Successful Automation of Cloud Testing

The Cloud demands that we be as nimble as possible, delivering features and fixes in almost real-time fashion. Both customer and provider rely on software development that can maintain quality while being light on its feet and constantly moving. In addition, Cloud-oriented systems tend to be highly complex and dynamic in structure — more than our industry has ever seen before.

The traditional software development and testing models do not support this constant “diligence in motion”; therefore a new Cloud delivery model must be adopted. Traditional models worked reasonably well in the world of client / server, since users were most often internal resources. User experience was downplayed, and glitches tolerated.

The lengthy cycle for requirements generation and feature development, followed by a set of testing cycles, allows for extended periods of time without testing. But these gaps do not correlate with the needs of Cloud consumers. For them, ongoing, reliable, uninterrupted experience is everything.

An effective delivery model of software for the Cloud pivots on one key moment – the instance of feature release. A provider or customer must be able to fix or change application features on-the-fly; that is, all tests for this fix or new feature are complete at the moment of feature release.

The only way companies can realistically achieve this model is to have superior test sets, that are fully automated – and to go about automation the right way. Otherwise it can quickly become unachievable and unmanageable.

“In the past 5 years, evaluating millions of tests for our clients, LogiGear has achieved automation percentages of over 95% of all tests.”

When automation efforts fail to achieve high percentages on tests, the method is often considered faulty. But when test automation follows specific and unique guidelines, its success can be measured again and again.

Guidelines for Successful Cloud Test Automation

When an automation team spends a disproportionate amount of time on automating tests, and the resulting automation then ends up covering only about 30% of the tests, the automation policy has failed. A much higher percentage is needed to “test everything always” in Cloud applications. Additionally, automation should not dominate the test process. The actual automation development, and more importantly maintenance effort should only have a modest footprint in terms of time and resources.

While many testing organizations mistakenly approach automation from the perspective of tooling or programming, an approach centered on automation effective test design combined with an agile test development process yields far better results. When done right, the result is a set of automated tests with on-the-fly adaptability that readily meets the facile requirements of testing in the Cloud.

Tools have their place in the process, but frequently steal the center of attention, viewed as panaceas. Primary focus goes to buying and learning “the tool” rather than expending the time, effort and cost involved in revisiting test design. But if a framework and test design process are not established, using a tool is like shooting in the dark — the Ready > Fire > Aim! approach adds up casualties quickly. The plan of attack must be mapped out before a proper weapon can be selected, otherwise “fire” can — and as we have seen, usually will — turn into “backfire”.

Establishing a test design process allows for more possible tests that are readily available, improving development cycles through flexibility. The approach aims to have at least 95 percent of tests automated, and 95 percent of testers’ time spent on test development, not automation.

These tests are not based on regression or bug validation, but are calibrated to find and hunt for bugs, boundary conditions, state transitions, exploratory testing and negative tests.

The test design approach has six essential principles:

  1. No more than 5% of all tests should be executed manually

    The cost of introducing automation is usually significant. By maximizing the investment, automating a high percentage of test cases, the return of a rewarding payoff is more likely.

  2. No more than 5% of all efforts around testing should involve automating the tests

    Creating more and better test cases is key to proper test design. When testers spend significant portions of their time programming automation, test cases tend to be shallow, addressing only the basic functionalities of the system.

    Allocating time for in-depth development allows testers to write more elaborate cases, using testing techniques such as decision tables or soap opera testing, as well as their imagination (a frequently underestimated asset). The result is better coverage with less effort at the tool end.

  3. Test development and automation must be fully separated

    To make sure that test cases are sufficiently in-depth, a distinction must be made between the responsibilities of testers and programmers. For successful Cloud test automation, testers must be dedicated only to testing.

  4. Test cases must have a clear and differentiated scope

    Each test case should be well-defined in its scope and purpose, and together test cases should map out comprehensive coverage while avoiding overlap and omissions.

  5. Tests must be written in the right level of abstraction

    Tools for conducting tests must be flexible enough to handle both higher business levels and lower user interface (UI) levels on demand.

