Optimize Test Automation and Reduce Costs
If you have built ‘fragile’ and not ‘robust’ automation your maintenance costs can be high, diminishing the value of your test automation. Just like the technical debt of software that is not properly architected or coded, your automated test scripts can be growing in technical debt – the hidden cost of poor automation.
If you have built ‘fragile’ and not ‘robust’ automation your maintenance costs can be high, diminishing the value of your test automation. Just like the technical debt of software that is not properly architected or coded, your automated test scripts can be growing in technical debt – the hidden cost of poor automation.
Top 3 Reasons for High Test Automation Costs
Automation tool: No matter if you are using an open source or commercial automation tool that is ‘script-less’ and supports UI or services automation, your tool may not be the best fit and could be driving up your automation costs. Your tool’s capabilities must be aligned to your automation goals, applications under test (UAT), and your testers’ skills.
Automation framework: Your framework must separate the application under test (UAT), test case definition, and test data using a modular and data-driven approach. Without a ‘single point of change’ design of your automation, you’ll have higher maintenance costs to keep your automated scripts up to date to match your changing software.
Automation skills: If your automation tool and framework (such as Selenium WebDriver or Visual Studio Coded UI) require programming skills in Java or C#, then you need experienced Software Development Engineers in Test (SDET) with object oriented programming (OOP) and coding skills. Poor coding practices lead to automation code that is error-prone and difficult to change.