Principles of Software Test Automation

(CSTP #6) or (CTM Elective) or (CSTAS Elective)

This course covers area 6 of the Test Professional Body of Knowledge requirements. This course also covers the Elective area for the Certified Test Manager (CTM) and the CSTAS certification.

For costs and cities where this course might be offered, please see the right border of this page or to bring this course to your test team at your location, contact our Education and Professionals Services Group.

Concepts

Organizations often purchase Software Test Automation Tools without the proper amount of research and planning, and as a result end up with results that can approach a total failure. The tools themselves are often blamed, but only after much money and effort are spent in trying to achieve successful results. The reasons driving these decisions are related to time to market, hope for an increased quality level of testing, and being able to do more with fewer resources.

This course will walk the student through a step-by-step process which he/she will be able to use to determine if their organization is right for automation, how to evaluate and select automated testing tools, how to develop effective test plans and scripts, which metrics to collect and how to report on them, and how to build an effective organization around the use of these tools.

Participants will learn:

• The Importance of Test Automation in the Testing Process
• Develop an understanding of similarities / differences / use of Automated Testing Tools
• Evaluating and Selecting Automated Testing Tools
• Most effective way to set up an automated testing support organization
• Developing a strategy for test planning, development and execution
• How to use test results to provide value to the organization
• How to put together an effective automated test organization, including the use of proper tools, personnel and processes
• Identifying applicable data issues of automated testing, and how to resolve them
• Developing automated test scripts so they become reusable, maintainable and efficient assets of the organization
• How to identify, capture and use automated testing metrics
• How do you establish standards that are meaningful, easy to use, and maintainable

Outline

• Definitions and Types of Automated Testing
  • Functional Testing
  • Regression Testing
  • Performance Testing
• Reasons for Automated Testing
  • Controlling Costs
  • Application Coverage
  • Scalability
  • Repeatability
• Discussion of Automated Test Tools Selection
  • Test Tool Evaluation and Selection
  • Test Planning / Management
  • Product Integration
  • Product Support
  • GUI / Web Tool Discussion
  • Performance Tool Discussion
  • Build vs. Buy Strategies, Approaches and Tradeoffs
• Automated Testing Roles / Responsibilities
  • Developing in-house skills
  • Hiring experts
• The Automated Testing Process
  • Developing an Automated Test Strategy and Plan
  • Estimating the Size and Scope of an Automated Testing Effort
  • Test Environment Components
  • Automated Test Script Standards
  • Choosing Which Tests to Automate
  • Outlining Test Components
  • Designing Automated Tests
  • Constructing Successful Automated Tests
  • Executing Automated Tests
  • Interpreting the Results
  • Using Results