Test Automation

4 min readJan 21, 2021

In this article we will talk about what is test automation, why we do test automation, benefits of test automation, types of automation testing, automation testing tools and process of automation testing.

What is Test Automation?

Automation testing is a Software testing technique to test and compare the actual outcome with the expected outcome. This can be achieved by writing test scripts or using any automation testing tool. Test automation is used to automate repetitive tasks and other testing tasks which are difficult to perform manually. On the contrary, Manual Testing is performed by a human sitting in front of a computer carefully executing the test steps.

Why Test Automation?

Manual software testing is performed by a human sitting in front of a computer carefully going through application screens, trying various usage and input combinations, comparing the results to the expected behaviour and recording their observations. Manual tests are repeated often during development cycles for source code changes and other situations like multiple operating environments and hardware configurations. An automated testing tool is able to playback prerecorded and predefined actions, compare the results to the expected behaviour and report the success or failure of these manual tests to a test engineer. Once automated tests are created they can easily be repeated and they can be extended to perform tasks impossible with manual testing. Because of this, savvy managers have found that automated software testing is an essential component of successful development projects.

Automation Testing Process

Step 1) Test Tool Selection — Select the suitable testing tool.

Step 2) Define the scope of Automation — Define the automation testing area of the application.

Step 3) Planning, Design and Development — In here we doing automation tools selected, framework design and its features, in-Scope and Out-of-scope items of automation, automation tested preparation, schedule and timeline of scripting and execution, products of automation testing.

Step 4) Test Execution — In here execute the test script and get test report.

Step 5) Maintenance — When that software was added new functions , also adding a new test script to it.

Benefits of Automation Testing

Following are benefits of automated testing:

70% faster than the manual testing
Wider test coverage of application features
Reliable in results
Ensure Consistency
Saves Time and Cost
Improves accuracy
Human Intervention is not required while execution
Increases Efficiency
Better speed in executing tests
Re-usable test scripts
Test Frequently and thoroughly
More cycle of execution can be achieved through automation
Early time to market

Types of Automated Testing

After knowing the automation frameworks, you might be interested in knowing the types of automation testing. Depending on your application, there are different types of testing that can be automated. Here, I have mentioned the most crucial types of automation testing.

1. Unit Testing

In unit testing, the individual components/units of a web application are tested. In general, unit tests are written by developers, but automation testers can also write them. Unit testing of a web app is performed during the development phase. It is also considered as the first level of web app testing.

2. Smoke Testing

Smoke testing is performed to examine whether the deployed build is stable or not. In short, verifying the working process of essential features so that testers can proceed with further testing.

3. Functional Testing

Functional testing is performed to analyse whether all the functions of your web app works as expected or not. The sections covered in functional testing involves user interface, APIs, database, security, client/server applications, and overall functionality of your website.

4. Integration Testing

In integration testing, the application modules are integrated logically and then tested as a group. It focuses on verifying the data communication between different modules of your web app.

5. Regression Testing

Regression testing is performed to verify that a recent change in code doesn’t affect the existing features of your web app. In simple terms, it verifies that the old code works in the same way as they were before making new changes.