Chatbot Testing | What it is, Why & How to Perform?

Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning for Software Testers


<p>DevOps is all about streamlining and automating your software delivery life cycle. When you enable DevOps in your organization, all the development and operation activity needs to be automated.&nbsp;</p>



<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets"><p class="toc_title">Table Of Contents</p><ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#What_is_DevOps_Testing"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">1</span> What is DevOps Testing?</a></li><li><a href="#Features_of_testing_in_a_DevOps_environment"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">2</span> Features of testing in a DevOps environment</a></li><li><a href="#Who_is_Involved_in_DevOps_Testing"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">3</span> Who is Involved in DevOps Testing?</a></li><li><a href="#Testing_Types_in_DevOps"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">4</span> Testing Types in DevOps</a><ul><li><a href="#Unit_Testing"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">4.1</span> Unit Testing</a></li><li><a href="#Component_Test"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">4.2</span> Component Test</a></li><li><a href="#Integration_Test"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">4.3</span> Integration Test</a></li><li><a href="#API_Testing"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">4.4</span> API Testing</a></li><li><a href="#Functional_Testing"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">4.5</span> Functional Testing</a></li><li><a href="#PerformanceStress_Testing"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">4.6</span> Performance/Stress Testing</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#DevOps_Testing_Strategy"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">5</span> DevOps Testing Strategy</a></li><li><a href="#Role_of_Test_Automation_Tools"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">6</span> Role of Test Automation Tools</a></li><li><a href="#Testsigma_as_a_tool_for_DevOps_testing"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">7</span> Testsigma as a tool for DevOps testing</a></li><li><a href="#DevOps_Testing_Best_Practices"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">8</span> DevOps Testing Best Practices</a><ul><li><a href="#Leverage_test_automation"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">8.1</span> Leverage test automation</a></li><li><a href="#Identify_test_automation_engineers"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">8.2</span> Identify test automation engineers</a></li><li><a href="#Select_the_right_testing_tools"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">8.3</span> Select the right testing tools</a></li><li><a href="#Track_performance_with_metrics"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">8.4</span> Track performance with metrics</a></li><li><a href="#Maintain_proper_documentation"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">8.5</span> Maintain proper documentation</a></li></ul></li></ul></div>
<h2 id="h-what-is-devops-testing"><span id="What_is_DevOps_Testing"><strong>What is DevOps Testing?</strong></span></h2>



<p>DevOps Testing is the continuous and automated process of software testing that enables continuous and faster delivery of software. The legacy approach of testing is performed manually. <a href="https://testsigma.com/guides/manual-testing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Manual testing</a> involves more human activity, is more prone to error, and is more time-consuming. As DevOps focuses on automating processes, testing can fit into DevOps with the help of the right test automation tools.</p>



<h2 id="h-features-of-testing-in-a-devops-environment"><span id="Features_of_testing_in_a_DevOps_environment"><strong>Features of testing in a DevOps environment</strong></span></h2>



<p>Organizations are swiftly moving to <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/devops-for-agile-teams/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">DevOps for Agile teams</a>. Both approaches focus on the automation of testing activity.</p>



<p>Let&#8217;s understand the features of DevOps testing</p>



<ul><li>Testing is automated, and it is continuous.</li><li>Testing is carried out at different stages of SDLC.</li><li>Easy to roll back and detect errors in the code as results/reports will be instant.</li><li>Testing becomes a shared responsibility. Each team member is responsible for quality.</li></ul>



<h2 id="h-who-is-involved-in-devops-testing"><span id="Who_is_Involved_in_DevOps_Testing"><strong>Who is Involved in DevOps Testing?</strong></span></h2>



<p>In DevOps Teams, everyone is equally responsible for the quality of the product. That means testing is done by the whole team. So no more blame game on the testing team. Designated testing team member will have expertise and skill set in the DevOps testing and he will drive the testing. Testing team member helps to choose the right tool, build the automation framework, automation code review, integrate testing activity with pipelines, etc. On the other hand, all team members will contribute to developing the automation scripts.</p>



