Tedious and complex manual testing continues even in today?s modern app economy. This is unacceptable and inefficient? but frankly ?crackable.?
Modern Organizations Are Ready for Test Design Automation
According to a recently published paper by Bloor Research, the software testing world is now gravitating towards Test Design Automation ? an approach that focuses on automating the generation of test cases, improving both speed and quality of app delivery.
Several trends are driving this change. First, enterprises are adopting test-driven, Agile development methods. Second, organizations are realizing greater value in having broader integrations with test management tools and automated testing frameworks. Finally, Dev and Test teams are recognizing the emerging impact of requirements definition and management on test design processes.
As requirements gathering continues to be a major bottleneck in app development, organizations are starting to realize the value of using model-driven requirements as part of their application development lifecycle. For example, organizations that adopt Requirements Modeling approaches see dramatic improvements in both testing efficiencies, and collaboration with developers, testers, and business analysts.
Model-Based Testing Is Key to Effective Test Design Automation
A model-based testing (MBT) approach addresses the key challenges that developers and testers face in their efforts to create better software, faster. These pain points span across the testing lifecycle, from error-prone testing as a result of unclear requirements and poor test case design to inefficient, often manual processes that are slowed down by unavailable test data and systems components.
Implemented the right way, MBT drives efficient and rigorous testing without disrupting your Sprints, while allowing key stakeholders ? from testers to business analysts ? to maintain alignment and flexibility.
Three Ways to Leverage MBT to Improve Your Test Case Design Process
Taking MBT to heart pays off with benefits such as avoiding costly defects when poor quality requirements are manually translated into poor quality test cases, and reducing testing time as optimized test cases are automatically generated from the model itself. Here?s how.
1. Model Requirements as an Active Flowchart
Building a model, especially by using a tool that provides a mathematically precise representation of a system, can dramatically simplify your requirements definition process. Modeling requirements in the form of a flowchart can eliminate unclear and incomplete requirements. Time-to-learning is minimal at best since your business analysts are already familiar with this format by using VISIO, BPM, or other tools. As a bonus, bringing your users, business analysts, and IT into close alignment with a model that everyone can share, review, and use promotes collaboration and improves efficiency.
2. Generate Optimum Sets of Test Cases Automatically
Exceeding your app delivery goal for quality with maximum functional test coverage is possible. An MBT approach promotes the following actions to help you get there:
Generate test cases and test scripts automatically, in this case, straight from the flowchart where user stories are created.
Link the right data and expected results to the relevant user stories.
Finally, test the functionality at maximum coverage with the minimum set of test cases, turning test optimization into a reality.
3. Automate, Automate, Automate
MBT champions test efficiencies by automating test case design and test case creation, making rigorous testing possible without compromising speed and quality. This means eliminating the time wasted on manual test design and maintenance. Using things like an ?automation generator? allows you to easily keep up with changing user requirements so that as changes to the requirements occur it automatically triggers an impact analysis that creates or repairs test cases to maintain the same level of coverage. This helps in building up a library of reusable test components that can be run or rerun as test automation artifacts.
Lastly, maximizing the value of your existing testing frameworks, allows you to easily synchronize or export test cases and test scripts. or example to CA Agile Central, HPE/Micro Focus, ALM, Atlassian, JIRA, and others.
Cracking the Test Design code with MBT becomes easier with the right tools. Start your Free Trial of CA Agile Requirements Designer today ? and realize the many benefits of MBT.
