Test Automation
Let’s talk business
Igor Gershovich
Connected Testing, Inc.
www.connectedtesting.com
igershovich@connectedtesting.com
Overview
Test Automation Myths
 Return on Investment (ROI)
 Frameworks
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Test Automation Myths
Myth #1 - Test Automation is
simple, that every tester can do it
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This myth is promoted by the tool sales people.
They are trying to promote the following test
automation process:
 Record the script
 Enhance the script
by adding functions and data
driving
 Run the scripts
 Report results

Under the influence of this myth QA manager
can proudly report: All our testers are developing
test automation.
Reality - Test automation is a
software development task
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Automation should be designed, developed and
tested
You need to have some kind of a
programming background to implement test
automation. Test Automation is not as complex
as C++/C#/Java development.
Test automation standards should be developed
Automated test components are assets that
should be treated like application source code
Myth #2 – Commercial test tools
are expensive

Under the influence of this myth some
companies, especially the small ones:
 Try
to develop their own test automation tools
 Use scripting languages like Perl and Ruby
 Use shareware test tools
 Do not consider test automation at all
Reality – Commercial tools are
cheap
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Per seat license for most expensive automation tool is
$8K
This tool will be used for 5 years.
Maintenance/Support fees are 20% of tool cost or
$1,800 per year
The cost of this tool is $8K/5+$1,800 = $3,100 per year
The automation developer cost with overhead is $100K
per year
The cost of this tool is just 3% of the person who uses it,
but productivity gain can be very significant
Commercial Tool Benefits:
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Customer support. Many of the open source tools come and go with
little to no support
Most commercial tools are constantly being updated as technologies
change
Most commercial tools usually have more functionality (QTP can test
various GUI applications: Web, .Net, Java, VB, C/C++,
PowerBuilder, etc. vs. WATIR – Web only)
Commercial tools usually have a large community of users, which
translates into better availability of qualified resources
Commercial tools require less advanced programming
More test automation frameworks are available for commercial tools
Commercial tools are integrated with Test Management tools which
makes reporting and execution much simpler.
Absolutely Unscientific research:
Employer demand by tool expertise
(May, 2008)
Dice search results across US (30 days)
Tool
Search string
Matches
QTP
Qtp OR quicktest OR "quick test“
613
Functional
Tester
SilkTest
"rational robot" OR "functional
tester”
silktest OR "silk test”
118
TestComplete
testcomplete OR "test complete”
26
TestPartner
testpartner OR "test partner“
19
VSTE
VSTE AND test
45
WATIR
watir
26
Selenium
Selenium
108
86
Demand per tool
Open Source
Microsoft WATIR Open Source
Selenium
2%
VSTE
10%
4%
Compuware
TestPartner
HP QTP
2%
60%
AutomatedQA
TestComplete
2%
Borland
IBM
SilkTest
Functional
8%
Tester
12%
QTP
Functional Tester
SilkTest
TestComplete
TestPartner
VSTE
WATIR
Selenium
Excerpt from IDC Report:
“Worldwide Automated
Software Quality 2007-2011
Forecast and 2006 Vendor
Shares…”
Return On Investment (ROI)
Classic ROI Calculation
ROI = BENEFIT/COST
Automation Cost = Price Of HW + Price of SW + Development Cost +
Maintenance Cost + Execution Cost
Manual Testing Cost = Development Cost + Maintenance Cost +
Execution Cost
ROI = (Manual Testing Cost - Automation Cost)/Automation Cost
Looks right, isn’t it?
Problems with Classic ROI Calculation
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You can’t compare Automated Testing
and Manual Testing. There are not the
same and they provide different
information about the AUT.
You can’t compare cost of multiple
execution of automated tests vs. manual
tests. You would never dream of
executing that many test cases manually.
