• Provides integration with analytics tools such as Software Composition Analysis (SCA) to scan open source components in third party applications or binary files.

• Since static and dynamic analysis does not include the testing of frameworks or libraries, a vast section of the application remains unchecked of vulnerabilities. On the other hand, since IAST validates the entire application from inside while the same is being run, there is better test coverage of the entire codebase.

• IAST does not need customization, finetuning, or configuration during its implementation. It simply runs alongside the software application security testing process automatically and on a continuous basis.

• IAST offers instant feedback assuring developers that the code being developed is clean. This can eliminate procedural delays in validating glitches thus saving time and money.

• Security tools can generate false error reports, which can engage the attention of testers and lead to the stretching of their workload. Moreover, this increased workload can let testers spend less time in identifying the critical flaws. However, with IAST, there is more access to data resulting in better error findings.

Conclusion

Web applications are increasingly being threatened by hackers to steal sensitive personal data, critical intellectual property, and other info. The existing methods or techniques for security vulnerability testing are not uniform and differ in the way they scan and test. Since not all tools are similar in their effectiveness, businesses have their task cut out while choosing the best one. However, the shift-left testing in IAST helps to identify and address the vulnerabilities early and prevents delays and cost overruns.

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