Automated Software Testing is to test automatically with automated tools according to the schedule, with an aim to reduce the amount of labor of manual test. The goal of automated testing is to find out old defects of the system, while that of manual testing is to discover new defects.

Automated testing mainly focuses on automation management and automation of dynamic testing in the software testing process (Unit Test, Functional Test, Performance Test).

Advantages of Automated Testing

1) Doing regression testing to the new versions: every time a new version is released, most functions and interfaces are similar to the last version.

2) Solving problems left by manual testing in non-functional aspects: stress testing, concurrency testing, large data volume testing, breakdown testing

3) Consistency and repeatability: for the automation is achieved by scripts, data can remain the same every time the test is conducted, and the scripts can be used repeatedly.

4) Able to do repeated and large numbers of tests: after the development work is finished, regression and integration testing should be done, and every functional point in the system has to be tested frequently.

5) Making the most of time of the weekends and the nights

Suitable for the Following Situations

1) Product type projects

2) Incremental development and continuous integration projects

3) Automatic compiling and releasing projects

4) Regression testing: it can find out whether you have introduced new defects and whether the old ones have been modified. To some extent, the automated testing tools can be called regression testing tools.

5) Repeated and mechanical tests: operations like repeated data input or key typing leads to unnecessary time and labor wasting.

What Requires Attention about Automation Testing

1) Selecting fewer automatic products and more platforms as possible to reduce costs

2) During testing process management automation, we should always remember that the testing team’s needs for process management support should be met.

3) When the investment is limited, functional testing automation should be put after performance testing automation

4) Besides cost performance, support service and service integrity should also be taken into full account.

5) Choosing the main-stream product, in order that it will be convenient to communicate with other companies to acquire more experience and business opportunities.

Misunderstandings about Automated Testing

1) Automated testing can replace manual testing, and the subject of testing is still the people.

2) Automated testing can discover old defects effectively, but can’t find out new ones. The more the new defects, the higher the failure rate of automated testing is.

3) Automated testing can’t test the user experience and interface appearance and something like that.

4) Automated testing requires large amount of test script maintenance work.

Not Suitable for the Following Situations

1) Customization projects

2) Projects with a short cycle

3) Business rules are complex

4) Light work load of testing

5) Unstable programs: there are many serious bugs or it is likely to break down