Deliver Better Code Faster with Testing Automation
Test automation results in earlier detection of defects , improved testing efficiency, and increased test coverage while also reducing operational risk through reuse of automated test scripts without reliance on a manual testing workforce.
Many government agencies have established a centralized software testing organization that is staffed with experts in test planning, test script writing, test environment management, and test evaluation and analysis. These organizations often rely largely on manual testing, with test coverage limited by budgets and staffing. This usually increases risks to both schedules and application quality by leaving portions of systems untested and/or requiring additional time to deliver and address test results.
In most environments, some amount of manual testing should supplement and validate automated tests. However, a manual testing organization does not scale well: With a larger number of smaller, integrated apps being developed at a faster pace, and with increasing security requirements, manual testing alone would require a massive increase in the number of testers, diverting budgeted funds from other important initiatives. Even if the organization could hire enough manual testers, new testers may require months or years to become fully capable within the agency’s unique environment and testing strategies.
The solution to achieve quality tests without these limitations is to embrace a mature test automation strategy, particularly if your organization plans to tie automated testing to a CI/CD pipeline as part of a DevSecOps strategy.
A Strategic Approach: Citizant’s Test Automation Framework
Citizant can create a tailored Test Automation plan to meet the maturity level and specific needs of any organization. For agencies that want a comprehensive, strategic approach to testing automation, Citizant starts by developing a Test Automation Framework. The Test Automation Framework places guardrails around scope while still providing enough room for ideation and the development of creative solutions. We evaluate and create a centralized test data management practice following four major standardized phases:
- Defining the vision and strategy
- Developing the roadmap
- Planning and implementation
- Posting implementation activities
These four phases are illustrated in more detail below:
Citizant’s Testing Automation Framework helps agencies create a comprehensive, strategic approach to testing automation.
Build Capability and Capacity with Citizant’s Test Automation Boot Camp
Citizant’s Test Automation Boot Camp produces well-trained test automation specialists. (click to download)
To support the adoption of the Test Automation Framework, the agency will need to train government and contractor full-time employees in Test Automation tools, processes, and standards. Citizant created a 5-day, immersive Test Automation Boot Camp that teaches software testing automation. The boot camp features hands-on exercises and experiences allowing participants to design and conduct effective automated tests using Rational Functional Tester or Selenium. Additional instruction and exercises on other adopted tools can be added to the boot camp as needed. Citizant’s instructors are specialists in Quality Assurance (QA), Agile concepts, and automated testing, and leverage their software development, test management, and customer domain knowledge to ensure the training focuses on details of performing automated testing, tailored to the agency’s testing environment.
Citizant’s Test Automation Boot Camp produces reliable testers who understand the issues, tools, and processes for effective automated testing. Graduates have access to a testing coach and Citizant’s boot camp instructors for a year following course completion. Boot camp graduates bring these new tools and perspectives back to their development and testing teams to help the organization design and build tests that improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the automated test process.
Citizant’s Test Automation Boot Camp Example Syllabus
| Day 1 | Module 1: Introduction to Testing and Test Automation Module 2: Testing Fundamentals |
| Day 2 |
Module 3: Test Planning and Preparation Module 4: Test Execution |
| Day 3 |
Module 5: Automated Testing Module 6: Testing Case Studies |
| Day 4 |
Module 7: Lab Testing using Selenium Module 8: Lab Testing using Rational Functional Tester |
| Day 5 |
Module 9: Final Project Real-World Test Automation |
Interested in offering Citizant’s Test Automation Boot Camp to your team? Contact us here.
Automated Testing Delivers Tangible Value
With automated testing performed early in the Dev-Build process, projects can resolve more defects and improve application security before deploying to dedicated Test environments. Testing automation capabilities enable security scanning, code coverage (JaCoCo), unit testing (JUnit), code quality (Sonar), smoke and integration testing (Selenium), 508 testing (Deque), and database automation using various tools (Liquibase, Datical). Testing automation – especially linked to a CI/CD pipeline – increases quality, deployment speed, and transparency.
Specific, measurable benefits from testing automation include:
- In one case, automated unit tests with JUnit ran 9,700 unit test cases in 16 minutes.
- Automated testing also evaluates code quality using SonarQube, which checked the quality of 86,000 lines of code for one application in less than 3 minutes.
- We collaborated with one agency’s testing organization to automate test cases previously run manually. For Web services integration testing, we automated 60 test scripts for ReadyAPI and SoapUI. Each of these manual tests previously took 15 minutes. After automation, the testing organization completed all 60 of these test cases in less than 5 minutes. Automation allows these tests to be triggered overnight or on weekends, without staff needing to watch over the process.