<p>In DevOps testing, the tester needs to have a broad understanding of development, testing, and tools.</p>



<p>Some of the Key areas that DevOps QA members should focus on are given below.</p>



<ul><li>Source Control (using Git, Bitbucket, AzureDevOps, etc)</li><li>Continuous Integration (using Jenkins, Bamboo, AzureDevOps)</li><li>Deployment Automation &amp; <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/devops-orchestration-tools/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Orchestration</a> (using Jenkins, AzureDevOps, Octopus Deploy)</li><li>Container Concepts (Kubernetes, Docker)</li><li>Cloud (using AWS, Azure, GoogleCloud, etc)</li></ul>



<p>Apart from above knowledge, tester may also need to write code in specific languages such as Java, Javascript, Python, C#, etc.</p>



<h2 id="h-testing-types-in-devops"><span id="Testing_Types_in_DevOps"><strong>Testing Types in DevOps</strong></span></h2>



<p><a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/why-devops-is-important-for-modern-businesses/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">DevOps</a> Testing focuses on testing during every stage of the Software Development Lifecycle. It emphasizes automation testing. All different testing types are automated and hooked into the DevOps pipeline to achieve Continuous Integration(CI) and Continous Testing(CT)</p>



<p>Let&#8217;s take a look at different types of DevOps testing.</p>



<h3 id="h-unit-testing"><span id="Unit_Testing"><strong>Unit Testing</strong></span></h3>



<p>Unit Testing focuses on small objects. It is also called white box testing. It covers all different conditions and methods available at the class level. Mostly it is written in the unit testing framework such as JUnit, NUnit, Jest, Mocha, etc.</p>



<h3 id="h-component-test"><span id="Component_Test"><strong>Component Test</strong></span></h3>



<p>Larger and more complex applications are segregated into multiple components as it makes development easier and faster. Each component might contain different classes and objects to deliver small functionality. These functionalities are tested using an automation framework while building the application.</p>



<h3 id="h-integration-test"><span id="Integration_Test"><strong>Integration Test</strong></span></h3>



<p>As the application is built with components, two or more components are integrated into the product. These Integrated components are tested using the DevOps testing tools. It may or may not involve database calls.</p>



<h3 id="h-api-testing"><span id="API_Testing"><strong>API Testing</strong></span></h3>



<p>Microservice architecture is the most popular and mostly followed in the organization. In API testing, individual or interrelated microservices are tested together. Mostly API contracts, static data, and data types are tested using API automation tools.</p>



<h3 id="h-functional-testing"><span id="Functional_Testing"><strong>Functional Testing</strong></span></h3>



<p>Functional Testing focuses on user workflows or end-user functionalities. Often called as end to end Testing. As it touches all the different components, databases, APIs, etc. This is the most critical type of testing. DevOps testing emphasizes incorporating automation tools for end-to-end testing as manual testing is the most time-consuming. Fortunately, tools like Testsigma, Selenium, and Playwright do this job without any hassle.</p>



<p><br><p><button class="btn bg-primary cta-btn" style="margin: auto"><a href="https://testsigma.com/signup" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color:#fff">Automate your tests for web, mobile, desktop applications and APIs, 10x faster, with Testsigma</a></button></p><br></p>



<h3 id="h-performance-stress-testing"><span id="PerformanceStress_Testing"><strong>Performance/Stress Testing</strong></span></h3>



<p>Performance testing is important as the user experience is closely associated with it. Performance testing measures the overall application behavior under different loads, different network conditions, and infrastructure configurations. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_performance_testing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Performance testing</a> can be scripted and automated. Tools such as JMeter, Blazemeter, K6, etc can be used for <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/software-stress-testing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">stress testing</a>.</p>



<h2 id="h-devops-testing-strategy"><span id="DevOps_Testing_Strategy"><strong><a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/devops-test-strategy/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">DevOps Testing Strategy</a></strong></span></h2>



