Services & Tools > Services > Automation

Automation

 

  • Reduce the time and cost of testing through effective automation
  • Ensures return on investment in testing tools is achieved
  • Test automation Launch Pad to get you started with Mercury WinRunner or Rational QA RUN
  • tMosaic and Axe, a fast and efficient methodology for creating tests for automation
  • Quality Courses delivered on Test Automation for Testers by Testers

 

 

 

 

The time taken to implement testing strategies can be significant. The cost of investment in today's testing tools can also be significant. Test automation can bring great benefits to an organisation by shortening the testing cycle and thereby reducing testing costs. These benefits can only be realised by choosing the right tools for the job and targeting the right areas to be automated.

At SQS-UK we have a range of services to help you make the most of test automation and to ensure that critical time-to-market objectives are met and cost reductions achieved that provide an effective return on investment.

Consultancy and Testing Services
The SQS-UK philosophy is to add value to the business development process by understanding the business case for testing and by providing metrics to prove the effectiveness of our service. SQS-UK would complete a full analysis of individual systems and applications, drawing upon many years experience in automated testing, before recommending the most effective test automation strategy.

Lack of knowledge of test design and test-scripting languages often means automated testing projects fail in their objectives and test tools often end up as 'shelfware'. Our testers have experience in both areas and ensure you will reap the benefits of automation.

These are some of the factors that SQS-UK consider:

  • Whether testing of all of the application (including interfaces and environments) can be automated - if not, we will identify the most suitable parts.
  • The types of testing to be automated (regression, functional, load & performance, stress, navigation and so on)
  • Which items should NOT be automated
  • The sequence in which manual testing should be automated
  • Review of current testing methods and standards for the application
  • Expertise of the people who will be testing
  • Identify any additional resources required - people, hardware, test tools, other software
  • Client expectations and timescales

 

Deliverables

  • Full analysis of individual systems and applications enables recommendation of the most effective test automation strategy
  • Test case survey enables outline plans and estimates for completion of the project
  • Reduction in the time taken to run a fixed set of tests by up to 50%
  • Reduction in the cost of testing by up to 25%
  • Automated testing suites have built in recovery and re-start features so they can be run outside normal working hours with complete confidence

 

Mercury Winrunner/ and Rational QA Run Launch Pad
Test automation is often viewed as the solution for all testing ills - the ultimate way of saving time and improving quality on a project. As a result the tools may be acquired with the expectation that they are a simple to use, "out-of-the-box" solution.

In reality, automation tools are sophisticated utilities that require a level of skill to achieve the maximum effect. This, combined with a poor understanding of how best to reap the benefits of automation, leads to many automated testing projects failing in their objectives.

Launchpad is a SQS-UK strategy for delivering a combination of training and consultancy in test automation, in a short, intensive period. Our two-week programme, consisting of tool installation and configuration, training and mentoring and will deliver effective automation of your selected business processes.

Please refer to our LauchPad collateral for further details.

Axe and tMosaic, The Key to Enabling Effective Test Automation
Test automation has been shown to reduce the cost of testing by a significant amount. Enabling technology developed by SQS-UK can further reduce those costs by providing technology that empowers business users - not just IT professionals - to expand their automated testing suites, without the reliance of an in-depth knowledge of testing tools. The use of the SQS-UK automated testing enabling technology reduces the reliance on the testing tool's record and playback features when extending an automated testing suite to cater for new functionality. This ensures business users can create and extend automated tests, allowing automation to start much earlier in the project lifecycle.

Axe and tMosaic is effective on all systems and platforms and have the flexibility to be employed to support existing methodologies already in use at client sites. Because they are easily deployed and simple to use, Axe and tMosaic significantly reduce the time and cost to successfully deploy effective automated testing.

Please refer to our Axe and tMosaic collateral for further details

Training Courses - for Testers by Testers
The experience and knowledge of Europe's largest testing company is now available through quality education courses:

Managing Automation

A two-day course that covers:

  • When and how to automate
  • Preparing for automation
  • Automating regression tests
  • Advanced automation approaches

 

 

 

The course enables delegates to understand how test automation tools work and how to identify when to use tools, how to select the best tool for your requirement and an overview of all the commercially available tools, how to plan and implement an automation strategy and how to understand the common reasons why automation fails and how to reduce the risks of failure.

Hands-on exercises with a market-leading tool are then completed.

The course will enable delegates to successfully implement an automation project.

For more information on this and other courses download our 'Education - 2005 brochure

Outsourced Automated Regression Testing
The SQS-UK experience can now be utilised to deliver fully outsourced Automated Regression Testing without risk.

Our knowledge of the implementation of successful automation programmes enables us to understand your business requirement and build an effective automation strategy. Importantly, we target the most suitable parts to be automated and also identify those parts that cannot be successfully automated.

Our independent approach means that we are familiar with and can deploy the most suitable tools for your application. We are not restricted in deploying only tools from one vendor or one type of tool, but can utilise the best to ensure successful deployment.

We are also experts at using the la test enabling technology such as tMosiac or Axe that empower simple and effective build and maintenance of automated test suites.

The automated test suite is then deployed and run and results are reported and analysed.

Having built the most effective automated test suite we then maintain it and keep it up-to-date.

We will run your Automated Regression Test Suite at any time on an on-demand basis and deliver the results in a simple and easy format to report the effectiveness of the regression test .

This provides a no-risk and highly effective outsourced service that delivers fully automated and completely maintained automated regression test ing when required, without the need to deploy additional test ing resources or add or train automation specialists to the existing test team.

More detailson Outsourced Automation Regression Testing can be found by using the navigation on the left of this page.