13 Questions Quality Engineering Leaders Should Ask Before Buying Test Automation

You are a quality engineering leader. Your organization depends on you to make the right decision when choosing a test automation solution, as it can have a big impact on your organization’s success. 

The very first thing you should do is ask the necessary questions to assess the breadth and depth of functionality offered by the test automation solution to cater to your unique requirements. 

In this article, let’s look at the critical questions you must consider when buying a test automation tool/service.

Visual Summary

Absolutely Critical Questions for Selecting the Best-fit Testing Service

1. Does the tool support multiple platforms and technologies?

An intelligent test automation tool should be able to handle web applications built on different frameworks such as Angular, React, and others. It should also support UI, API, Mobile Web, Mobile Native, Visual testing, and others. It’s best to have a single framework that can run the functional UI scripts on multiple browsers on both desktop and Mobile.

2. Can it handle complex test scenarios and provide comprehensive coverage?

An ideal test automation tool should offer a wide range of customizable features and functionalities that allow users to create and run tests that cover complex scenarios. Complex test cases may be handled with ease with features like parameterization, data-driven testing, and conditional logic. The tool should support multiple test types, such as  Security testing, Exploratory Testing, Performance Testing, integration, and usability. This makes it possible to successfully address complex scenarios.

3. Can the solution integrate with existing tools and frameworks?

Scalability often involves integrating the test automation solution with existing tools and frameworks in the quality engineering ecosystem. Quality engineering leaders should assess whether the solution can seamlessly integrate with their current infrastructure without incurring additional costs for customization or extensive rework. Compatibility with existing tools avoids unnecessary expenses and potential disruptions.

4. Is the test automation solution scalable to meet future needs?

Your test automation solution should scale efficiently as per your testing requirements. You should evaluate the solution’s capacity to handle an increased number of tests, users, and test environments without any significant impact on the performance.

5. Can the solution accommodate cloud-based testing?

There is a rapid increase in the adoption of cloud-based infrastructure. Hence, quality engineering leaders need to evaluate whether the test automation solution can support such scenarios. Your test automation tool should:

• Be compatible with major cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
• Allow seamless integration with cloud services and resources.
• Have the ability to scale up or down resources based on testing demands.
• Have features like auto-scaling and resource provisioning to manage and allocate cloud resources efficiently, ensuring optimal usage and cost-effectiveness.

6. Does the tool offer codeless automation capabilities?

You need the power of AI and ML to generate the test scripts. codeless test automation, sometimes referred to as no-code or scriptless test automation, enables testing teams to perform automated testing without writing any code for the test script.

Read our in-depth analysis on “How to choose a testing tool” to help with the decision-making process. In this research, we examine numerous aspects that should be taken into account when choosing a testing tool, ensuring that your choice is well-informed and in line with the requirements of your organization.

7. Does the tool support API testing?

APIs provide entry points to sensitive data and house crucial business and functional logic and also play a crucial role in integrating various software components. Hence, it’s essential to thoroughly test the APIs using Manual and Automation testing to ensure comprehensive test coverage and validate the functionalities.

8. Is the tool/service within your budget?

Budgetary considerations are crucial, but it’s also crucial to balance cost and quality to ensure maximum value. The best solution is a Testing as a Service (TaaS) provider that offers flexible and competitive pricing.

Other TaaS Benefits include:

9. Does it support a wide range of technologies and platforms?

One of the primary considerations when investing in test automation is its compatibility with various technologies and platforms. As software applications are built using diverse frameworks and technologies, your chosen automation tool should support the ones relevant to your organization. Ensure that it can seamlessly integrate with web, mobile, API, and desktop applications, as well as different operating systems and browsers.

10. How easy is it to create and maintain test scripts?

Efficiency is paramount in any test automation effort. Evaluate the ease of use and the learning curve associated with the tool. Does it offer a user-friendly interface? Can your team quickly create, update, and maintain test scripts?

Look for features like codeless automation, visual test scripting, and the ability to reuse test components to accelerate test creation and reduce maintenance efforts. Self-healing scripts also help in test script maintenance by automatically detecting and resolving issues that arise during the execution of test scripts. It adapts to the changes that occur in the UI and re-generates the automation scripts.

11. Does it provide robust test reporting and analytics?

Detailed test reporting and analytics are vital for gaining insights into the test execution process and identifying areas of improvement. A quality automation tool should offer comprehensive reports, real-time dashboards, and analytics capabilities. Ensure that it provides meaningful metrics and visualization options to track test coverage, execution results, and performance trends.

With the use of Webomates  test insights  throughout the CI/CD pipeline, can gain strategic advantages by understanding the effects each change is having on the product.

12. Does it provide auditable logs?

It is mandatory to ensure regulatory compliance specific to your sector, such as HIPAA for the health insurance industry and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for medical device regulations. You require a solution that generates artifacts and logs for each test case that is executed and provides a quick analysis of the test cases that failed.

For instance, the Webomates Defect Predictor tool analyzes the failure quickly. As per the results, failure analysis of 300 test cases can be done within 3 hours whereas the traditional tools would need more than 24 hours for providing the same analysis.

13. Does it support continuous integration and delivery, and testing?

You need a test automation tool that seamlessly integrates with CI/CD pipelines without any issues. To be successful at continuous delivery or continuous deployment, it is critical to do continuous integration and continuous testing well. Any failures or issues identified by the tests can be fixed immediately, speeding up the bug fixes and improving the overall software quality.

The Next Step

As a Quality Engineering Leader, making informed decisions when purchasing test automation is crucial to ensure that your products are of the highest quality and free of bugs before release. However, it can be challenging to choose the best automation testing service for your project because there are numerous options available. Using these 13 questions as a roadmap, you can think about aspects like functionality, scalability, integration, support, and pricing as you move through the selection process. 

One of the many things that set Webomates CQ apart from other vendors is that it’s the complete Testing-as-a-service  (TaaS) provider. It leverages the power of AI/ML to provide a complete testing solution for all your needs. You will have access to its platform, on-demand testing, and 14 AI testing tools. 

With applications and data all on one platform, you can get unhindered visibility into your testing data, results, and insights. 
Click here to schedule a demo. You can also reach out to us at info@webomates.com.

Tags: AI Testing, Artificial Intelligence, Buying Test Automation, GenerativeAI, GenerativeAIinSoftwareTesting, GenerativeAITesting, Software Testing, Test Automation