<p>Choosing the right <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/devops-automation-tools/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">devops automation tools </a>alone cannot make DevOps testing successful. DevOps testing strategy plays a key role in the success of DevOps testing. The strategy should be built carefully, observing the organization&#8217;s skillsets, ecosystem, architecture, and release patterns. Below are some helpful pointers.</p>



<ul><li>Identify the test cases which need to be executed in specific builds and create a suite accordingly.</li><li>Focus more on the unit tests, as it is faster and more stable.</li><li>Use the test coverage tools and quality gates to ensure the unit testing criteria are met.</li><li>End-to-end tests should focus on end-user scenarios only.</li><li>Have quality checks for all levels and all environments such as QA, Staging Production, etc.</li><li>Ensure the automation tool supports parallel testing and <a href="https://testsigma.com/guides/compatibility-testing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">compatibility testing</a>, and build the automation architecture around that.</li><li>Testing should be carried out on different platforms such as Mac, Windows, and Linux with different supported browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Edge, etc.</li><li>Make the development code author a primary responsible person to look at the failures. This way, testing responsibility will be delegated across the team members.</li><li>Adapt the monitoring tools such as Splunk, Datadog, Graphana, etc., which help to continuously monitor the health of the application.</li><li>Consider building the test harness tools to support the test cases which cannot be automated directly. Find a way to automate using the workarounds &#8211; Read here- <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/test-harness/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Test Harness</a></li></ul>



<p>Automate your end-to-end tests for web, mobile, desktop applications and APIs, 10x faster, with Testsigma</p>



<p>.</p>



<h2 id="h-role-of-test-automation-tools"><span id="Role_of_Test_Automation_Tools"><strong>Role of Test Automation Tools</strong></span></h2>



<p>DevOps is all about automating the process. Choosing the right tool at every stage is important. As we know more tools bring more maintenance and more complexity. Considering the DevOps testing you need to choose the tool carefully.</p>



<p>As there are many testing types you cannot have different testing tools for each type of testing. This may make your testing more complex and demands more skilled resources. Instead, choose the automation tool which supports different types of testing, less demanding skills, and is easy to integrate with the DevOps ecosystem. Testsigma is one such tool built with a DevOps mind.</p>



<h2 id="h-testsigma-as-a-tool-for-devops-testing"><span id="Testsigma_as_a_tool_for_DevOps_testing"><strong>Testsigma as a tool for DevOps testing</strong></span></h2>



<p>Let&#8217;s understand how Testsigma can help you in DevOps testing.</p>



<p><br>Step 1: Log in with Testsigma</p>



<p><p style="padding-bottom:30px">Step 2: Go to the “Test Plan” page</p></p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/waJ9ah_0VHLhmH2fD76NM3zoOmXb9o9XOO2VsIal7VVjSX_KmN7Bhp2Nqm4VgL-LoKuWIBo4y0ocfUrCQ09CpCitLB4gFkhFMvFeCqT-eQFDUmjHHNkE2y5rufr2Nf3E7LninfQef6rwh7YpNulJTg" alt="Test Plan"/></figure></div>



<p><p style="padding-top:30px">Step 3: Click on your test plan (Example: My Sample Test Plan)</p></p>



<p><p style="padding-bottom:30px">Step 4: Choose CI/CD Integrations</p></p>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/TebvSvT9GW9Cd7PWNbV-ga9jGqaXI0sFm7hPBXTReEDOZ5PZppVeTQvYV7e4haVRsbtnMp7JXR7A2kaWdi0s2VjwIppWE1OekrdQ6r-BilUlefMR0v8YPCFI75GFXKISTYH4USlsd5acicWV-fbMvQ" alt="sample devops test plan"/></figure>



<p><p style="padding-top:30px">Step 5: Choose your respective CI tool such as AzureDevOps, Jenkins, CircleCI, etc, and follow the on-screen instruction to configure.</p></p>



<p>Once you complete the integration, the Testsigma tests will be triggered automatically, as part of your development code pipeline, and no manual intervention is needed. Testsigma makes all DevOps testing integration much easier. Many organizations put Testsigma on a top tool list while enabling DevOps.</p>



