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As a tester who takes care of automation, there are various activities apart from writing code that a tester must perform. Here is a list.



I have done the below activities and still do most of them.&nbsp;



1) Writing Script



2) Create a framework&nbsp;



3) Maintain the framework



4) Giving estimates



5) Create utilities inside the framework



6) Analysing Reports for the Test Run



7) Taking care of pipeline



8) Understanding requirements and System



9) Deciding what to automate and what not to



10) Process Improvement



11) Performance improvement for the scripts



12) Bugs creation



13) Talking to stakeholders – BA/Dev/Customer/Developers



14) Sharing suggestions on how development can be improved



15) Creating documentation



<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets">Table Of Contents<ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#Day_to_Day_Activities_of_Automation_Tester_8211_In_Detail">1 Day to Day Activities of Automation Tester &#8211; In Detail</a><ul><li><a href="#Writing_Script">1.1 Writing Script </a></li><li><a href="#Creating_a_framework">1.2 Creating a framework </a></li><li><a href="#Maintain_the_framework">1.3 Maintain the framework </a></li><li><a href="#Giving_estimates">1.4 Giving estimates</a></li><li><a href="#Create_utilities_inside_the_framework">1.5 Create utilities inside the framework </a><ul><li><a href="#Technical_utilities">1.5.1 Technical utilities</a></li><li><a href="#Business_utilities">1.5.2 Business utilities </a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Report_Analysis">1.6 Report Analysis </a></li><li><a href="#Pipeline_Creation_Maintenancenbsp">1.7 Pipeline Creation / Maintenance&nbsp; </a></li><li><a href="#Understanding_requirements_and_System_under_test">1.8 Understanding requirements and System under test </a></li><li><a href="#Deciding_what_to_automate_and_what_not_to">1.9 Deciding what to automate and what not to </a></li><li><a href="#Process_improvement">1.10 Process improvement </a></li><li><a href="#Performance_improvement">1.11 Performance improvement</a></li><li><a href="#Bugs_creation">1.12 Bugs creation</a></li><li><a href="#Talking_to_stakeholders">1.13 Talking to stakeholders </a></li><li><a href="#Creating_Documentationnbsp">1.14 Creating Documentation&nbsp;</a></li></ul></li></ul></div>
<h2 id="h-day-to-day-activities-of-automation-tester-in-detail">Day to Day Activities of Automation Tester &#8211; In Detail</h2>



<h3 id="writing-script">Writing Script </h3>



 One of the primary responsibilities of the automation tester is to write scripts(code) to automate functionality.&nbsp;



a) Some teams do the automation by converting test case to <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/automated-test-scripts/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">automated scripts</a>. So here we have 1 to 1 mapping.&nbsp;



b) Some teams do it at story level. So per story there could be one or multiple automated scripts. They might choose to combine test cases or avoid some negative cases. So 1 story can have 2 automated scripts and 5 test cases.&nbsp;



c) Some teams do at scenario level. Here we can use the existing cases and modify them and don’t create new cases unless absolutely required. Here we have 1 to many mapping. 1 Automation script can map to multiple test cases.&nbsp;



My personal favorite is option c) as it leads to minimum maintenance and automation at the scenario level and combining with b). A word of caution here is to not include everything in one scenario just in the name of fewer scenarios as it will make it too large and time consuming.



<h3 id="creating-a-framework">Creating a framework </h3>



You are supposed to create/use a framework to do automation. A framework can help you in the long run. The framework is a combination of things that make script writing easy. This makes sure you can focus on test part rather than rewriting the same code at multiple places like login/constants/utilities. It’s a way to stay organized. Example – When you go to an airport, there are things in place that make your travel easier like check-in, security check, boarding, etc. So, it’s like a framework in place that makes traveling easier. Similarly, the framework is a supporting thing for your scripts.



