How to automate regression testing for maximum efficiency in 2023?

Making sure that a software product works appropriately for all end users should be one of the top priorities for developers and testers when developing it. Before making the product available to the general public, you should run it through various tests to see how well it performs. On the other hand, creating high-quality software is typically a never-ending effort.

This shows that new features are continuously being added to the program to help it fulfill the user needs and the standards established by the industry. Regression testing is one of the most important techniques to ensure that the upgraded software product will continue functioning as intended. Manual regression testing techniques allow you to examine how the application performs after a significant change has been made to the code.

However, because automated regression testing is more thorough, dependable, and economical than human testing, many companies are choosing it over manual testing.

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What is regression testing?

Regression Testing is the term used to describe this method. Regression testing is the practice of ensuring that a change in the source code has not adversely affected the functionality of an application. Regression testing must be performed every time the code changes, such as when a problem is fixed, to keep the app's performance at the required level. Certain teams may only perform regression testing after the code changes considerably. Adding features to the product is one of the best examples of regression testing.

What is Automated Regression Testing?

Let's start with a definition of automated regression testing before discussing the specifics of this type of testing. Through automated regression testing, quality assurance engineers can now thoroughly evaluate software after it has undergone any alteration. Automated regression testing, a technique, is used to provide this capability. Test scripts, test strategies, and workflow are used in regression testing automation to speed up the procedure and improve its effectiveness. These three components are used in tandem to achieve this.

Regression testing, whether performed manually or automatically, has the same general goal of discovering any potential flaws that a software change may have introduced or that may have emerged as a result. Regression testing aims to find any potential bugs a program modification might have brought about. Automated regression testing can examine the core logic of a software product, workflow, and other software components. Human regression testing, in contrast, is restricted to examining only the core logic of a software product.

Why is automated regression testing necessary?

As we proceed to the following section, let's examine why automated regression testing is essential. If the testing process is not automated and is done manually, the time required to complete each test case is extended. Here are some pointers that will help us understand the importance of regression testing:

• No requirement for human contact

There is no requirement for human interaction during test execution once the test cases have been automated. The user can trigger or schedule them when required and return to the results once the task is completed. Additionally, with this technology, testing is done continuously without human help.

• Less Turnaround time

Manual testing will never be able to keep up with the speed of automated testing. Automated regression tests might be far faster than manual testing, which might take several days to complete, and can certify a new version in just a few hours.

• Expanded coverage

Automated tests can cover the same test cases more quickly and across a more extensive range of operating systems and browsers. You won't lose time running the regression test suite simultaneously on various operating systems, devices, and browsers if you use automation tools like LambdaTest, a cloud-based digital experience testing platform that enables developers and testers to test their mobile and web applications using various automation tools and frameworks like Selenium, Playwright, and Appium over more than 3000+ browsers and OS combinations.

LambdaTest also allows you to perform parallel testing that enables testers to execute tests on multiple environments, thus reducing the test execution time. You can get detailed findings when the tests are concluded, and these investigations are thorough enough to find any underlying issues. 

• Efficient

Humans can make mistakes while performing the same task repeatedly. On the other hand, automated regression tests do not allow for error-making, so the results you get will be much better.

How can you automate regression testing for maximum efficiency in 2023?

• Know all changes that need to be made in the software.

You must specify the software changes made at this stage of the process, their anticipated impact, and the extent to which they affect the program. The scope of the changes made to the program due to the new additions to the code must be understood to choose the approach and tools best suited to your needs. 

• Create your strategy

While testing programs for regressions, several distinct ways can be used; nevertheless, there isn't a single strategy that can be regarded as standard or universally applicable to automated regression testing. Ideally, a person with extensive knowledge in automated regression testing should develop your testing approach. Many potential risks can be avoided with the help of a good plan.

• Ensure that you have sufficient resources at your disposal.