<h2 id="h-devops-testing-best-practices"><span id="DevOps_Testing_Best_Practices"><strong>DevOps Testing Best Practices</strong></span></h2>



<p>You cannot learn everything from failures or trial and error methods as it costs a lot. Following the best practices is the smartest way to enable DevOps testing in your organization.<br><br>Some of the DevOps best practices are given below.</p>



<h3 id="h-leverage-test-automation"><span id="Leverage_test_automation"><strong>Leverage test automation</strong></span></h3>



<p>In a DevOps ecosystem, developers frequently commit the code to the repository. This may include a subset of features. It is difficult to perform testing every time the developer commits the code. The best approach is to make testing automated. As discussed there are different <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/the-different-software-testing-types-explained/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">types of testing </a>such as unit, component, API, integration, and <a href="https://testsigma.com/end-to-end-testing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">end-to-end testing</a>. Use <a href="https://testsigma.com/qa-automation-tools" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">test automation tools</a> for different types of testing. Automation tools help to reduce the manual intervention of the testing. Also, swift feedback helps developers to revert the code if it is causing any errors.</p>



<h3 id="h-identify-test-automation-engineers"><span id="Identify_test_automation_engineers"><strong>Identify test automation engineers</strong></span></h3>



<p>In DevOps testing, everyone is responsible for the quality. This may not work exactly as you expected. As team members are having different skill sets. Identifying the test automation engineers is more important. While others are responsible for the quality, test automation engineers drive the DevOps testing. This way everyone is aligned with the whole testing process. The person who has an expertise in manual and automation is the best as they understand both product features and automation frameworks.</p>



<h3 id="h-select-the-right-testing-tools"><span id="Select_the_right_testing_tools"><strong>Select the right testing tools</strong></span></h3>



<p>Choose the right testing tools after careful analysis. <em>&#8220;There is no best automation tool in the market but there is the best automation tool for your organization&#8221;.</em> While choosing the test automation tool consider cost, skillsets, infrastructure needed, upskill effort, etc. Furthermore, you need to perform a detailed analysis of the application architecture,&nbsp; type of application, domain, etc. Remember, once you start the automation testing it is difficult to look back so make this decision carefully.</p>



<h3 id="h-track-performance-with-metrics"><span id="Track_performance_with_metrics"><strong>Track performance with metrics</strong></span></h3>



<p>Like Agile, DevOps also focuses on continuous improvement. The metrics can help to identify the testing gaps or improvement areas. Furthermore, metrics can also be used to measure success. Some of the helpful metrics are</p>



<ul><li>No. of test cases automated</li><li>No. of bugs discovered</li><li>Time taken for application testing</li><li>Occurrence of false failures in the automation suites.</li></ul>



<h3 id="h-maintain-proper-documentation"><span id="Maintain_proper_documentation"><strong>Maintain proper documentation</strong></span></h3>



<p>The documentation may be time-consuming initially, but it makes the testing process organized and transparent. Documentation should include tool sets, installation, test reports, summary reports, test cases, regression reports, etc. Well-structured documentation also helps any new members to start their own. In DevOps, documentation is not a one-time effort. It&#8217;s a perpetual and collaborative effort.</p>



<p>Following the DevOps process and best practices may be challenging during the initial days however if you bring the habit to the organization it becomes the way to work. DevOps Testing focuses more on automation tools, in turn, it demands stable lower-level environments (QA, staging, pre-prod, etc). Many organizations spend less on lower environments to save the cost but it may not work in a DevOps ecosystem. There are many test automation tools that are DevOps ready, choosing the right automation tool can help in reducing the effort and cost.</p>



What tool is used for testing in DevOps?
Testing is broad terminology. It involves different types of testing such as unit testing, component testing, API Testing, end-to-end testing, etc. There are many testing tools to support these testing types. Selenium, Testsigma, Cypress, and Postman are a few names.


