What is the best way to ensure comprehensive test coverage with automated testing scripts?

In my experience what I have really found helpful other than defining the clear objectives and scope of the test is to create flow charts that allow you to visualise the complete tests. With flow charts many of the overlooked parts of the test are easily discoverable and allows the team to have a blueprint for developing automation scripts that covers the objective of the automation tests. Additionally adding acceptance criteria which is concise and clear assists the team in judging if the objectives have been met and act as a traffic control to bring the team back on track if they stray away from objectives.

To ensure comprehensive test coverage with automated testing scripts, prioritize risk-based testing, covering critical functionalities first. Develop a well-thought-out test strategy and create test cases that address various scenarios, including boundary conditions and error paths. Leverage automation tools to execute repetitive and complex test cases efficiently. Regularly review and update test suites to align with changes in the application. Integrate automated tests into the CI/CD pipeline for continuous validation. Conduct regular code reviews to ensure the quality of automated scripts. Finally, supplement automated testing with manual testing to address areas that automation might miss.

Drafting automation user journeys which mimics real life user experience helps us see the missing pieces or gaps in development. Most times functional testing focuses on what has been developed and acceptance criterias which have been penned. Covering a combination of scenarios which would most likely form a user journey in the application would help build a better automation coverage in my opinion.

The best way to ensure comprehensive test coverage with automated testing scripts is to use of automated test cases, automated test scripts, and automated test suites. Automated test cases are designed to cover all the functionality of the application and should be written to ensure comprehensive coverage. Automated test scripts are then used to automate the execution of the test cases. Finally, automated test suites are used to combine multiple test cases into a single test suite. This helps to ensure that the additional test cases are covered and tested. These frameworks can automatically generate reports that contain details about the tests that have been performed, helping to ensure comprehensive coverage.

Check what is important for business and end customers. Create traceability for those features and then define priority and get it reviewed by product owner

Study edge cases and use boundary value and equivalence partitioning to create different test cases around scenarios.. Create dynamic data and test your scenarios for different values. Check output in terms of customer experience with varied set of data.

Implement various testing techniques as well as plan tooling available to test various scenarios effectively. Its worth investing in open source tools to manage data and test different scenarios and test real user experience.

Una vez que se definan los objetivos se deben dise?ar los casos de pruebas de manera manual para revisar si es un caso que se puede realizar o no de manera repetitiva para que sea mas facil acomodar el caso de prueba y ver el alcance del mismo.

Design comprehensive test cases outlining steps and expected outcomes. Incorporate diverse data sets, covering positive, negative, and edge cases to ensure thorough testing and effective validation.

It's important not to overemphasize the perfection of the automation framework at the expense of its practical utility. While accuracy, code quality, and quantity are important, the primary goal of an automation framework is to facilitate the rapid and timely creation of effective automated scripts. Teams should focus on developing a functional framework that meets these needs first, understanding that both the framework and scripts will evolve over time. This approach ensures that the framework remains a tool to aid in efficient testing, rather than becoming an end product in itself, which can divert resources and attention away from the actual software being developed.

Use a modular and extensible approach to create frameworks. Common libraries should have a strong review mechanism to avoid maintenance in the last stages and increase reusability. Integration of automation execution results with a test management tool is also important.

Plan for the test scripting in parallel with sprint tasks. Differentiate tests into smoke/sanity(End to end flows), regression & integration so that we focus on having the sanity flows completed and always available for QA to run against different code bases/environments.

Develop and implement test scripts using chosen frameworks, such as Selenium or TestNG, ensuring automation aligns with testing objectives and effectively validates software functionalities.

Continuous testing should be used where automated tests are taking decisions for code promotion and deployment. Running regression overnight and priority tests cases inside the deployment pipeline itself will help in fast feedback.

Emphasizing the principle of 'automate the automation,' it's essential to recognize that running scripts and scrutinizing results, though seemingly basic, is crucial in testing. The key is to streamline the routine tasks - like selecting tests, compiling the test pack, updating builds, and script execution. By automating these aspects early in the process, teams can reallocate their time towards in-depth analysis of results and thorough reporting. This approach not only boosts efficiency but also ensures a focused effort on the nuanced, critical aspects of testing, vital for delivering superior quality software.

Continuous testing require your automation scripts to be stable. Implement self healing locator techniques to make your scripts error free. Furthermore, use AI to generate frequently failing tests and track the functions of your applications closely. Tracking the automation test pass percentage over the course of your sprint gives more confidence to all stakeholders where entire team will focus on delivering high quality product.

Execute automated test scripts, analyze results for deviations from expected outcomes, and report discrepancies. Collaborate with the team to troubleshoot and resolve identified issues promptly.

Tools like JaCoCo should be used to know which branches or statements are not traversed by test cases. Tools like ReportPortal.io should be used to automatically generate insights, minimize maintenance using auto healing feature and RCA of issues. Ensure test cases are regularly updated and become integration test cases gradually. Execution should be fast and maintenance effort should be less. Parallelization and cloud infra for execution can help in fast execution. Self healing features and strong reviews to ensure the framework remains modular and extensible, should be used.

Continuously review and enhance test scripts, expanding coverage to address new features and optimize for comprehensive testing effectiveness.

A useful approach I've used in maximizing the test coverage of test automation suites involves the collaboration of a team comprising functional testers and test automation specialists. The robust 'testing mindset' and exceptional test scenarios developed by functional testing experts form the bedrock of testing strategy. Building an automated test suite around this ensures quality, agility and coverage. As the automated test suite becomes useful for a range of tests, including smoke tests, environment health checks, and regression tests, the ongoing synergy between the functional test team and test automation experts is vital throughout this journey by establishing a Merge and Purge strategy, to enhance the overall quality of tests.

To ensure comprehensive test coverage with automated testing scripts, start by identifying critical functionalities and potential use cases. Develop a robust testing strategy that covers various scenarios, including edge cases and error conditions. Regularly update and expand your test suite as the application evolves. Implement a combination of unit, integration, and end-to-end tests to address different aspects of the software. Regularly review and refine your testing approach to adapt to changing requirements and prioritize areas with frequent changes or high business impact.

Create a defect prevention technique to prevent bugs. Identify areas of improvement and track the bugs frequently to assess how the team is able to improve the delivery of features with high quality.

Se debe tener en cuenta lo que se puede o no automatizar, los ambientes que se revisaran asi como el alcance que tendran los script, se debe realizar un plan de revisión para ir actualizando dichos scripts asi como modificandolos en caso de ser necesarios, los datos de las pruebas deberan ser los mas reales dentro de lo que permitan las reglas de negocio, la reglas de negocio tambien son super importantes a la hora de automatizar para no forzar falsos positivos.

To amend test automation coverage, you should reverse direction from bugs. Your manual testing yields bugs and your customers submit bugs. If those are not captured by automation, then, create test cases for important bugs and then automate them. This way you ensure bug scenarios are also automated to amend your coverage and hopefully next time automation captures it instead of manual or customers.