Getting Started with Open Source Test Automation

When determining how to get started with test automation, organizations should ask themselves a few questions:

• Is there executive support to move forward with test automation?
• Is there a budget?
• What is the skill level of my current staff?

If you have executive support but no budget for tools, you’ll need to invest in a highly skilled team with coding and development backgrounds so that testing can be automated through open source tools.

TTC has several consultants that help enable and train staff in open source frameworks and Ron currently leads initiatives in test automation at one of America’s largest digital education organizations.

We recently conducted a short Q&A session on how he has helped this educational learning company achieve digital transformation through use of an Automation Starter Pack.

What is an Automation Starter Pack?

One of the largest test automation challenges is the time it takes to create the core test assets required to get started. For a typical organization, developing a fulsome suite of test cases can take around three months. While this is time well-spent, it does mean there is a lead-time to becoming fully automated.

Test Automation Starter Packs are a ‘plug and play’ service and code that can be delivered to an organization. It is a set of tools and a pre-set automation framework that can be used as a basis to set up automated testing. Requiring little to no customization, you simply add your business data, adjust the individually automated test sequences and you’re automated.

Why use Automation Starter Packs?

Essentially, you can skip the build out process and begin automated testing straight away.

Establishing a UI framework takes time, budget and resources. The process is typically started with an existing framework, such as Cucumber or Mocha, which needs to be customized it to the organizational needs. This can be very slow, costly and is also risky because the work is often de-prioritized to focus on other projects with greater benefits.

Test Automation Starter Packs remove the main barriers to test automation entry and can deliver 80+% business risk coverage for standard transactions.

Most of the organizations we work with report a reduction in test automation time of about 75%.

How does it work?

TTC will work with you to identify a set of test cases based on your existing requirements. We provide Test Automation Starter Packs as a managed service, whereby TTC will maintain and execute the automation.

We currently provide Cucumber JS and Cucumber JVM frameworks.

So, if you are looking to utilize open source frameworks and need help getting it set up and finding trained staff, contacting a third-party firm that specializes in this area can enhance your speed to market.