Test & Automation Consulting, LLC

Test Automation Consulting

The history of test automation is rife with failure, doom and despair. Why would any sane organization want to invest resources into such a technological black hole?

That question was undoubtedly asked about any number of endeavors throughout history. Why would you want to find a quicker route to India? Why would you want to fly? Why would you want to go into space?

From a business viewpoint, the answer is always easy: Dollars. The fact is that a successful automation program can translate to real dollars to your organization. Fewer defects released to your customers means fewer hot releases as well as happier customers as well as lower rework costs as well as ... did we mention fewer development dollars spent?

However, and it is a huge however, test automation is not easy. There are mines throughout the automation project, just waiting for your organization to take that final, fatal misstep. While you should not fear test automation, you should be very careful as you get ready to wade into it.

Understanding the Investment

Test automation has to be seen by all involved as a strategic investment. This essential point was missed by most organizations who are failing at automation.

The road to failure starts with listening to the pitch of the tool vendors' marketing sirens. "Automation is simple," they sing, "just buy our tool and it does all the work for you!" Believe these *creative untruths* at your own risk! Everyone, from the CIO to Directors, from managers to the rank and file testers - everyone in your organization needs to understand the investment you are about to undertake. It is going to cost a lot of money up front and it is going to take a long time to start getting payback. However, when the payback starts coming, it can be a huge windfall for your bottom line. If, that is, you structure it right, support it right, maintain it right.

It all starts with Test & Automation Consulting LLC (TAC) helping to set the correct, realistic expectations from top to bottom.

Readiness for Automation

Many automation efforts fail simply because the organization is not ready; even if they were able to create the infrastructure needed to support the automation effort, they have no reliable way to feed the beast. Every test case to automate needs to be planned, designed, tracked, and prepared for the automation process. When the organization does not have solid processes in place to handle even their manual testing, they don't have a prayer of succeeding at automation.

TAC can help your organization identify the missing or weak processes that will torpedo your automation effort. From the start of requirements identification to the final, fond wave bye-bye to the release, there are a number of QA processes that must all work in a symbiotic relationship to support successful testing, much less automation. If your processes are weak, the odds of succeeding at automation are very poor. We have worked with automation for many years and know what it takes from an organization to succeed. We can help you optimize those processes which will determine the ROI of the effort.

Picking the Right Tool

There are a number of good automation tools that you can purchase for your automation effort. Does it matter which one you pick? After all, clever programming can make any automation tool work for any project. As long as it works, right?

Focus on the dollars. While any automation tool can be forced to work (when all you have is a hammer, all the world looks like a nail), there will be one tool that is optimal for your project. One that can be used to support an automation effort that pays back the investment with real dollars. TAC can help your organization run a Proof of Concept (POC) effort that will evaluate your processes, your personnel, your software, your environment and your needs to select the right tool. Many other consulting companies work with one tool vendor and simply do not understand the strengths and weaknesses of all of the tools on the market. TAC has worked with almost all available automation tools and can help you choose the right one for your needs.

Building the Infrastructure

Anyone can automate a single test case. Your organization is going to invest a great deal of money in your automation program; the cost of the tool is just the tip of the iceberg. Between tools, training, development, support, and maintenance, the direct costs are very high. One or two automated test cases are not going to repay this investment.

You need hundreds or thousands or tens of thousands of test cases, running on multiple platforms concurrently, 24 x 7. You need to be able to start these test cases, maintain them when they fail, evaluate them after they run. This is not a task for the faint of heart. This requires an entire infrastructure to support the test suite; something that does not come with the automation test tool that you buy.

TAC has been working with automated test suites since the dark days of Window 3.0. We have solutions to the inevitable problems that are going to pop up. We have the vision and foresight to customize your processes, your toolset, and your test cases to ensure they return their investment to you in real benefits that pad your bottom line.

We start with our custom infrastructure solution called the Test - Automation Programming Interface (T-API); this set of programs, processes, database and spreadsheet artifacts, and native code libraries works with most of the automation tools in the marketplace today. TAC brings in this vast array of 'stuff' and licenses it to your organization at no extra cost. Then, we help you customize all of this into a working infrastructure that supports your testing goals. Because all of T-API was written by our principal consultant, Jamie L. Mitchell, we can make any changes needed to optimize the infrastructure for your needs.

Designing the Workflow

Your testers know how to design tests already. How do we get the tests automated? How are they prioritized? How do we ensure that the right tests are automated and the wrong ones aren't? How do we avoid bogging them down with excess work as they move the right tests into the automation arena?

At TAC, we understand that it is not just technology that is going to solve your testing problems. Specialized processes, customized workflow tools, and made-to-order solutions are going to get you up and running in minimum time for maximum ROI. We have been succeeding with automation for a long time; the solution we help you develop will be right for your organization and not just something we read about in an airline magazine.

Architecting the Framework

Once the infrastructure is in place to support the automation processes, from workflow to maintenance, test creation to evaluation, it is time to architect your project. This is one case where one size definitely does not fit all. There are many different architectures that can be used to build test automation. Many so-called automation experts have one architecture that they recommend for all customers, no matter their individual circumstances.

At TAC, we have designed, used and had success with a number of different automation architectures. The type of architecture that you use for your automation project should be determined by many different factors, including the type of testing to be done, the available personnel to write the automation, the skill set of the testers who are going to feed the beast with test cases, the test environment, the software to be tested, and many other factors. We do not blindly follow one methodology; instead, we use our vast experience, our tool knowledge, and T-API to customize the architecture to extract the most value possible from your testing organization.

Building the Solution

At this point, you are ready to start building your automation testing solution. While TAC can build the entire automation project, from soup to nuts, we feel that this is rarely a good idea. Instead, we strongly feel that the most cost-efficient way to handle a long-term automation program is for the hosting organization to build it. We believe that the automation project must be owned by employees rather than hired guns. This is a long-term, strategic investment that the organization is building. Therefore, we will teach your automation staff how to succeed at automation, how to address the inevitable pitfalls that will occur. Training and mentoring of your automators will occur while working on your project, getting your testing in place and running.

Long Term Support

Our final task is to ensure that you succeed in the long term with your automation projects. TAC will be available for short term, regular engagements to ensure that problems are promptly addressed. Many automation projects wither away after the consultants leave because they did not train enough, mentor enough, and prepare the automation staff for the realities of ongoing maintenance. At TAC, we want to make sure that your automation succeeds. We will stop in as needed to make sure that the project keeps moving ahead, helping your automators solve the challenges and thrive long term. We succeed when you succeed!

As consultants, we believe our strong point is to bring in advanced technology and innovative solutions for your automation needs.