What Software Tests are Suitable for Automation

Test automation has an important place in the testing arsenal of any software organization. But it is not going to replace manual testing. It should be combined with manual testing to get the best possible combination of efficiency and code coverage.

In general, automated testing is best suited for repetitive tests where human error is more likely and that justify the upfront cost of automation. Manual testing is best for unusual tests, infrequent tests and tests that require human intelligence like whether a user interface looks right.

Regression testing, testing a system for defects introduced into one part of a system by changes do a different part, is a popular candidate for automation.

These tests get repeated regularly and involve testing that is pretty boring for human testers because it involves testing parts of the system that haven’t been changed and so they probably aren’t broken. It seems like a good place to cut corners.

Smoke testing is a good choice for automation because of the frequency with which smoke testing is run.

Any time a new build is deployed, smoke testing determines whether the build is so bad that there is no point in testing.

Automating performance testing early on in the development of an application will help you identify poorly performing code and fix it when it is still cheap and easy to fix.

Setting benchmarks and checking the performance of complex applications under development is a good way of ensuring that you meet performance targets. This is particularly important for large applications.

A common approach is to give each section of the application a budget of computing resources under which they are expected to remain.

As application develops and the code changes, the automated performance test suite can identify changes that work from a functional standpoint but damage performance.

Any features are functions that are data-driven are often good candidates for automation.

Manual testers might have to go over a procedure dozens or even hundreds of times testing how the application responds to various forms of valid and invalid data.

Test automation is a great for repetitive tests because the upfront automation costs are recouped over time. Repetitive tests are also tend to be the types of tests that humans do the most poorly, so automation also reduces error.

Combining automated testing with manual testing and analysis is the most efficient way to cover code while ensuring quality.