Automation Real ROI
 ROI
value IS NOT the value of Automation
vs. Cost of executing these tests manually
 Automation ROI value IS the benefit of
this type of testing, and it can be:
 Reducing
Time to Market
 Increased Test Efficiency (Productivity)
 Increased Test Effectiveness
Reduced Time to Market
 Can
get a greater market share
 Makes people available to work on
other projects
 Higher margins, if no competitive
products are currently available
Productivity and Effectiveness
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More testing gets done faster, increasing the odds of
finding defects
Defects found early have better chances to be fixed
Manual Testers can concentrate on clever ways to
finding defects, instead of typing test inputs and verify
output.
About 7% of bug fixes create new bugs, sometimes in
already tested parts of the system. With automation you
can rerun tests for those modules. This almost never
happened when testing done manually.
ROI summary
Each project requires different types of
automation - there is often no easy
formula available to calculate ROI
 Performing ROI calculation can help to
determine upfront what type of
automation, what level of skills, what tools
will be required.
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Automation Frameworks
Test Automation Framework
A Test Automation Framework is a set
of assumptions, concepts and tools that
provide support for Automated Software
Testing.
 Correctly implemented Test Automation
Framework can further improve ROI by
reducing the development and
maintenance costs.
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Types of Test Automation
Frameworks
Modular
 Data-Driven
 Keyword–Driven
 Model-Based
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Modular framework
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The Modular framework is the natural
progression from Record-and-Playback
The modular framework seeks to minimize this
repetition of code by grouping similar actions
into “modules” (e.g.: login)
Test Data is in a script
This is what tool sales people are promoting.
Data-Driven/Keyword Driven
These frameworks are similar in that the
data is separated from the test script
 The script is just a "driver" or delivery
mechanism for the data.
 The difference:
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 In
keyword-driven testing, the navigation data
and test data are contained in the data source
 In data-driven testing, only test data is
contained in the data source.
Model-Based testing
Model-based testing is software testing
in which test cases are derived in whole or
in part from a model that describes some
(usually functional) aspects of the system.
 Model-based testing for complex software
systems is still an evolving field.
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We’ll be concentrating on
Keyword-Driven testing since it
is a most beneficial framework for
large-scale test automation.
Advantages of Keyword-Driven
Test automation
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This Framework addresses the most common problem
with test automation:
Automation Engineers do not have domain knowledge
and the End Users (Subject Matter Experts/Test
Engineers) usually do not have automation expertise.
When properly implemented and maintained, it presents
a superior ROI because each business event is
designed, automated and maintained as a discrete
entity.
Keywords can then be used to design test cases, but the
design and automation overhead for the keyword has
already been paid.
Advantages of Keyword-Driven
Test automation
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Reduced the cost and time spent maintaining
and updating tests
The modular structure of keyword-driven testing
means that new tests can easily be created from
pre-existing modules
The test team is capable of entirely automating
tests, even without programming knowledge
Can be easily modified to use with different test
tool
Reusability across different projects
Classic Keyword-Driven
Example
Object
Action
Data
Textfield (username)
Enter Text
<username>
Recent Success with Keyword-Driven
approach
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Estimate using Modular Framework: 1 year
Estimate with Keyword-Driven Framework: 6 months
Project was completed in 4 months by 1 person, 2 month
ahead of schedule.
This was the first project for the automation developer
utilizing the Keyword-Driven Framework.
170 components were developed (1 component per Web
page).
109 Regression Test cases were automated.
Example of Test Data for Keyword-Driven test
automation developed by Connected Testing Inc.
for TestComplete and QTP
Resources
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“Everything you want to know about Test Automation…” by Brian Le
Suer
“Manager’s Guide to GUI Test Automation” by Yury Makedonov
“The ROI of Test Automation” by Michael Kelly
“What is my ROI?” by mVerify Corporation
SQA Forums
“An Overview of Test Automation Frameworks” by Nathaniel
Ritmeyer
“The benefits of keyword-based software test automation” by David
W. Johnson
Wikipedia
Igor Gershovich
Company: Connected Testing, Inc.
E-Mail: igershovich@connectedtesting.com
Phone: 720-933-9395
Website: www.connectedtesting.com