Before you can fully start your automated testing technique, you must have access to three essential categories of resources. Among these different sources are:

• Time

This is the most crucial resource for those needed to perform regression testing. Working as quickly as possible is required to launch the product in the market as per the timeline. Your justification may differ from that of others since some software developers must satisfy their obligations to investors while others must gain an advantage over their competitors. The most crucial thing to remember is not to speed up the procedure and, as a result, gloss over some issues. As a result, you must ensure you have enough time for testing and testing again.

• The tools and equipment required.

Unlike compatibility or mobile testing, regression testing does not require a range of devices to be effective. However, you will need a variety of automation tools, and because there are so many to pick from, you will need help from someone with extensive expertise in this field.

• People

Although the quality assurance team can save a lot of time by automating regression testing, this testing cannot be done on autopilot. You will need the support of people who can plan out the testing strategy, execute it using industry standards, and implement the results to increase the overall quality of your software product.

• Gather your team

Some business owners make the error of trying to start the automated regression testing process with just one QA engineer. Your testing team should have at least two members: a QA lead responsible for the overall project and an engineer who will conduct the tests and provide the team head with a report on their findings. The product's comprehensive quality assurance will be under the direction of the QA lead. 

A team of this size can only be employed for a very small range of tasks. The size of your team should grow in direct proportion to the magnitude and frequency of upgrades to your software product. For example, you might hire a second engineer and a specialist from the relevant industry with extensive prior experience with the type of service you want to create.

• Choose the best test cases.

The test case will guide the quality assurance engineer in determining whether or not the current version of the software product is error-free. The project's scope, goals, and history will dictate the test cases. All the automated regression testing techniques used are different for every test case.

• Select the right framework.

Any plan for automated regression testing must include the selection of the best framework—the programming language and the tools that will help you along the process. If you already have a well-developed testing framework that has been proven successful in previous regression tests, you can apply it successfully; however, in most cases, the framework will need to be modified to meet the needs of this specific testing case.

• Create your Test Scripts

Automation regression testing is a time-saving alternative to manual regression testing techniques. Even if you are planning for automated regression testing, developing the test scripts is the step that will consume most of your time. You must not only select the test scripts that are most applicable to understand the changes made to the program entirely, but you must also maintain those scripts updated each time a new piece of code is added. To ensure that the important scripts receive the most attention, you should arrange them according to relevancy.

• Run the test

There comes a time when you can finally conduct all of the tests you had scheduled after the frequently rigorous era of preparation. At this point, you must ensure that the tests cover every aspect of the application and give you a thorough understanding of how the newly introduced feature affected the final result. You will have the chance to select the most accurate and beneficial tests as you run them to include in the last iteration of your automated regression test suite.

• Examine the findings

The planning, preparation, and execution of automated regression tests are done to enhance the program's overall quality, identify any flaws or other problems that may have been introduced as a result of a change to the product, and prevent such bugs from reoccurring in the future. Because of this, you must move on to the stage where you analyze once a sizable amount of the testing procedure has been finished. 

Suppose you thoroughly analyze the results of the automated regression tests. Please pay close attention to the failed tests because they can offer highly insightful information if a false failure does not occur. In that case, you will better know where your product is regarding quality, how vulnerable it is to regressions, and what can be done to improve the regression testing in the future. 

• Ensure that you record everything.

You may have developed a thorough awareness of the various setbacks that can occur throughout your project's testing and analysis phase. Still, it would help if you kept the broader picture in mind. The next round of testing can be set up more quickly, errors similar to those that may have been made during this round of testing can be avoided, and it will be simpler to train new QA engineers on the automated regression testing process used by your company if you need to replace members of the testing team.

Conclusion

Automation as a concept nearly always seems appealing and promising. You will need to have a unique method and a test suite for it to be successful, though. Regression testing can only be fully utilized and be a significant component of any software development lifecycle when it is automated. A crucial phase of every software development life cycle is regression testing.

To meet the ever-increasing expectations made on you by your users and the frequent releases they require, you must adopt automated regression testing to ensure a quicker turn-around time and an effective, bug-free product. Regression Testing is a perfect starting point for automation testing because it is routinely repeated and constantly focused on the same functionality, making it more straightforward while producing more reliable findings.