Is DevOps required for testing?
Testing can be done with or without DevOps however, if you adopt DevOps practices into your organization it is recommended to make testing a part of it.



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DevOps Testing Concepts, Best Practices & Tools

DevOps Testing: Concepts, Best Practices & Tools


<p>Software Quality is a term used to measure the degree of excellence of software. Software Quality attributes are extremely important while designing a software application.&nbsp;</p>



<p>There is a misconception that if the software application is bug-free then the quality of the software is high. However, a bug-free product is just one of the Software Quality Attributes. The quality of the software also depends on the user requirements, satisfaction, clearer design, usability, etc.</p>



<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets"><p class="toc_title">Table Of Contents</p><ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#List_of_Software_Quality_Attributes"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">1</span> List of Software Quality Attributes</a><ul><li><a href="#Reliability"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">1.1</span> Reliability</a></li><li><a href="#Maintainability"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">1.2</span> Maintainability</a></li><li><a href="#Usability"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">1.3</span> Usability</a></li><li><a href="#Portability"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">1.4</span> Portability</a></li><li><a href="#Correctness"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">1.5</span> Correctness</a></li><li><a href="#Efficiency"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">1.6</span> Efficiency</a></li><li><a href="#Security"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">1.7</span> Security</a></li><li><a href="#Testability"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">1.8</span> Testability</a></li><li><a href="#Flexibility"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">1.9</span> Flexibility</a></li><li><a href="#Scalability"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">1.10</span> Scalability</a></li><li><a href="#Compatibility"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">1.11</span> Compatibility</a></li><li><a href="#Supportability"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">1.12</span> Supportability</a></li><li><a href="#Reusability"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">1.13</span> Reusability</a></li><li><a href="#Interoperability"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">1.14</span> Interoperability</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Importance_of_Software_Quality_Attributes"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">2</span> Importance of Software Quality Attributes</a></li><li><a href="#How_can_Test_Automation_Help_in_Improving_Software_Quality_Attributes"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">3</span> How can Test Automation Help in Improving Software Quality Attributes?</a></li></ul></div>
<h2 id="h-list-of-software-quality-attributes"><span id="List_of_Software_Quality_Attributes"><strong>List of Software Quality Attributes</strong></span></h2>



<p>Software Quality attributes help to measure the quality of the software from different angles. <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/software-quality-management/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Software Quality</a> Attributes can be broadly classified into 5 types: Design, Runtime, System, User, and Non-runtime qualities. However, when we go into detail there are at least 14 different attributes. Let&#8217;s discuss this in detail.</p>



<h3 id="h-reliability"><span id="Reliability"><strong>Reliability</strong></span></h3>



<p>Reliability is the ability of software applications to behave as expected and function under the maximum possible load.<br></p>



<p>Reliability is made up of different types</p>



<ul><li><strong>Availability:</strong> The percentage of time the application is available for use. 100% availability refers to the system being always available and never going down under any circumstances.</li><li><strong>Recoverability:</strong> Recoverability refers to the ability to recover the system quickly and efficiently.&nbsp;</li><li><strong>Fault Tolerance:</strong> This attribute refers to the extent to which the system can tolerate hardware failures.&nbsp;</li></ul>



<p>Let&#8217;s take an example of an e-commerce website. The website went down as one of the server nodes crashed. In an ideal situation, if the reliability attribute is implemented then the system should automatically failover to the other server node.</p>



<h3 id="h-maintainability"><span id="Maintainability"><strong>Maintainability</strong></span></h3>



<p>Maintainability refers to how easily software developers can add new features and update existing features with new technologies. The application architecture plays a critical role in maintainability. The well-architected software makes maintenance easier and more cost-effective.</p>



<p>Consider the scenario where the law enforces new privacy laws. If your software is running on legacy code, adhering to new laws might be challenging. If the software is well-architected and the code is well documented, implementing such changes would be an easy task.</p>



