When to Focus on Manual Testing

1. High per-test or maintenance costs are one indicator that a test should be done manually. Another is the need for human judgment to assess the correctness of the result or extensive, ongoing human intervention to keep the test running. For these reasons, the following tests are a good fit for manual testing:

2. Installation, setup, operations, and maintenance. In many cases, these tests involve loading CD-ROMs and tapes, changing hardware, and other ongoing hand-holding by the tester.

3. Configuration and compatibility. Like operations and maintenance testing, these tests require reconfiguring systems and networks, installing software and hardware, and so forth, all requiring human intervention.

4. Error handling and recovery. Again, the need to force errors?by powering off a server, for example?means that people must stay engaged during test execution.

5. Localization. Only a human tester with appropriate skills can decide whether a translation makes no sense, is culturally offensive, or is otherwise inappropriate. (Currency, date, and time testing can be automated, but the need to rerun these tests for regression is limited.)

6. Usability. As with localization, human judgment is needed to check for problems with the facility, simplicity, and elegance of the user interface and workflows.

7. Documentation and help. Like usability and localization, checking documentation requires human judgment.

When Test Automation Makes Sense

Let?s start with the tests that ideally are automated. These include:

Regression and confirmation. Rerunning a test against a new release to ensure that behavior remains unbroken to confirm that a bug fix did indeed fix the underlying problem's a perfect fit for automated testing. The business case for test automation outlined in Software Test Automation by Mark Fewster and Dorothy Graham is built around this kind of testing.

1. Monkey (or random). Tests that fire large amounts or long sequences of data, transactions, or other inputs at a system in a random search for errors are easily and profitably automated

2. Load, volume, and capacity. Sometimes, systems must support tremendous loads. On one project, we had to test how the system would respond to 50,000 simultaneous users, which ruled out manual testing! Two Linux systems running custom load-generating programs filled the bill.

3.Performance and reliability. With the rise of Web-based systems, more and more automated testing is aimed at looking for slow or flaky behavior on Web systems.

4. Structural, especially API-based unit, component, and integration. Most structural testing involves harnesses of some sort, which brings you most of the way into automation. Again, the article I wrote with Greg Kubaczkowski, "Mission Made Possible" (STQE magazine, July/Aug. 2002), provides an example.

Other tests that are well-suited for automation exist, such as the static testing of complexity and code standards compliance that I mentioned in the previous article. In general, automated tests have higher upfront costs?tools, test development, environments, and so forth?and lower costs to repeat the test.

To reduce the time and costs associated with application testing, you need a solution that offers functionality across all environments and business processes.

HP QuickTest Professional supports functional and regression test automation that addresses every major software application and environment. This solution uses the concept of keyword-driven testing to simplify test creation and maintenance. It enables testers to build test cases by capturing flows directly from the application screens using specialized capturing technology. Test experts also have full access to the underlying test and object properties via an integrated scripting and debugging environment.

What's New in QuickTest Professional 9.5

QuickTest Professional 9.5 brings you an exciting array of new features to help you design and maintain your tests and components easier and faster. The new features include:

> All-in-one QuickTest Installation

> New QuickTest IDE Panes

> Process Guidance

> Maintenance Run Mode

> Checkpoint and Output Objects in the Object Repository

> Test Your PowerBuilder Applications in QuickTest

> Extend QuickTest Web Support for your Custom Web Objects

> Accelerate SAP Testing with Business Process Testing for SAP Applications

> Checkpoint and Output Value Steps Supported for Business Components

> Tolerance values for Bitmap Checkpoints

> Drag and Drop objects from Object Repository

> Replace Local Objects with Shared Objects After Export

> New Supported Operating Systems and Environments


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Like most organizations, you are probably looking for ways to efficiently test multiple applications that are constantly evolving and required to work in diverse environments.

HP WinRunner provides a powerful tool for enterprise-wide functional and regression testing. This software allows your team to capture, verify and replay user interactions automatically to identify defects and enable your business processes to work flawlessly upon deployment. Your organization can reduce testing time by automating repetitive tasks and optimize your testing efforts by covering diverse environments with a single testing tool.

Do your applications and systems provide the performance and scalability your business requires?

HP LoadRunner can help you prevent costly performance problems in production by detecting bottlenecks before a new system or upgrade is deployed. This software enables you to measure end-to-end performance, diagnose application and system bottlenecks and tune for better performance?all from a single point of control. This helps reduce the costs and time required to test and deploy new applications and systems into your production environment.

HP Quality Center is designed to address the wide-ranging challenges that your quality assurance professionals face. By leveraging consistent, repeatable and standardized processes, it helps your quality assurance teams turn quality into a competitive advantage.

HP Quality Center helps your organization:

1. Gain real-time visibility into requirements coverage and associated defects to paint a clear picture of business risk
2. Manage the release process and make more informed release decisions with real-time KPIs and reports
3. Measure progress and effectiveness of quality activities
4. Collaborate in the quality lifecycle with a single global platform
5. Manage manual and automated testing assets centrally
6. Facilitate standardized testing and quality processes that boost productivity through workflows and alerts
7. Lower costs by capturing critical defects before they reach production