Automation Tool Selection Recommendation

“Automated Testing” means automating the manual testing process currently in use. This requires that a formalized “manual testing process” currently exists in the company or organization. Minimally, such a process includes:
–        Detailed test cases, including predictable “expected results”, which have been developed from Business Functional Specifications and Design documentation.
–        A standalone Test Environment, including a Test Database that is restorable to a known constant, such that the test cases are able to be repeated each time there are modifications made to the application.
Information Gathering
Following are sample questions asked to tester who have been using some the testing tools:
How long have you been using this tool and are you basically happy with it?
How many copies/licenses do you have and what hardware and software platforms are you using?
How did you evaluate and decide on this tool and which other tools did you consider before purchasing this tool?
How does the tool perform and are there any bottlenecks?
What is your impression of the vendor (commercial professionalism, on-going level of support, documentation and training)?
Tools and Vendors

• Robot – Rational Software
• WinRunner 7 – Mercury
• QA Run 4.7 – Compuware
• Visual Test – Rational Software
• Silk Test – Segue
• QA Wizard – Seapine Software

Tools Overview
Robot – Rational Software
–        IBM Rational Robot v2003 automates regression, functional and configuration testing for e-commerce, client/server and ERP applications. It’s used to test applications constructed in a wide variety of IDEs and languages, and ships with IBM Rational TestManager. Rational TestManager provides desktop management of all testing activities for all types of testing.
WinRunner 7 – Mercury
–        Mercury WinRunner is a powerful tool for enterprise wide functional and regression testing.
–        WinRunner captures, verifies, and replays user interactions automatically to identify defects and ensure that business processes work flawlessly upon deployment and remain reliable.
–        WinRunner allows you to reduce testing time by automating repetitive tasks and optimize testing efforts by covering diverse environments with a single testing tool.
QA Run 4.7 – Compuware
–        With QA Run, programmers get the automation capabilities they need to quickly and productively create and execute test scripts, verify tests and analyze test results.
–        Uses an object-oriented approach to automate test script generation, which can significantly increase the accuracy of testing in the time you have available.
Visual Test 6.5 – Rational Software
–        Based on the BASIC language and used to simulate user actions on a User Interface.
–        Is a powerful language providing support for pointers, remote procedure calls, working with advanced data types such as linked lists, open-ended hash tables, callback functions, and much more.
–        Is a host of utilities for querying an application to determine how to access it with Visual Test, screen capture/comparison, script executor, and scenario recorder.
Silk Test – Segue
–        Is an automated tool for testing the functionality of enterprise applications in any environment.
–        Designed for ease of use, Silk Test includes a host of productivity-boosting features that let both novice and expert users create functional tests quickly, execute them automatically and analyze results accurately.
–        In addition to validating the full functionality of an application prior to its initial release, users can easily evaluate the impact of new enhancements on existing functionality by simply reusing existing test casts.
QA Wizard – Seapine Software
–        Completely automates the functional regression testing of your applications and Web sites.
–        It’s an intelligent object-based solution that provides data-driven testing support for multiple data sources.
–        Uses scripting language that includes all of the features of a modern structured language, including flow control, subroutines, constants, conditionals, variables, assignment statements, functions, and more.
Evaluation Criteria
Record and Playback         Object Mapping
Web Testing Object              Identity Tool
Environment Support        Extensible Language
Cost                                            Integration
Ease of Use                             Image Testing
Database Tests                     Test/Error Recovery
Data Functions                    Object Tests
Support

3 = Basic  2 = Good  1 = Excellent

Tool Selection Recommendation

Tool evaluation and selection is a project in its own right.
It can take between 2 and 6 weeks. It will need team members, a budget, goals and timescales.
There will also be people issues i.e. “politics”.
Start by looking at your current situation
– Identify your problems
– Explore alternative solutions
– Realistic expectations from tool solutions
– Are you ready for tools?

Make a business case for the tool

–What are your current and future manual testing costs?
–What are initial and future automated testing costs?
–What return will you get on investment and when?

Identify candidate tools

– Identify constraints (economic, environmental, commercial, quality, political)
– Classify tool features into mandatory & desirable
– Evaluate features by asking questions to tool vendors
– Investigate tool experience by asking questions to other tool users Plan and schedule in-house demonstration by vendors
– Make the decision

Choose a test tool that best fits the testing requirements of your organization or company.

An “Automated Testing Handbook” is available from the Software Testing Institute (www.ondaweb.com/sti), which covers all of the major considerations involved in choosing the right test tool for your purposes.