<h3 id="h-usability"><span id="Usability"><strong>Usability</strong></span></h3>



<p>The Usability attributes refer to the end user&#8217;s ease of use. Usability is tied to application performance, application UX design, and accessibility. To understand usability better let&#8217;s consider an e-commerce page &#8211; user has purchased an item and wants to return the item. Good usability makes the return option available on the orders page. In some cases, the return option may appear on to contact us page &#8211; in this situation user easily gets confused and faces difficulty to find the return option.</p>



<p>The usability design principles can help to design a good customer experience. The meaningful option texts, tooltips, and info icons are a great way to encourage self-learning.</p>



<h3 id="h-portability"><span id="Portability"><strong>Portability</strong><strong><br></strong></span></h3>



<p>The portability quality attribute refers to how easily the system can be ported or migrated to other environments containing different hardware or operating system specifications. The portability problem is majorly faced in mobile native applications.</p>



<p>An example of a portability issue &#8211; you have designed a web application that works perfectly fine on Android devices but when it is ported to iPhone devices (iOS), it fails to render. If your application is abstracted from UI and business logic, fixing such issues becomes easy.&nbsp;</p>



<h3 id="h-correctness"><span id="Correctness"><strong>Correctness</strong></span></h3>



<p>Correctness refers to the ability to behave or function as per software requirement specifications. This may include navigations, calculations, form submissions, etc.</p>



<p>Consider an example of sign-up. Your application should navigate to the terms and conditions page after signing up as per the requirement specification. However, it is landing on the home page without showing the terms and conditions page. Strict <a href="https://www.evoketechnologies.com/blog/code-review-checklist-perform-effective-code-reviews/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">code reviews checklist</a> and Unit testing can help to discover such bugs.</p>



<h3 id="h-efficiency"><span id="Efficiency"><strong>Efficiency</strong></span></h3>



<p>Efficiency can be defined as the time taken by the system to complete a specific task. In layman&#8217;s terms, it can be the performance of the application. Performance is the most critical software quality attribute as it can make the user system to a hung state. The utilization of system resources should be taken care with the most efficient way, and any memory leaks should be avoided to achieve high efficiency.</p>



<p>For example, if you open one of the video editor applications on your desktop, as soon as you open your system freezes, and all the other open application start to behave in an unintended way. This is a bad application design and shows the poor efficiency of the software.</p>



<h3 id="h-security"><span id="Security"><strong>Security</strong></span></h3>



<p>Security attribute focuses on the ability to safeguard applications, data, and information from unauthorized entities. This is very crucial as the data leaks may incur huge losses in terms of organization&#8217;s brand name and reputation. Furthermore, the organization may face a lawsuit.<br></p>



<p>Authentication, authorization, and data encryption are a few key areas that can safeguard from malicious attacks. Add on to this, if your application is B2C, educating customers also plays an important role.</p>



<p>An example of a security attribute is, you have developed an API endpoint that is exposed to the public however, there is no authorization required to access this endpoint. This can make API and the underlying system, less secure. To make the API secure you can consider enabling a JWT security token as mandatory, which can be created only by authorized users.</p>



<h3 id="h-testability"><span id="Testability"><strong>Testability</strong></span></h3>



<p>Testability is how easily QA members can test the software and log a defect and how easy it is to automate the software applications. Your application design should focus on making the testing easier and faster.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Consider an example, you have designed a web application that doesn&#8217;t contain any uniquely identifiable locators. This makes automation more complicated. Adding ids, data-testid, and class helps to cover more scenarios through automation.</p>



<div class="cta-banner-v2">
<div class="title-with-description ">
<p class="title">Here is a guide that talks in detail about the quality assurance in software testing</p>
</div>
<a href="https://testsigma.com/guides/quality-assurance/" target="_blank" class="cta-btn-v1" rel="noopener">Learn more</a>
</div>



<p>Nowadays <a href="https://testsigma.com/automated-testing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">automation testing</a> is most recommended as it makes the delivery faster. If your application is automation friendly then one can easily automate the application using automation software like Testsigma and identify the defects in the early stage.</p>



