Software Automation Test Life Cycle

Automation Test life cycle go through 7 phases mentioned below.

1. Defining the automation scope
2. Selecting the right tool for automation
3. Automation Framework Design
4. Setting up environment
5. Test script development
6. Test script execution and report generation
7. Test script maintenance

Defining the automation scope:

In this phase it is necessary to check the Feasibility, Scope, Team size and Productivity of automation activity.

One need to check feasibility of automation project. Then need to define the scope for which module can be automated which cannot be automated. Based on deadline need to decide team size. One need to check how much productive is this automation activity. How much time it reduces compared to manual testing.

Automation tool selection:

Selecting automation tool is difficult phase in automation. First point to be considered while selecting tool is budget and deadline. Based on budget and deadline you can decide whether to go for free tool or paid. Second point is how familiar resources are with that particular tool and technology. Next point to be considered is which automation tool supports your application.

Automation Framework Design:

Next phase is to define how our automation framework should look like. Rules to follow while developing test scripts. Folder structure to follow. Common guidelines everyone in team should follow.

Setting up environment:

In this phase all prerequisites for the tool need to be installed. After that automation tool should be configured/installed. Machine should setup for execution if you are executing in remote machine then you need to configure that machine for execution.

Test script development:

This is an important phase in automation. After setting up the automation tool next step is to develop automation scripts. Below are the points to be followed while developing test scripts.

1. Follow proper folder structure for automation scripts
2. Avoid data hard coding in scripts
3. Create module wise test script files
4. Create module wise object repository files
5. Create module wise test data files
6. Configuration need to done in project should be kept in single file. That should not be script file. For example use properties file or excel file for all configurations.
7. Reports should be generated based on date and time
8. Download files should be stored in separate folders based on date and time
9. To avoid data uniqueness need to append unique string to input data of objects in every execution
10. Avoid absolute paths in project use relative paths with respect to project.

Test script execution and report generation:

Once all test scripts are developed next step is to run the scripts and analyse the results.

Test script maintenance:

Script maintenance is tedious task in every automation project. Due to many reasons you need to maintain the scripts frequently. Some of the reasons are Enhancements in application, Performance of the application, inconsistent behavior of the application etc.. 

One need to analyse automation script failure is due to application issue or script issue. If it is an application issue then no need to fix it. If it is due to script issue then you need to fix the issue.