Advanced Testing: Manual to AutomationSoftware testing must be planned. A key question and decision for the test plan is whether to use testing tools or test software for automated testing. Manual testing is the process of manually testing software for defects. While Test automation is code or script that executes tests without human intervention. Software development organizations must be careful not to let the pendulum swing too far in the direction of automation.

Here some tests are a good fit for manual testing:

Installation, data setup, operations, and maintenance: In many cases, these tests involve loading CD-ROMs and tapes, and other ongoing handholding by the tester.

Configuration and compatibility: Like installing software and hardware, reconfiguring systems and networks, which require human intervention.

Usability: With localization, human judgment is needed to check for problems with the facility and simplicity of the user interface and work flow.

If you have to run a set of tests repeatedly, Software testing automation is a huge win for you and it will give you the ability to run automation against code that frequently changes to catch regressions in a timely manner. The biggest challenge facing in Automation project is deciding what to automate and what we should not automate in most of the cases people want to automate as much as possible but if we can select the right scenario for automation and setup a proper framework for the application then half of the task becomes easy. In some cases, tests can be done manually, be automated, or both.

Functionality Software performance testing can often be automated, and automated functional testing is often part of an effort to create a regression test suite or smoke test. However, it makes sense to get the testing process under control manually before trying to automate functional testing. By stringing together functional tests into workflow, you can create realistic user scenarios, whether manual or automated. The trick here is to avoid automation if many workflows involve human intervention.

User interface: Basic testing of the user interface can be automated, but beware of frequent or extensive changes to the user interface that can incur high maintenance costs for the automated suite.

Automation of the project will minimize human interaction with system and thus QA can focus on current updated functionalities to test rather than remaining busy with regression testing.

Why 80 percent of functional testing is still manual:

Many applications and business processes simply do not benefit from automation. These may include noncritical legacy applications and business processes, single-use software components; applications that address low-level tasks; applications that do not require multiple builds, patches and fixes; applications that are tightly coupled with a particular type of hardware or configuration; and applications that support a limited number of concurrent users.

The move to automation must be carefully assessed from a skills perspective and a financial perspective. In many instances the QA team does not have competence in automation. New tools and training can be expensive, new processes can be disruptive. Typically, automation takes three to four test cycles to break even with manual testing.

Based on the requirements of the application, we finalize the best applicable approach out of Fully Automation, Partial Automation or Manual testing to test and also develop a suitable framework for the automation testing.

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