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Role of Test Automation in DevOps

March 4, 2021

“Handling the monotonous testing is my most favorite part of the job!” said no tester, ever.

What makes Testing monotonous?

The Testing becomes uninteresting when a single test case needs to be tested repetitively or when the test cases seem very laborious. Even when it requires to run the same test case with diverse data & conditions, environments & browsers various times, for varied user sets, it becomes very monotonous and time-consuming at the same time. Especially when there is an urgent release and saving time is your top priority!

How Automation Testing comes to the rescue?

Automation Testing saves the organizations with all the manual testing bottlenecks and make the testing journey pleasant instead of monotonous and boring. The time saved here can be invested in much more productive and creative work!

The following benefits can be reaped out of Automation Testing when implemented in SDLC:

• Increased Speed
• Faster feedback cycle
• Reliability in results
• Improved consistency
• Accuracy & efficiency
• Reduced time & cost
• Parallel testing
• Reuse of the test scripts
• Augmented ROI

As the organizations are now adopting DevOps methodology that embraces a culture shift, breaking the silos to build, test & deploy applications to achieve augmented quality with reduced time & efforts, Automation plays an important role.

What is the role of Automation Testing in DevOps?

First, let us understand what DevOps is, the scenario before DevOps and how can Automation Testing blend with DevOps for a bigger benefit.

What is DevOps?

DevOps is a practice that converges the software Development(Dev) & Operations(Ops) teams to reduce the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), improve software quality, ensure continuous delivery with less complexity, and resolve problems faster.

What was the scenario before DevOps?

During the Waterfall Method SDLC, the software testing was done in the end. This method had several bottlenecks like longer testing time, manual interventions, communication delays between the Testing and Dev & Ops teams and possibility of missing chains of information.

How does Automation Testing fit in DevOps?

Under DevOps methodology, the manual testing taking place in parallel with the code development suffices the Continuous Integration (CI), Continuous Delivery (CD) and Continuous Testing (CT) process. But the organizations still face a lot of challenges such as time constraints in development & test cycles, testing in diverse devices, applications & browsers, parallel testing, and many more.

Hence, the most efficient way to deal with testing software in DevOps methodology is to adopt a well-integrated and robust test automation solution like TestingWhiz that can help in resolving these issues. Moreover, Automation Testing will enable easy communication, speedy deployments, continuous integration & delivery, better monitoring through dashboards & real-time reports, faster resolution, reduced human errors, better quality, and cost reduction.

How does Automation Testing outwit the Challenges faced by testers?

There are challenges that Testers face while manually testing the applications. Let us see how Automation Testing help to outwit these.

• Detection of defects at a later stage: While it is easier and cheaper to fix the defects at an early stage, it becomes expensive and difficult to fix it at the later stage. Automation Testing helps to record any oddities & errors due to mismatch data types that can hamper the production. It can help in finding the production bugs before the application reaches the client.
• Complexity of API Testing: As API Testing requires advanced knowledge of coding, it can become difficult to test it manually. The Codeless Automation Testing Tools like TestingWhiz can ensure efficient API Testing without the need of any coding.
• Inefficiency due to changing requirements: Sometimes, the critical test cases can be missed out because of changing requirements, unanticipated changes into the code and continuous integration. Automation Testing tools can eradicate such miss outs by ensuring all the changed codes are tested. TestingWhiz, a codeless Automation Testing tool can adapt to the changing requirements easily and efficiently.
• Frequent Builds leading to frequent compilation: As the code is changed and compiled daily, the impact of the same on existing features also becomes more frequent. Hence, each time the code is changed, the compilation and testing need to be implemented. Due of resource limitation, it becomes difficult to perform this regularly without Automation Testing.
• Performance Issues: With addition of more features, the complexity of code also increases, and the Performance issues are faced affecting the end user experience. Automation Testing Tools can be utilized to identify the problem areas and keep track of performance with time.

Summing up

Automation Testing, particularly around DevOps, can be a great support for the Testers to overcome the complex challenges and let them move past the drudge work of labor-intensive testing. It is like a backbone to DevOps methodology for the advantages it offers. By applying automation testing to DevOps using Test Automation Tools like TestingWhiz, you can easily outwit the challenges faced and reap the larger benefits for your organization.