<h3 id="maintain-the-framework">Maintain the framework </h3>



If your project already has or you have created a framework, does not mean it’s over. Its maintenance is always an ongoing work. You might not do this on a daily basis but have plans for this to make your life easy. Check if your framework has support for parallelism, reporting, <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/test-data/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">test data</a>, and configuration.&nbsp;



Example – Continuing the airport example, instead of people checking the ticket, we have scanners at some airports, which are like maintenance with little enhancement.&nbsp;



With respect to automation, there could be some old library version which were long back updated. Bring them to the latest and test them fully so it does not break things. Like Selenium, TestNG, Cucumber, etc. upgrade them to use the latest features



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<h3 id="giving-estimates">Giving estimates</h3>



Just like for testing/development, in automation too we must give estimates and do sprint planning. What we are going to achieve in this sprint. How many cases/stories can be automated based on the capacity of the team considering holidays/number of people etc. So based on the complexity of the functionality, each story can have a task or multiple tasks for taking care of the automation with hours mentioned in it.&nbsp;



<h3 id="create-utilities-inside-the-framework">Create utilities inside the framework </h3>



There are some common things that you must do in most of the projects. Following the DRY – Don&#8217;t Repeat Yourself principle, you can spend a one-time effort and make utilities that could be used by various tests



Example – Continuing the same airport example. You see at airport now we can check in with an app which has our data preloaded. So it saves time for security staff and you. So things are improving everywhere so your framework should be.



There are 2 main types of utilities.



<h4 id="technical-utilities">Technical utilities</h4>



You can take them from one project to another without any major changes. These include reading configuration files, XML, JSON files. Getting date time in a particular time Adding subtracting date time. File operations (Creating/deleting files, etc), Email reading, Database reading, etc. Make them in such a way there are no business specific things in this.



<h4 id="business-utilities">Business utilities </h4>



Some calculation operations that happen in multiple places in the system. Like handling notifications or pop-up messages, whose structure remains the same just the message changes. This could be specific to your application&nbsp;



<h3 id="report-analysis">Report Analysis </h3>



Once you run the pipeline or a scheduled run is over, a report HTML/pdf/JSON will get generated. This is the output of a pipeline or local run. As an automation analyst, you should be able to analyze the failures, your report should help you in getting to the failure quicker. This is a daily task to keep your pipeline green as you can apply fixes and improve the pass percentage and help team to take decisions faster. Your debugging skills can help a lot here.



<h3 id="pipeline-creation-maintenance">Pipeline Creation / Maintenance&nbsp; </h3>



It&#8217;s important that the automation that you develop should run often. This is made possible with the help of pipeline. So pipeline creation/maintenance is an important part of the roles and responsibilities. You need to make sure all of your tests are running in pipeline and optimize the run so it takes minimum time. 



Tip: Even if you don&#8217;t have parallelism at your Test suite level which is a common case in many projects. You can optimize the running of cases by creating various stages that can run in parallel and each stage can have a unique tag(maybe author). Also, you should see if the cases that are passed are genuinely working and not merely a false positive.



<h3 id="understanding-requirements-and-system-under-test">Understanding requirements and System under test </h3>



You should not just rely on test cases but look at the requirements in the user story/work items. This will help you in understanding the user ask in a better way. Additionally, you can add some check points(assertions) which are not explicitly written in the test case. The more you know the better you can automate and at a better layer may be API rather than UI.



<h3 id="deciding-what-to-automate-and-what-not-to">Deciding what to automate and what not to </h3>



An automation engineer should not be a tool to convert test cases to scripts. They should analyze the requirements and the test case and then make the decision if it&#8217;s worth automating them. It could be a negative case that might not need automation being of less priority. There is a minor change that can be included in the existing automated script without the need to create a new one. Or it might have already been covered elsewhere. With each script you are adding a maintenance part, so be careful and give your expert input in it.



<h3 id="process-improvement">Process improvement </h3>



You should keep on checking the process followed by the team, be it PR process, tagging of the test cases, User story etc. Do share suggestions on what can be improved and the processes which can be removed if they are no longer adding any value and people are following for the sake of following them. You can save a lot of time and stand out by doing this.



