How to Manage Regression Test Automation for a Large Product and Team?

 


Automated regression testing provides a strategic platform to bridge the gap between developers and users. The means to achieve the project-specific requirements are properly understood before deployment. 

The automated regression testing platform not only focuses on the results but also ensures that the whole system and the application that is being built meet the required business objectives. It is always considered a wise move to automate the regression test. 

In this article, you will get to know the specific practices that can be applied to manage regression test automation for a large team or product.

What is automated regression testing?

It is a testing method wherein a software product has been thoroughly tested after it has undergone specific kinds of changes. Regression test automation utilizes workflow, plans and test scripts to speed up the process and make it more effective. 

Potential bugs are discovered that have been detected by the change itself or have reappeared after a change was introduced. Compared to manual regression testing, automated regression testing has a broader scope of testing.

 

Following are the five practices that can be applied to manage regression test automation for a large product or team:

1. Strategic analysis: A team of 2 to 3 resources should be there depending upon regression suite complexity and size to scrutinize and fix the execution failure of the automation suite in batches. The allocation of resources can also be done as per the numbers of average regression failures. 

An engineer on average can regress 25-30 failures in a day. If the application issue is the cause of failure then defects need to be reported or if it is an application change or script issue then the code logic should be updated to fix the script failure.    

 

2. The significance of independent test scripts: There may be many instances when test scripts fail because of being dependent on each other. For example, if Script A is dependent on Script B and when the regression test suite is being run and it so happens that Script B is not able to run, then automatically Script A will also fail. 

For this purpose, each script needs to be made independent or robust dependencies approach like TestNG can be used. TestNG provides @BeforeMethod/ @BeforeTest/ @ BeforeClass annotations.

 

3. Soft assertions need to be used properly: When hard assertions are used in all the scripts then there is a likelihood of test case failures. The remaining test script execution will be immediately stopped by hard assertion once the first check is failed. Instead of this, soft assertions like the softAssert.assertAll() method can be used. Even if an assertion fails using soft assertion, the test script will not stop running and there will be an increased chance of finding genuine failures.

 

4. Action libraries should be tailored: Wait issue (page not loaded completely) is another common reason for script failures. Checks or Actions in scripts can be utilized through conditions such as if-else statements. Dynamic/fluent wait can be preferred before performing any action on the element.

 

5. Locator strategy: There can be many instances where scripts might fail due to the change in locator in the application page source code. Smart handling of locators needs to take place. If the element is not working in one way then the element needs to be identified in another way. The framework implementation should be thus done by finding the element. The scripts can be automated using robust locators/identifiers (Class Link, Name, Id, XPath, DOM and CSS).

 

Conclusion: If you are looking forward to implementing agile or waterfall methodology for your specific project, then do get connected with a top-notch software testing company that will provide you with a step-by-step implementation methodology that is precisely in line with your project specific requirements.

About the author: I am a technical content writer focused on writing technology specific articles. I strive to provide well-researched information on the leading market savvy technologies.      

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