<h3 id="h-flexibility"><span id="Flexibility"><strong>Flexibility</strong><strong><br></strong></span></h3>



<p>Technology changes are more common nowadays. Flexibility refers to how quickly your application can adapt to future and current technology demands. Indirectly the flexibility attribute is tied up with your competency in the market. If your application is not up to date with the latest technology then you might not be able to deliver all the user needs.</p>



<p>For example, You are using a third-party library for styling your application. Due to some reasons, the third-party library declares the end of development. Now the question arises of how quickly your application can switch to another library. If it takes longer, then it might cost your business.</p>



<p>Never develop applications with tight coupling of libraries you have reference to, rather design applications in a generic manner and hook the libraries.</p>



<h3 id="h-scalability"><span id="Scalability"><strong>Scalability</strong></span></h3>



<p>Scalability is how easily your system can handle increasing demands without affecting the application&#8217;s performance. Vertical Scalability and Horizontal Scalability are two primary areas that help to meet the scalability criteria.</p>



<p>For example, an e-commerce website declares a Black Friday sale. On sale day, the application sees huge traffic. If your application is designed according to the scalability attribute, as soon as the traffic increases, the system should automatically add the server nodes and distribute the traffic. Failing to do that may result in your application going down.</p>



<h3 id="h-compatibility"><span id="Compatibility"><strong>Compatibility</strong><strong><br></strong></span></h3>



<p>Compatibility focuses on the ability to work software systems on different operating systems, and browsers seamlessly as expected without affecting any functionality.</p>



<p>A most common problem with the web application where it works on Chrome but it doesn’t on Firefox. This is because of compatibility issues. When it comes to business, you can&#8217;t restrict users to use a specific browser. However, such issues can be tested using the most popular tools like Testsigma. Testsigma provides 3000+ real devices and multiple browsers to execute your automated tests for compatibility testing. Using such <a href="https://testsigma.com/qa-automation-tools" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">automation tools</a> helps to discover compatibility issues at an early stage.</p>



<h3 id="h-supportability"><span id="Supportability"><strong>Supportability</strong></span></h3>



<p>It is the degree to which a software system can provide useful information for identifying and resolving the issues when application/functionality stops working. Enabling logging, monitoring, and health checks are most useful to adapt supportability.</p>



<p>For Example, Your application has a profile information page, which works perfectly fine for some users and only a few users are facing issues with the profile page. In this case, it is difficult to reproduce in a lower-level environment. The logs come in handy to identify the call stack and reference APIs which is causing the issue.</p>



<h3 id="h-reusability"><span id="Reusability"><strong>Reusability</strong></span></h3>



<p>It is the degree to which software components can be reused in another application or the same application. Reusable software components reduce the development cost and effort. This is one of the reasons most companies are encouraging component-based development.&nbsp;</p>



<p>For example, your organization is developing two different applications where both the application needs sign-in and sign-up forms. If you don’t have a reusable components strategy then you need to develop the same thing two times. On the other hand, if you have identified common components and designed those as reusable and shareable components it would be much easier to integrate sign-in and sign-up screens into both the application. The reusable component can also decrease maintenance costs.</p>



<h3 id="h-interoperability"><span id="Interoperability"><strong>Interoperability</strong></span></h3>



<p>Interoperability refers to the ability to communicate or exchange data between different systems. Which can be operating systems, databases, or protocols. The interoperability problem arises due to the legacy code base, poorly architectured application, and poor code quality.</p>



<p>For example, Your application needs to communicate with the payment gateway but you are facing challenges to integrate with the payment gateway due to various standards mismatch. If you had taken all the security, data, and standard API design approach this wouldn&#8217;t have happened.</p>



<h2 id="h-importance-of-software-quality-attributes"><span id="Importance_of_Software_Quality_Attributes"><strong>Importance of Software Quality Attributes</strong></span></h2>



<p>Software quality attribute determines software system usefulness and success. Often the software quality attributes safeguard you from reputation damage. Software quality attributes should be introduced at the early stage of the software development life cycle (SDLC). While architecting your application you should consider the quality attribute. If all the software quality attributes are taken care then your application can sustain in the market for a long time.</p>