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Test Consulting: How to Improve a QA Area

Is your client having difficulty to measure QA performance? Is your client undecided on what test strategy to follow for new application implementation? Is your client looking for testing tool recommendations or need to improve the usage of the existing ones?
Hexaware has a dedicated Test Consulting practice where testing experts are involved in providing test consulting services to clients. During the consulting engagements, Hexaware assesses and evaluates the Approach, People and Technology and fill in the gaps by bringing in our domain experience, best practices, frameworks, tools experience, etc. The consulting services also include tools selection, tools optimization and TCoE Creation and/or optimization.
If you want to learn more about test strategy, the next information will help you to execute a test strategy engagement.
Test Strategy Approach
The first step is to identify the problem(s) that the client is facing and define the strategy objectives. After that, I recommend to follow this approach to execute a test strategy project:
Assessment Areas
As part of the information gathering phase, we leverage its proprietary ATPTM (Approach, People, and Technology) methodology to focus on the right areas and meet the strategy objectives. Hexaware’s APT™ Methodology is the foundation of all of our QA service offerings, below is the description of each component:
• The Approach component is designed to lay the foundation for the processes that each client use as part of testing
• People is the component of the IT organization with focus on testing, Hexaware analyze the groups, roles and responsibilities involved in QA and testing
• The Technology component includes the use of QA and automation testing tools for efficiency to optimize technology and lower costs.

At the end of the project, we provide to the client the following component:
•Current State: An analysis of the current state with regard to the testing objectives
•Gaps: The gaps found between the current state and the best practices and the desired state
•Recommendations: Our recommendations to close the gaps and meet the organization objectives
•Implementation Road Map: A recommended path to follow in order to implement the recommendations.
As a result of the analysis phase, we show to our clients the current state in a quantitative graph. This graph evaluates all relevant aspects of an IT organization and prioritizes each category according to the testing objectives. One example of this graph is showed below.

This was an assessment provided as part of a test strategy we created for a leading bank in Mexico for a T24 product implementation. The benefits showed in this strategy was to reduce testing cycles by 30%, automate at least 50% of the manual test cases and have a defect free implementation using robust and repeatable testing processes.
Other examples of metrics commonly used as part of the strategy objectives are the increment of automation coverage by 30%, increase productivity by 25%, reduce overall testing cost by 15%, etc.
A test consulting practice is an area full of innovation, industry best practices and shared experiences. Now with Hexaware blogs all of us will be able to formally share our experience and our colleagues can leverage them for future assignments.

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Automation Feasibility Checklist

Abstract:
Software testing is an activity aimed at evaluating an attribute or capability of a program or system and determining that it meets its required results. The difficulty in software testing stems from the complexity of software. Testing is more than just debugging. The purpose of testing can be quality assurance, verification and validation or reliability estimation. Testing can be used as a generic metric as well.
In this article, we came up with an Automation Feasibility Checklist (AFC) which would be helpful for effective and efficient automation testing.

Introduction:
Manual Test case is the entry point for any automation, but there are some criteria which hinders the automation process which includes:

• Lack of clarity in test steps
• Lack of test data
• Traceability coverage
• Identification of Dependencies/Pre-requisites of test cases in a business scenario
• Presence of logical closure

It is better to identify these problems earlier so that it can reduce the effort in manual execution thereby pave way for effective automation.

Automation Feasibility Checklist (AFC):
Automation Feasibility Checklist is used to identify whether the manual test case is feasible for automation or not. The following are the criteria to determine the automation feasibility of the test cases:

Essential Criteria

• Dependencies/Pre-requisites
• Detailed Test steps
• Test Data availability
• Expected results
• Traceability

Optional Criteria

• Meagre Application Knowledge
• Subject Matter Expert’s (SME) support
• Duplication of test steps
• Availability of multiple sets of data

Snapshot of AFC

Benefits of Automation Feasibility Checklist:

• Reduces the Manual execution effort.
• Improves Automation efficiency.
• Helps to derive effective Manual test cases.
• Control and avoid risks in Automation.

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Welcome back … Good Times!

As the winter recedes and spring is ready to bloom in the northern hemisphere – the fears of doom and gloom recede too. If one looks at the IT Industry worldwide with lens of India-based software service providers, the sense of déjà vu is back. Fond memories of the good times come rushing back.

Now you may ask; what makes me say this?  After a dismal period ranging from late 2008 to early 2010; the tide has turned. After few years, this could well be the first year where Fortune 500 companies may have a year-on-year increase in their planned IT Spend. Further, the stress that had engulfed everyone from the Wall Street to the Main Street and everyone in the middle has dwindled and the early signs of a return to growth have clearly emerged. The visible trends, sound bites cuts across most industry verticals which further reinforce the confidence that IT Industry could register healthy growth in 2011.

You could also ask me; have we gone to the good old days again? I would say – Well, that is where we want to go but we are not there yet. While the mood is buoyant, all the pieces of the jig saw puzzle have not fallen into place yet. There are pockets of concern particularly in continental Europe which are still battling sovereign debt, geo-political uncertainties in Middle East, North Africa and natural calamities in Japan. Hence, it may take a little while longer for all the regions to buzz in unison. Having sounded the cautionary tone, the mood has certainly swung in favor of committing investments; driving growth and leveraging the winds of change.

