The sooner, the better

No adequate test data, no test automation

Discover how icaria TDM ensures the availability of accurate and reliable data in the automated execution of business application test cases.

When test case execution in business applications is automated, Test Data Management (TDM) plays a critical role in the success and efficiency of the process. Automated test execution requires high-quality and consistent data across all involved applications, such as CRM, billing systems, collections, or network provisioning, among others.

Main challenges in automated test case execution:

  1. Availability of appropriate input data for the test case, in the correct state, and with a consistent data profile across all applications in the test environment.
  2. Synchronization and availability of contextual data, product catalog, and pricing across all involved applications.
  3. Accurate comparison of execution results with the expected result in different application databases after completion of execution.

Not every test data provisioning strategy is right

Automation engineers adopt various strategies to ensure data availability when running tests, such as spreadsheets, data storage in databases, data creation during execution, and exclusion of resource-intensive test cases that destroy data. However, these strategies can cause problems in terms of maintenance costs, data complexity, and limitations in result verifications.
Automated test data management is essential to ensure the efficiency and usefulness of automation. Integrating data management into the manual phase of test case execution, such as in a regression testing cycle, is the optimal approach to addressing this challenge, as we will see in a later section.

Adequate test data for automated tests

icaria TDM offers a comprehensive solution for supplying test data in automated test case execution and verifying execution results:

  • Facilitates the recording of necessary information for context data, input data, and expected results by manual testers.
  • Provides repetitive and consistent input data that simplifies the automation process and reduces development and maintenance efforts.
  • Verifies execution results by comparing them to the expected result from a data perspective.
  • Minimizes the size and complexity of automation scripts by eliminating the need for preliminary phases of test data creation and subsequent result verification.
Automated Test Case Execution with Data Supply and Result Verification

In summary, icaria TDM is a fundamental tool for software test automation engineers in business applications of any industry, ensuring the availability of accurate and high-quality test data, thereby improving automation efficiency and usefulness.

Automated Test Case Data Management is the Final Activity of Manual Execution

Automated test case data management is a critical activity for successful automated testing execution. However, this task is often deferred until after automated execution is in progress. In reality, the best time to automate test case data management is during the manual phase, during a regression testing cycle.

Automated test case execution requires that the test can be executed stably and safely manually. This involves knowing the context data, input data, and expected results. The manual tester has all this information, and the effort required to record it in icaria TDM is minimal. If regression testing needs to be performed manually, the time spent obtaining input data and verifying results after execution tends to be zero.

Test case automation is easy with adequate data

If the test case is delivered for automated execution, the responsible party will have significant advantages. They will have a mechanism for repetitive delivery of input data, which will allow them to develop their automation script more quickly. Additionally, their automation script will not require preliminary phases of test data creation or subsequent result verification, as these functions are supported by icaria TDM. Thus, the script will be reduced in size and complexity, resulting in lower development and maintenance efforts.

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