What is the Purpose of Regression Testing?

 What is regression testing?

It is a testing method that makes sure that the existing functionalities of the application are working as expected, despite new changes or updates being introduced in the code. 

Whenever a new functionality is being incorporated into the application by a developer, soon after, the regression test is initiated by the tester.

Following are a few key points that depict the purpose of conducting regression testing:

1. Risks are mitigated: Risks related to changes are identified and mitigated by the regression testing process. Performance degradation, system failures or unexpected issues are prevented, which might otherwise impact user satisfaction and business-related functionalities.

2. Stability is ensured: Regression testing ensures that the software's existing functionalities remain intact despite changes being made to the software product or application. Any unexpected issues or behavior can be detected, which would otherwise impact user experience, thereby ensuring software stability.

3. Regression defects are properly identified: Any unintended issues or defects that may have been introduced during software modifications or development can be detected by the regression testing platform. The functionality of the upgrade can be examined by these tests. 

Regression tests ensure that the existing software features are not interfered, despite changes being made to the software product or application. Bugs in the newly pushed code are also ascertained by regression testing.

Following are a few key tips to perform regression testing effectively:

· All the impacted functionalities and possible test cases should be covered by the regression testing approach

· The scale of the upgrade should be changed or measured to ascertain how often the application gets affected

· When automation testing is being introduced, the scenarios and test cases need to be outlined to know which should be manually tested and which should be automated

· When regression testing is being automated, the focus should be on roles, technology and testing process

· Risk analysis can be performed based on the project's complexity and project size.