<h3 id="performance-improvement">Performance improvement</h3>



You should keep on looking and noting down what&#8217;s making the scripts run slowly. Why pipeline is taking 4-5 hours to run? Why there are similar failures frequently? So do add work items in the backlog to address this problem. The performance of the framework can help in longer runs. Find out how you can avoid waits, and how you can make 1 call instead of many.&nbsp;



<h3 id="bugs-creation">Bugs creation</h3>



Whenever you are starting to write scripts, you may face problems, system might not be working. You should be able to analyze if the problems happening are bugs. Then you should be able to create bugs and not be dependent on someone else (Say dedicated testers) to create bugs. So this way you support the testers working on the testing part, by not putting your task of bug to someone else and you know system better



<h3 id="talking-to-stakeholders">Talking to stakeholders </h3>



<p id="ba-architect-developers-scrum-master-customer-you-should-talk-to-the-stakeholders-in-your-team-and-share-your-findings-reports-automation-dashboards-occasionally-to-take-their-input-as-with-these-discussions-you-will-find-some-things-which-are-not-required-to-be-automated-also-they-will-bring-their-perspective-and-can-save-a-lot-of-time-for-you-example-we-were-trying-to-automate-the-loading-of-data-and-it-was-taking-15-seconds-to-load-ba-confirmed-that-customer-will-never-have-this-much-data-which-we-had-in-our-test-account-so-we-saved-a-lot-of-time-creating-documentation">BA / Architect / Developers / Scrum Master / Customer – You should talk to the stakeholders in your team and share your findings/reports/automation dashboards occasionally to take their input as with these discussions you will find some things which are not required to be automated. Also they will bring their perspective and can save a lot of time for you. 



<p id="ba-architect-developers-scrum-master-customer-you-should-talk-to-the-stakeholders-in-your-team-and-share-your-findings-reports-automation-dashboards-occasionally-to-take-their-input-as-with-these-discussions-you-will-find-some-things-which-are-not-required-to-be-automated-also-they-will-bring-their-perspective-and-can-save-a-lot-of-time-for-you-example-we-were-trying-to-automate-the-loading-of-data-and-it-was-taking-15-seconds-to-load-ba-confirmed-that-customer-will-never-have-this-much-data-which-we-had-in-our-test-account-so-we-saved-a-lot-of-time-creating-documentation">Example – We were trying to automate the loading of data and it was taking 15 seconds to load. BA confirmed that customer will never have this much data which we had in our test account. So we saved a lot of time.



<h3 id="creating-documentation">Creating Documentation&nbsp;</h3>



It should be easy for someone looking at your code to understand. So its important to keep the documentation up to the date in wiki and readme file of your code.



I have tried to cover the things I do on daily basis. There are some other task like charging hours on the task, giving KT to new team members and taking interviews that would fall on our plate. Do let me know in case I missed to cover any which you are doing as part of your daily activities as a tester who automates.

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As organisations continue to adopt Salesforce to streamline operations, having a robust test automation strategy becomes critical to ensure that frequent updates, configurations, and customizations work seamlessly.



Following industry standards for software testing, this case study explores a structured approach to Salesforce test automation, illustrating how automation can enhance quality, reduce regression testing time, and improve resource allocation.



As a seasoned Salesforce test automation engineer, I&#8217;ve had the privilege of witnessing the transformative power of test automation in action. Today, I&#8217;m excited to share a comprehensive case study that showcases the remarkable benefits we were able to achieve through the strategic implementation of a robust test automation framework.



<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets">Table Of Contents<ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#The_Challenge_Navigating_Complexity_and_Rapid_Change_in_Salesforce">1 The Challenge: Navigating Complexity and Rapid Change in Salesforce</a></li><li><a href="#The_Solution_Comprehensive_Salesforce_Test_Automation">2 The Solution: Comprehensive Salesforce Test Automation</a></li><li><a href="#The_Results_Transforming_Salesforce_Testing_Efficiency_and_Quality">3 The Results: Transforming Salesforce Testing Efficiency and Quality</a></li><li><a href="#Looking_to_the_Future_How_LLMs_Can_Enhance_Salesforce_Test_Automation">4 Looking to the Future: How LLMs Can Enhance Salesforce Test Automation</a></li><li><a href="#Testsigma_for_Automated_Salesforce_Testing">5 Testsigma for Automated Salesforce Testing</a></li><li><a href="#Conclusion">6 Conclusion</a></li></ul></div>
<h2 id="h-the-challenge-navigating-complexity-and-rapid-change-in-salesforce">The Challenge: Navigating Complexity and Rapid Change in Salesforce</h2>



Our client, a rapidly growing SaaS company, was facing a set of interconnected challenges within their Salesforce ecosystem. As their Salesforce instance grew in complexity, the problems they encountered became increasingly multifaceted and difficult to manage.



