NEW DIMENSIONS IN TEST AUTOMATION METHODOLOGIES AND TECHNOLOGIES

摘要

Manual testing is the most prevalent type of testing performed on software intensive systems in industry today. Large-scale weapon systems to small information technology projects that have attempted test automation have either given up or at best have had limited success without achieving the results they anticipated. In reality, test automation can and should be successful for all testing of software/systems today. This paper will describe: 1) several forms or categories of test automaton that can be used throughout the testing lifecycle, 2) why failures have occurred in the past, 3) new and recent trends in the test automation industry (i.e. keyword-based, model-based, data-driven, etc), 4) how automation can provide better utilization of test recourses, both people and hardware/software assets, 5) a sample return on investment, and 6) test automation lessons learned and benefits. The paper will include, as an example, a successful keyword-based test automation effort from the aerospace industry.