EXPO-QA: Test Automation - Let's Talk Business

‘09

Madrid, 27th-29th of October 2009

Igor GershovichConnected Testing, Inc.www.connectedtesting.com

‘09Madrid, 27th-29th of October 2009

About Connected Testing, Inc

• Connected Testing is an independent consulting company specializing in Test Automation and Performance Testing

• We are located in Denver, Colorado, USA• We have extensive experience across a range of

industries including Financial Services, Healthcare, Aerospace, Transportation, Telecommunications


Overview

• Test Automation Myths

• Return on Investment (ROI)

• Frameworks


Test Automation Myths


Myth #1 - Test Automation is simple, that every tester can do it

• This myth is promoted by the tool sales people. They are trying to promote the following test automation process:– Record the script– Enhance the script by adding functions and data

driving– Run the scripts– Report results

• Under the influence of this myth the QA manager can proudly report: All our testers are developing test automation.


Reality - Test automation is a software development task

• Automation should be designed, developed and tested

• You need to have some kind of a programming background to implement test automation. Test Automation is not as complex as C++/C#/Java development.

• Test automation standards should be developed• Automated test components are assets that

should be treated like application source code


Myth #2 – Commercial test tools are expensive

• Under the influence of this myth some companies, especially the small ones:– Try to develop their own test automation tools– Use scripting languages like Perl and Ruby– Use shareware test tools– Do not consider test automation at all


Reality – Commercial tools are cheap

• Per seat license for the most expensive automation tool is $8K

• This tool will be used for 5 years.• Maintenance/Support fees are 20% of tool cost or

$1,800 per year• The cost of this tool is $8K/5+$1,800 = $3,100 per year• The automation developer cost with overhead is $100K

per year• The cost of this tool is just 3% of the person who uses it,

but productivity gain can be very significant


Commercial Tool Benefits:• Customer support. Many of the open source tools come and go with

little to no support • Most commercial tools are constantly being updated as

technologies change• Most commercial tools usually have more functionality (QTP can

test various GUI applications: Web, .Net, Java, VB, C/C++, PowerBuilder, etc. vs. WATIR – Web only)

• Commercial tools usually have a large community of users, which translates into better availability of qualified resources

• Commercial tools require less advanced programming• More test automation frameworks are available for commercial tools• Commercial tools are integrated with Test Management tools which

makes reporting and execution much simpler.


Over 300 Test Tools are available (http://www.softwareqatest.com)

• Load/Performance tools – 54

• Web Functional/Regression – 60

• Java Test tools - 48

• Other Web tools – 76

Which tool is right for you?


Some Requirements for Tool evaluation

• Technologies that should be supported• Available training and documentation• Cost• Support• Distributed execution• Non-proprietary language• Tool Audience (The skills of people involved in test

automation)• Easy to maintain automated tests with a central

repository


Main Reasons for Test Automation failures

• Lack of Management Support

• Inexperienced Test Automation staff

• Over-engineering


Think of yourself like a business

• Facts:– Average IT job tenure is about 2 years– Competitive intensity is rising

• What you should do:– Invest your time/money in learning mainstream

automation– Create a niche for yourself - add Configuration

Management, Performance Testing or Project Management to your skillset

– Market yourself


Absolutely Unscientific research:

Employer demand by tool expertiseMay, 2008 and Aug, 2009


Dice.com search results across US (30 days)

Tool Search string Matches

May, 08

Matches

Aug, 09

QTP Qtp OR quicktest OR "quick test“

613 484

Functional Tester

"rational robot" OR "functional tester”

118 58

SilkTest silktest OR "silk test” 86 31

TestPartner testpartner OR "test partner“ 19 18

WATIR watir OR watiN or WatiJ 26 28

Selenium Selenium 108 140

Total 22% decline from May, 08

to Aug, 09

970 759


HP QTP64%

IBM Functional Tester

8%

Borland SilkTest

4%

CompuwareTestPartner

2%

WATIR4%

Selenium18%

Demand per tool - August 2009

QTP

Functional Tester

SilkTest

TestPartner

WATIR

Selenium


IDC Report: “Worldwide Automated Software Quality 2007-2011 Forecast and 2006 Vendor Shares…”


Return On Investment (ROI)


Classic ROI Calculation

ROI = BENEFIT/COST

Automation Cost = Price Of HW + Price of SW + Development Cost + Maintenance Cost + Execution Cost

Manual Testing Cost = Development Cost + Maintenance Cost + Execution Cost

ROI = (Manual Testing Cost - Automation Cost)/Automation Cost

Looks right, Doesn’t it?