<p>Adapting software quality attributes is not a one-time task, rather it is continuous and it can evolve. The management should enforce adapting software quality attributes to achieve high standards. Keep in mind that adapting quality attributes at a later stage might be challenging and it can be pricier. As many software quality attribute focus on core-level architecture, it should be introduced at an early stage.</p>



<h2 id="h-how-can-test-automation-help-in-improving-software-quality-attributes"><span id="How_can_Test_Automation_Help_in_Improving_Software_Quality_Attributes"><strong>How can Test Automation Help in Improving Software Quality Attributes?</strong></span></h2>



<p>The software automation tool can help in ensuring the various quality attributes. For example, when we talk about scalability, a performance testing tool such as JMeter can help you to ensure scalability before going to production. Similarly, the Testsigma test automation tool can help you to ensure Correctness, Compatibility, and Usability. Compatibility testing is the most challenging as it requires a huge investment in infrastructure. Read here &#8211; <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/automation-scalability/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Automation Scalability</a></p>



<p>Fortunately, Testsigma made it easier. It provides 3000+ real devices including desktop and mobile platforms and provides many different browsers to test on. Using Testsigma without any additional effort you can run your compatibility across browsers and platforms using the same automation scripts. Testsigma is <a href="https://testsigma.com/codeless-testing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">codeless automation tool</a> that lets you write scripts in plain English. In turn, it helps to adapt the Quality attributes with less effort and cost.</p>



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<p>Doesn&#8217;t matter if your application is large or small, simple or complex you need to consider software quality attributes. Software quality attributes not only focus on technological aspects but it also important to run and sustain in the market. So quality attributes play a key role in both technology and business. Nowadays it&#8217;s not even an option rather it’s a need.</p>



What are the characteristics of software quality? 
The characteristics of software quality usually include:
<ul>
<li>reliability</li>
<li>maintainaibility</li>
<li>usability</li>
<li>portability</li>
<li>correctness</li>
<li>efficiency</li>
<li>security</li>
<li>testability</li>
<li>flexibility</li>
<li>scalability</li>
<li>compatibility</li>
<li>supportability</li>
<li>reusability</li>
<li>interoperability</li></ul>


What are the Software Quality Attributes?

Mainframe Testing How to Do, Challenges & Best Practices

Mainframe Testing | How to Do, Challenges & Best Practices


<p>We&#8217;re excited to bring you some amazing new features in this month&#8217;s release. From desktop application recording to on-demand partial test runs and seamless integrations with popular CI/CD tools, we are introducing new features and capabilities to enhance your test automation and streamline your QA processes.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Let&#8217;s dive in:</p>



<p>1. <strong>Rapidly automate Windows desktop app testing with our Desktop Recorder:</strong> Our new desktop recorder allows you to record and generate test cases for Windows apps and effortlessly add new UI elements to your Windows projects. </p>



<p>2. <strong>Test hotfixes quickly with partial test plan execution: </strong>No need to re-run entire test plans after hotfixes. With Testsigma, you can now execute partial runs of test plans or test plan subsets for when you need quick results for that bug fix on release days.</p>



<p>3. <strong>Build automation made easy with Jenkins Integration</strong>: Integrate Testsigma into your CI/CD pipeline for smooth build automation and continuous testing. Our Jenkins integration allows you to run tests and get results at every merge without leaving your pipeline.&nbsp;</p>



<p>4. <strong>Unify your test reporting with Azure DevOps Integration</strong>: Report and maintain your tests in a single place with Azure DevOps integration. Access all your test reports and results from your Azure DevOps dashboard. Push bugs, epics, tasks, or stories directly from Testsigma while testing, streamlining your workflow.</p>



<p>Stay tuned for more updates from our Product Team. And if you haven&#8217;t yet, <a href="https://testsigma.com/signup">try Testsigma for free</a> and see the difference it makes to your SDLC and release quality.</p>



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