Words Manish Kumar

NEW DELHI (India CSR): Modern software engineering is all about speed and high quality. An innovative automation framework has emerged; revolutionizing the way testing is conducted within this sector. By using advanced technologies and methodologies, this transformative approach not only reduces execution times but also empowers both technical and non-technical stakeholders to contribute to quality assurance, ultimately setting a new benchmark for excellence in the industry.

In this context, the recent new project initiative, under Praveen Kumar, within an organization proved effective involving critical test automation toward improving both these metrics. The project entailed a massive shift away from the existing Java-based testing framework into an agile and easy to adopt JavaScript based framework, hence changing the face of automation testing in the company.

“The old Java framework was able to perform its required alert but it had its drawbacks, particularly in carrying out the tasks efficiently and without much time wastage”, says Praveen Kumar Koppanati, the project lead. Test scripts had an average of 8 to 10 minutes for execution which affected productivity and slowed down feedbacks to the development team. The situation demanded a better approach and triggered a wide range of searched called for a solution, which was clearly lacking.

Following detailed analysis and investigations, it was concluded that the Cucumber tool which allows behavior-driven development within a JavaScript-based framework should be adopted. This change was intended to help doing testing fast and also to enable people who are not technical like business analysts and product owners to write test scripts.

The average end-to-end script execution time reduced drastically to only 1 minute and 12 seconds thanks to the implementation of the dynamic end to end testing methodology. By the use of dynamic web element based automation framework, he and the team instead made testing days easier and did away with both implicit and explicit waits making the entire process of testing fast and accurate as the system interface changed. Such transition in testing did not only elevate speed in which the testing was carried out but also made it possible to incorporate new data elements in the system without affecting the testing process at all.

This initiative affected the way team members worked with one another. Cucumber’s use of user-readable scripts meant that everyone could contribute to the testing suite. This meant that developers, business analysts, and product owners were all working together instead of having a segregated quality assurance team. Not only did he contribute to the improved quality of the software test suite, which was necessary for the comprehensive functional checkouts before code releases, but also the trust factor for all of those involved with the testing process. These automation scripts became crucial for the system test team members who updated the regression suite for each release with ease. As a result, he improved the quality of the software releases improved greatly, which helped to shorten the time between deployments as well as increase their stability.

He comments, “My initial concerns were regarding the architecture design and coding language selection”. The efficiency of the suggested solution was needed to be supported by a realization of POC. Causation towards a successful transition was set by proving that JavaScript framework was better in terms of the speed compare to the previous one.

The decision to use Cucumber in the workflow was of great significance. By reason of improving the readability of the test scripts, he enabled the automation of work by those whose abilities were not technical. This change in the inclusion of different people in the e–testing of scripts revolutionized the organization’s outlook on e–test automation with a very high embrace of the new system. Different teams started copying the system to their local machines to carry out tests, thus broadening the scope of testing and ensuring quality was all in everyone’s hands..

In addition, it was the new framework which made it possible to realize API automation which is critical in micro-services architecture. It not only improved the testing aspect but was complimentary to current software development techniques; the result being that functional and integration testing was done more thoroughly.

The overall effect of this undertaking did not only stop at improving efficiency; it created an atmosphere where there was a sense of engagement and anticipation throughout the entire organization. “Owing to the development, teams became more fluid, taking on alterations and difficulties in a more assured way”, he remarked. Trunk Based Development was introduced in part due to the improved release quality; this is where code is often integrated into a single repository and base code kept up to date throughout the development process.

Praveen Kumar Koppanati’s adventures showcase the need for collaboration and use of technology in automation testing. By adopting more inclusive hierarchy, the organization has enhanced its testing process and at the same time created conducive atmosphere for all the members to the product’s quality. The move from the Java based functional automation framework to a JavaScript based functional framework, was difficult but has lifted the bar of automation testing, thus ensuring that in the quality assurance processes also keeps pace with the rapid growth of software engineering.