Problems with Classic ROI Calculation

You can’t compare Automated Testing and Manual Testing. They are not the same and they provide different information about the AUT.

You can’t compare cost of multiple execution of automated tests vs. manual tests. You would never dream of executing that many test cases manually.


Automation Real ROI

ROI value IS NOT the value of Automation vs. Cost of executing these tests manually

Automation ROI value IS the benefit of this type of testing, and it can be:Reducing Time to MarketIncreased Test Efficiency (Productivity)Increased Test Effectiveness


Reduced Time to Market

• Can get a greater market share

• Makes people available to work on other projects

• Higher margins, if no competitive products are currently available


Productivity and Effectiveness• More testing gets done faster, increasing the

odds of finding defects• Defects found early have better chances of

being fixed• Manual Testers can concentrate on clever ways

to finding defects, instead of typing test inputs and verify output.

• About 7% of bug fixes create new bugs, sometimes in already tested parts of the system. With automation you can rerun tests for those modules. This almost never happens when testing is done manually.


Example: 2-week Regression

1st week1st week 2nd week2nd week

Manual Testing Bug Fixes/New Build

Spot-check

Manual Regression

1st week1st week 2nd week2nd week

Automated and ManualTesting – 1st Run

Automated Regression

Bug Fixes/New Build

Automated and ManualTesting – 2nd Run


Advantages of automated regression testing

• 2 full regression runs

• Most of bugs were found early and have a better chance to be fixed

Result:– Better quality– much happier customer


ROI summary

• Each project requires different types of automation - there is often no easy formula available to calculate ROI

• Performing ROI calculation can help to determine upfront what type of automation, what level of skills, what tools will be required.


Automation Frameworks


Test Automation Framework

• A Test Automation Framework is a set of assumptions, concepts and tools that provide support for Automated Software Testing.

• A correctly implemented Test Automation Framework can further improve ROI by reducing the development and maintenance costs.


Types of Test Automation Frameworks

• Modular

• Data-Driven

• Keyword–Driven

• Model-Based


Modular framework

• The Modular framework is the natural progression derived from Record-and-Playback

• The modular framework seeks to minimize repetition of code by grouping similar actions into “modules” (e.g.: login)

• Test Data is in a script or in an internal table

This is what tool sales people are promoting.


Data-Driven/Keyword Driven• These frameworks are similar in that the

data is separated from the test script• The script is just a "driver" or delivery

mechanism for the data.• The difference:

– In keyword-driven testing, the navigation data and test data are contained in the data source

– In data-driven testing, only test data is contained in the data source.


Model-Based testing

• Model-based testing is software testing in which test cases are derived in whole or in part from a model that describes some (usually functional) aspects of the system.

• Model-based testing for complex software systems is still an evolving field.


We’ll be concentrating on Keyword-Driven testing since it is the most beneficial framework for large-scale test automation.


Advantages of Keyword-Driven Test automation

• This Framework addresses the most common problem with test automation: Automation Engineers do not have domain knowledge and the End Users (Subject Matter Experts/Test Engineers) usually do not have automation expertise.

• When properly implemented and maintained, it presents a superior ROI because each business event is designed, automated and maintained as a discrete entity.

• Keywords can then be used to design test cases, but the design and automation overhead for the keyword has already been paid.


Advantages of Keyword-Driven Test automation

• Reduced the cost and time spent maintaining and updating tests

• The modular structure of keyword-driven testing means that new tests can easily be created from pre-existing modules

• The test team is capable of entirely automating tests, even without programming knowledge

• Can be easily modified to use with different test tool

• Reusability across different projects


Classic Keyword-Driven Example

Object Action Data

Textfield (username) Enter Text <username>


Example of Test Data for Keyword-Driven test automation developed by Connected Testing Inc.

for TestComplete and QTP


Resources• “Everything you want to know about Test Automation…” by Brian Le

Suer• “Manager’s Guide to GUI Test Automation” by Yury Makedonov• “The ROI of Test Automation” by Michael Kelly• “What is my ROI?” by mVerify Corporation• SQA Forums• “An Overview of Test Automation Frameworks” by Nathaniel

Ritmeyer• “The benefits of keyword-based software test automation” by David

W. Johnson • Wikipedia


Igor Gershovich

Company: Connected Testing, Inc.

E-Mail: [email protected]

Phone: 720-933-9395

Website: www.connectedtesting.com

EXPO-QA: Test Automation - Let's Talk Business

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