  6. Test methods must be simple

    The method used to achieve effective test design, and the subsequent high coverage automation, should be easy and straightforward. Most of all, it should not add to the complexity of automation.

These principles of test design ensure the adaptability required for successful automated testing in the Cloud. Software development companies that have automated most of their testing, focus most of their efforts on testing, have dedicated testers trained to create comprehensive, flexible test design and produce useful, accessible results will be well-equipped for travel at the speed of service.

LogiGear Corporation

LogiGear Corporation LogiGear Corporation provides global solutions for software testing, and offers public and corporate software-testing training programs worldwide through LogiGear University. LogiGear is a leader in the integration of test automation, offshore resources and US project management for fast and cost-effective results. Since 1994, LogiGear has worked with hundreds of companies from the Fortune 500 to early-stage startups, creating unique solutions to exactly meet their needs. With facilities in the US and Vietnam, LogiGear helps companies double their test coverage and improve software quality while reducing testing time and cutting costs. For more information, contact Joe Hughes + 01 650.572.1400

LogiGear Corporation
LogiGear Corporation provides global solutions for software testing, and offers public and corporate software testing training programs worldwide through LogiGear University. LogiGear is a leader in the integration of test automation, offshore resources and US project management for fast, cost-effective results. Since 1994, LogiGear has worked with Fortune 500 companies to early-stage start-ups in, creating unique solutions to meet their clients’ needs. With facilities in the US and Viet Nam, LogiGear helps companies double their test coverage and improve software quality while reducing testing time and cutting costs.

The Related Post

We’ve scoured the internet to search for videos that provide a wealth of knowledge about Test Automation. We curated this short-list of videos that cover everything from the basics, to the more advanced, and why Test Automation should be part of part of any software development organization. Automation Testing Tutorial for Beginners This tutorial introduces ...
September Issue 2019: Advancing Automation
How to do UI test automation with the fewest headaches I’m currently interviewing lots of teams that have implemented acceptance testing for my new book. A majority of those interviewed so far have at some point shot themselves in the foot with UI test automation. After speaking to several people who are about to do ...
The guide for CUI Automated Testing strategies, including chatbot testing and voice app testing. In the Software Testing industry, trends come and go that shape the future of testing. From Automation in Agile, to the DevOps era we are now in, trends are what evolve and improve our testing processes and ideologies. Currently, many researchers ...
Developers of large data-intensive software often notice an interesting — though not surprising — phenomenon: When usage of an application jumps dramatically, components that have operated for months without trouble suddenly develop previously undetected errors. For example, the application may have been installed on a different OS-hardware-DBMS-networking platform, or newly added customers may have account ...
Introduction A characteristic of data warehouse (DW) development is the frequent release of high-quality data for user feedback and acceptance. At the end of each iteration of DW ETLs (Extract-Transform-Load), data tables are expected to be of sufficient quality for the next ETL phase. This objective requires a unique approach to quality assurance methods and ...
LogiGear Magazine September Issue 2020: Testing Transformations: Modernizing QA in the SDLC
Looking for a solution to test your voice apps across devices and platforms? Whether you’re new or experienced in testing voice apps such as Alexa skill or Google Home actions, this article will give you a holistic view of the challenges of executing software testing for voice-based apps. It also explores some of the basic ...
Has this ever happened to you: You’ve been testing for a while, perhaps building off of a branch, only to find out that, after all of this time, there is something big wrong. It’s a bad build and now you have to go backwards, fix something, and get a new build. Basically, you just wasted ...
Cross-Browser Testing is an integral part of the Software Testing world today. When we need to test the functionality of a website or web application, we need to do so on multiple browsers for a multitude of reasons.
There are few topics in quality assurance testing that cause as much confusion as smoke testing versus sanity testing. The two names would seem to describe very different practices— and they do! But people still get them confused, since the distinction is somewhat subtle.
5 roadblocks in vehicular autonomy that complicate Software Testing Experts in the field have previously referred to air travel as somewhat of a gold standard for autonomous vehicle safety, but after Boeing’s two tragedies, that analogy can no longer be used when talking about self-driving cars. This was after Boeing’s 737 MAX Jets have found ...

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Stay in the loop with the lastest
software testing news

Subscribe