Over time, the client&#8217;s Salesforce platform had become more intricate, with a growing number of custom objects, integrations, and business processes. This complexity made it increasingly challenging to maintain a comprehensive understanding of the entire system and its interdependencies.&nbsp;



Additionally, the client&#8217;s Salesforce development team was working at a fast pace, continuously introducing new features and updates to meet the evolving needs of their customers. While this agility was crucial for the business, it also created a constant state of change that made it difficult to ensure the stability and reliability of the Salesforce platform.



The client&#8217;s existing testing approach was heavily reliant on manual processes, which became increasingly time-consuming and error-prone as the Salesforce instance grew in complexity. The QA team struggled to keep up with the rapid development cycles, and they were unable to thoroughly validate all critical business scenarios before each deployment.&nbsp;



The manual testing approach simply could not scale to meet the demands of the client&#8217;s growing Salesforce ecosystem. As the number of test cases and the frequency of deployments increased, the QA team found it increasingly challenging to maintain the necessary testing coverage and ensure the quality of the Salesforce solutions.



These challenges led to delayed time-to-market, as the inefficient testing process and the inability to quickly identify and resolve defects impacted the client&#8217;s ability to deliver new features and updates to their customers. This had a direct impact on their competitive positioning and customer satisfaction.



The leadership team at the client&#8217;s organisation recognized that these challenges were hindering their ability to fully leverage the power of Salesforce and deliver the best possible experience to their customers. They knew that a more efficient and scalable testing approach was needed to overcome these obstacles and position the company for long-term success.



<h2 id="h-the-solution-comprehensive-salesforce-test-automation">The Solution: Comprehensive Salesforce Test Automation</h2>



After a thorough evaluation of the client&#8217;s requirements and the existing Salesforce ecosystem, we proposed a comprehensive test automation strategy. The key elements of this approach were:



<ol><li>Comprehensive Test Suite Development: We worked closely with the client&#8217;s development and quality assurance teams to identify critical business scenarios, integration points, and user journeys. This enabled us to create a robust and comprehensive test suite that covered the core functionality of the Salesforce platform, as well as edge cases and potential areas of concern. </li><li>Automation Framework and Tool Selection: We carefully selected a Salesforce-compatible test automation framework and tool that would seamlessly integrate with the client&#8217;s existing technology stack. This allowed us to leverage the power of automation while maintaining a cohesive and maintainable solution. In this case, we chose a well-established framework that offered advanced features, such as data-driven testing, parallel execution, and detailed reporting. </li><li>Test Automation Implementation: Our team of experienced Salesforce test automation engineers implemented the selected framework and tool, meticulously automating the identified test cases. This process involved developing reusable code modules, creating data-driven test scenarios, and implementing robust error-handling and reporting mechanisms. We also incorporated best practices, such as modular design, code versioning, and continuous improvement, to ensure the long-term maintainability of the automation suite. </li><li>Continuous Integration and Deployment: We integrated the <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/automated-test-suite/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">test automation suite</a> with the client&#8217;s continuous integration and deployment pipelines, enabling seamless and frequent regression testing. This allowed the development team to quickly identify and address any regressions or defects, thereby reducing the time-to-market for new features.</li></ol>



<h2 id="h-the-results-transforming-salesforce-testing-efficiency-and-quality">The Results: Transforming Salesforce Testing Efficiency and Quality </h2>



The implementation of the Salesforce test automation strategy yielded remarkable results for our client:



