Utilizing Automation to Enhance Test Coverage: A Guide
Picture your team launching new software, only to face a sea of bugs and glitches. Sounds like a tech nightmare? According to CISQ, software glitches cost US businesses a whopping $2.41 trillion in 2022, you can’t afford to let these slip through the cracks. High test coverage is crucial to catching these errors and avoiding unpleasant surprises.
But here is a catch: Manual testing is like finding a needle in a haystack - nearly impossible. That’s where test automation comes in, expanding your coverage and enhancing your software quality. In this guide, we are going to unpack the power of test automation and how it can catapult your test coverage to new heights. The result? Higher quality software, fewer headaches, and more happy customers.
What Qualifies as Good Test Coverage?
At its most basic level, test coverage determines if you're testing the application code you ideally need to test. So, in essence, it's a measure of both the quantity and quality of testing.
When it comes to what qualifies as good test coverage, there are various aspects to keep in mind:
- Does the test coverage focus on the critical and high-risk functional areas of the application under test?
- Does it account for test scenarios covering edge cases, boundary values, and exceptional conditions to ensure the software performs reliably in various scenarios?
- Does it account for overall project complexity, inter-app dependencies, as well as the possibility of change?
From a quantity perspective, we can put it into numbers:
- Low test coverage: anywhere below 50%
- Optimal test coverage: anywhere between 50% and 70%
- Good test coverage: anywhere above 70%
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Why Prefer Automation to Improve Test Coverage?
Automation is a game-changer when it comes to enhancing test coverage and ensuring high software quality. With automation, testers can cover more functional code and test cases in less time. With automation, testers can cover more functional code and test cases in less time, thereby increasing productivity.
Automation tools can allow for the creation of easy-to-maintain automated test suites that can be modified quickly to accommodate changes in the software under test. Here are some reasons why automation is the preferred choice:
- Automation significantly expands test coverage by allowing for more extensive and in-depth testing.
- Lengthy tests that are typically skipped during manual testing can be easily executed via automation.
- Automated tests can run unattended, freeing up valuable time for testing teams to focus on other critical tasks.
- The ability to execute tests on various platforms, operating systems, and environments ensures comprehensive testing across different scenarios.
- Automated testing eliminates human errors and ensures consistency in test execution, leading to more reliable and accurate results.
Overall, by increasing test coverage, automation helps identify and address potential issues and vulnerabilities in the software, thereby improving overall software quality.
How to Use Automation to Enhance Test Coverage?
Automation can significantly enhance test coverage when implemented strategically. Here's how you can deploy automation to increase test coverage for your application.
Identify the Current Test Plan Gaps
The first step to introduce automation for enhancing test coverage is to identify the gaps in your existing test plan. You can do this by analyzing your current level of code coverage and mapping it against the target values recommended by software quality standards and best practices. This analysis will help you determine whether there are areas that could benefit from increasing test coverage with automation.
Identify Opportunities for Introducing Automated Tests
Once you have identified the gaps in your existing test plan, you can begin designing automation tests to fill them. To do this, you can first decide whether your code can be tested automatically. You can then define the test cases that you want to automate. The target areas for automation should include:
- High-risk and business-critical features
- Areas identified as deficient in the existing code coverage or those that have been plagued by high-severity bugs
In essence, the objective is to choose test scenarios that capture critical combinations of inputs and values that a user or customer might use. This ensures comprehensive testing of your app's main functionalities and core risk areas. Therefore, focus on repetitive tasks and complex scenarios. By automating these aspects, you can increase coverage and free up valuable resources for more critical testing activities.
Define What Is "Good" Test Coverage Specific to Your App
After identifying the areas for automation, you can design test cases and determine the level of test coverage you should aim for. It is important to define what qualifies as good test coverage specific to your application. For that, a test plan should take into account unique needs, priorities, and trade-offs specific to your environment. Ideally, the test coverage should extend to every single line of application code.
Select a No-Code Test Automation Tool
A no-code test automation tool like ACCELQ can help you automate your test cases without writing a single line of code. It can allow you to record and playback tests through an intuitive graphical interface.
To gauge the viability of the tool, make sure to:
- Assess the tool’s ease of use, test case management capabilities, and codeless philosophy
- Evaluate the tool’s compatibility with different platforms and browsers
- Assess the level of support offered
- Evaluate the tool’s AI and ML capabilities
- Concentrate on the tool’s self-healing ability
Ultimately, the choice of the right no-code automation tool will depend on your project and testing needs, your software quality goals, and your current test automation initiatives (if any).
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Leverage the Power of ACCELQ to Improve Test Coverage
ACCELQ brings a simple codeless test automation philosophy to the table. Our focus on allowing developers to flexibly develop test logic, drive seamless change management, support advanced interactions and logic, reduce test maintenance, and get a holistic view of the testing scope is what sets us apart. In fact, with the ACCELQ Connect feature, testers can seamlessly retrieve test coverage information into their Jira or Azure instance.
Interested in learning more about the power of ACCELQ and how it can improve test coverage and elevate the focus on quality assurance initiatives? Schedule a personalized demo today.
Nidhi Achhaa
Content Specialist at ACCELQ
Nidhi specializes in technology-based content and strives to create a unique, customized, and compelling piece with a flavor of SEO. A writer with a love for words and a storyteller at heart.
