Automated functional testing creates automated test scripts from manual functional testing for software applications. It ensures regression testing is completed cost-effectively with fewer errors, and allows for the reuse of test programs. While not a panacea, it ensures a more elegant approach to software application development.
Automated functional testing is the term used to describe the process of creating automated test scripts from manual functional testing for software applications. Functional testing in the process by which software is evaluated to ensure that it meets all specified requirements. This testing procedure is normally performed using software designed to capture and track software tests. Before the development of the automated functional test approach, software developers relied on human testing of software applications.
The manual testing approach has inherent risks and costs associated with it, as it relies on humans to verify the validity of features within an application. Also, most software applications have a long life that requires several software patches to be put into the underlying operating system. By having an automated functional testing process, software application owners can rest assured that regression testing can be completed more cost-effectively with fewer errors.
The automated functional test approach is not a new idea, as it was created with the first software application. In the past, this test has been completed by the developers who built the application. Today, automated functional tests are designed, developed, and tested by test engineers with a specialized test skill set. This paradigm shift has ensured that the developer of an application is verified by an independent verification and validation process to ensure that the functional requirements of a software application are complete and accurate.
One major benefit of this test approach is that it allows for the reuse of a test program. When creating an automated test, test engineers create scripts that complete the desired functional test. This test schedule allows you to perform future tests of the application and deliver the results of those tests in an automated way to the managers of the software organization. Each test is built as a single unit of work and chained together to create an entire test suite of a software application. The results of these tests are reliably summarized and delivered to software managers to enable more real-time validation of the ongoing system development effort.
Automated functional tests cannot reproduce the logic behind human thought to design tests and evaluate overall satisfaction with a product. However, it can be used to test repetitive procedures or controls within a software application. While this isn’t the panacea for all testing, a good mix of unit testing, integration testing, and automated functional testing ensures a more elegant approach to software application development as a whole.
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