<ol><li>Increased Test Coverage: By automating the critical test cases, we were able to achieve a significant increase in test coverage, ensuring that new features and updates were thoroughly validated before deployment. </li><li>Faster Release Cycles: The automated testing process reduced the time required for regression testing from several days to just a few hours, enabling the client to deliver new features to their customers more quickly and with greater confidence. </li><li>Improved Quality: The consistent and reliable execution of automated tests helped to identify and resolve defects earlier in the development lifecycle, resulting in a higher-quality Salesforce solution for the client&#8217;s customers. </li><li>Cost Savings: The efficiency gains achieved through <a href="https://testsigma.com/automated-testing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">test automation</a> led to a substantial reduction in the resources required for manual testing, allowing the client to reallocate those resources to other high-impact initiatives.</li></ol>



<h2 id="h-looking-to-the-future-how-llms-can-enhance-salesforce-test-automation">Looking to the Future: How LLMs Can Enhance Salesforce Test Automation</h2>



As we look to the future, I believe that the integration of large language models (LLMs) can further enhance the capabilities of Salesforce test automation. LLMs, such as GPT-3, have demonstrated remarkable natural language processing and generation abilities, which can be leveraged to:



<ol><li>Automated Test Case Generation: LLMs can analyse Salesforce requirements and user stories to automatically generate relevant test cases, saving time and ensuring comprehensive coverage. </li><li>Test Case Optimization: LLMs can suggest optimizations to existing test cases, identifying opportunities for consolidation, parameterization, and improved maintenance. </li><li>Natural Language-based Reporting: LLMs can generate detailed, human-readable reports on test execution, including insights and recommendations for improvement, making it easier for non-technical stakeholders to understand the testing process. </li><li>Intelligent Automation Assistance: LLMs can provide contextual assistance to test automation engineers, helping with code generation, debugging, and troubleshooting, thereby enhancing the overall productivity and efficiency of the test automation team.</li></ol>



<h2 id="h-testsigma-for-automated-salesforce-testing">Testsigma for Automated Salesforce Testing</h2>



Testsigma is a low-code cloud-based GenAI-powered test automation platform that allows testers to<a href="https://testsigma.com/automated-salesforce-testing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> automate Salesforce tests</a> using plain English statements without requiring much coding expertise.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" width="1440" height="768" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/blog-assets-production.testsigma.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/27160715/Testsigma-Recorder.png" alt="Testsigma-Recorder" class="wp-image-50431" srcset="https://s3.amazonaws.com/blog-assets-production.testsigma.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/27160715/Testsigma-Recorder.png 1440w, https://s3.amazonaws.com/blog-assets-production.testsigma.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/27160715/Testsigma-Recorder-768x410.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px" /></figure>



Some key reasons why Testsigma can be your perfect Salesforce testing tool,



10x Faster: Create Salesforce tests in plain English using NLP-based testing or the Recorder.



No setup required: Create, run, and maintain Salesforce tests on the cloud.



Salesforce environment: Test across Salesforce Developer Sandbox &#8211; Developer Pro, Partial Copy, and Full Sandbox.&nbsp;



Simple interface: Provides an intuitive and user-friendly interface, making the platform easy to use for both manual and automation testers.



Parallel testing: Run multiple Salesforce tests across different environments simultaneously to reduce execution time.



GenAI-powered testing: Get automated test case and test scenario suggestions in seconds from Copilot, a GenAI test assistant for QA teams, using prompts.



AI-driven test maintenance: Auto-healing helps prevent false test failures and handles complex maintenance challenges.



Continuous testing: Integrate your automated Salesforce tests into your existing CI/CD and DevOps pipeline to test continuously and ship faster.



Real-time test reports: Get comprehensive and actionable test insights after every test run to identify bugs.



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<h2 id="h-conclusion">Conclusion</h2>



In conclusion, this Salesforce test automation case study demonstrates the profound impact that a well-designed and executed test automation strategy can have on the success of a Salesforce-powered business. By harnessing the power of automation, we were able to help our client overcome the challenges of complexity and rapid development, paving the way for greater efficiency, quality, and ultimately, better customer experiences.

Testsigma Engineering Team