Selecting Test Case for Automation

It is impossible to automate all testing, so it is important to determine what test cases should be automated first. Tests at the system level comprise of a combination of Smoke & Regression test cases. The Test team needs to review all the test cases to determine which test cases are good automation candidates and which should be performed manually. Analyzing what to automate is one of the most crucial aspects of the Automation Testing.

The following types of test cases are preferred (but not limited to) choice for automation:

§  Tests that need to run for every build.

§  Tests that tend to cause human error.

§  Tests that use multiple data values for same action.

§  Identical tests that need to be executed using different browsers & on different OS.

§  Tests that take a lot of effort and time when manual testing.

§  Frequently used functionality that introduces high risk conditions.

§  Tests requiring a great deal of precision

Also above test cases have following characteristics:

·         Should be atomic and have a clear objective.

·         Provides good coverage.

·         Identifies the most number of defects.

·         Is well structured.

·         Is not ambiguous in any way.

·         Can be linked-back to a specific requirement in the requirement document.

The following types are not considered to be the good candidates for automation:

§  Test Cases that will only be executed once.

§  Test Cases used for Ad-hoc/random Testing.

§  Test Cases that are infrequently selected for execution.

§  Test Cases that will require manual intervention i.e. a task not possible to automate.