Automation testing is a regression testing technique to automate predefined testing tasks with the assistance of various test automation tools and testing scripts. The process of test automation involves writing test scripts to execute the test cases which otherwise are done manually. Test automation is the key to continuous testing. It has marked benefits in terms of accuracy, dependability, enhanced test coverage, time and effort saving. But, the road to automation has certain challenges that need to be addressed before any organization decides to automate its testing process. Webomates has identified certain key metrics in test automation. You can read about it on our blog “To automate or not to automate“.

In this article, we will talk about a few challenges faced while adopting an automation strategy for the testing process.

High initial setup cost

The initial phase of setting up test automation is expensive. It involves careful analysis, design, and development of a framework. Additionally, there are licensing, development and operational costs. There are certain costs attached in acquiring the right resources with the necessary skills to facilitate test automation. It is a challenge to get the top management to see the long term benefits of test automation vis-à-vis the initial setup cost. They should be convinced of the importance of test automation in terms of time-to-market, test Coverage, accuracy, improved regression, performance, functionality, etc.

Lack of Scripting Expertise

Skills

QA team should be well equipped with the necessary technical skills to design and maintain test framework with the relevant test scripts and should be proficient enough to resolve issues if any.  This implies that, in addition to the current testing related skill set, they should be well versed in programming languages and have a good know-how of the testing tool being used. It is a time-intensive exercise to acquire the right skill set or train the existing team. This sometimes leads to opting for manual testing over automation to save resources.

Direct dive into automation without stabilizing first

In their zeal to automate the tests, the testing teams end up taking short cuts by building and executing the tests without proper planning. As a result, some tests may fail leading to distrust for test automation. Ideally, the tests should be carefully planned, written and stabilized before rolling out for the final automation process.

Test Case Maintenance is a Herculean task

Maintaining a repository of the automated test case is a huge task, especially for large scale projects. Every time there is a change in functionality, the related test cases need to be updated in order to accommodate those changes. Any change in the test environment or third party tools also calls for appropriate changes in test cases to reflect any environmental or configuration impact. Identifying the affected test cases, modifying and verifying them again is a complex and error-prone process. Click to know more about this article: Challenges in testing

 

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