If you agree with this, you may ask – what does the return to growth mean to me? It certainly signals good times! It means the activity levels will remain high. New clients will be added. New deals will be signed. The clients will reap the benefits of IT Outsourcing and the Service Providers will deliver value. The economics will work in favor of both economies and the employees at both sides will be happy to see more greenbacks (or whatever the color of your currency).

So, join me in ushering in the Good Times again!

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The author of the piece is: Sreenivas V. He is the Chief Strategy Officer at Hexaware Technologies Limited. The contents on the blog above are his personal views.

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Marketing Automation in B2B – Separating the Wheat from the Chaff

The B2B landscape in its inherent form is a complex jar of beans primarily because the initial connection needs lots of nurturing with the right mix of appropriate communication to ensure the “best weather” for sales interaction. Marketers not only have to measure outcomes right up to revenue but also find the “sweet spot” for marketing and sales to drum up the right notes.

The year 2009 and the first half of 2010 saw a marked shift towards marketing automation worldwide. All of this has helped channelize information and reach out to prospects better, yet it is pertinent to note the today’s internet savvy prospect is also armed with qualifying information about your brand, your products and your competitors as never before. To get inside the mind of the B2B buyer, marketers not only need to understand his intent from his digital body language but also ensure that automated lead generation processes in place scale up in terms of the following pertinent factors at any point of time.

• Are lead recycling programs in place for not-sales-ready leads?
• Has social media, inbound marketing and marketing automation been integrated seamlessly?
• Is your marketing communication supported by buyer-centric collaterals that help the buyer decide in your favor?
• Has your data been data washed and scrubbed clean?
• Does your web metrics provide actionable information for user profiling and conversion?
• Are sales and marketing on the same latitude to proving your prospect the best buying experience?
• Does your Social media spin influence the markets conversation about your brand effectively?
• Is your opt-in list getting fresh brew in the form of persuasive communication and supporting newsletter value?
• Is your marketing funnel measurable and process definitions flexible to innovation?
• How effective is your conversation model, does it ensure that you are at top of mind when prospects decide to bite the bait?
• Are you able to capitalize on marketing automation’s great benefit – reporting effectively and use it as a strategic tool?
• Does your data-centric marketing plans lead the way for greater customer intelligence since value of data will not be a constant ?

The above are just a few important cogs that can make or break your lead generation wheel. As marketers brace themselves to capitalize on marketing automation to enhance pipeline opportunities, trends all point to an explosive growth in marketing automation adoption. It is highly imperative that automation vendors provide more sophisticated reporting, better sales engagement processes and social media integration.

To help marketing efficiently separate the wheat from the chaff, marketing automation should not just serve as a driver of operational efficiency but more importantly enhance continuity of dialogue with prospects throughout the decision making/buying cycle at all relevant touch points.

Ultimately it is all about the harvest – the pipeline and revenue, the executive leadership would not mind how you do it.

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Databases and Marketing

Really exciting times to be in Marketing. Well, personally for me they are (the geek in me just loves how databases and analytics have become so critical to marketing! )

It is incredible how central data is becoming to the art and science of marketing. Infact marketing nowadays is so data driven that it is more science than art.

And I am not referring to ROI and marketing measurement data. Usage of that data is to be able to speak the same language as the CFO and CEO; to get a seat at the table in the executive suite. Something that the marketing organization has had to learn to meet the CFO’s standards.

I am referring to a data driven approach that has been driven by the marketing department itself. And this has been driven by the marketing department’s desire to run programs that are not gambles. Campaigns that are designed with the customers and their behaviour in mind and therefore hit the target more often than not. And that has brought us today to a time where databases and analytics are critical for marketing to succeed.

Not being familar with database management and analytics is not an option anymore.

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The Power of Now – Paradigm shift in Digital Marketing

For the initiated, and those who have wet their beaks in Digital Marketing, today’s times are really exciting. And yet, there is constant pressure for marketing strategies to evolve constantly. There is a big shift happening in the way information is served and utilized.

Information is now all about “newness” and “nowness”. It is dynamic, constantly reinventing itself to stay in the rat race for attention. It is just not about standalone pages or browsers anymore. It’s more about streaming content, about relevance in constant churn, about adding enhanced value to your user segment, all of these building a conversation for a symbiotic relationship with a user segment.

Streams of Data, Not just static pools

Much water has flown under the internet highway since the advent of Really Simple Syndication (RSS). Social media networks have taken center stage and dynamic information is served and lapped up in myriad ways. The possibilities are endless – A chirpy tweet about an event real-time, a face-off with a corporate ambassador on face book, a stumble upon on your new proprietary IP micro site, a techno-rati-ing of your corporate blog, rank boost on a Wikipedia link etc.

Amid all this noise, it is quite important to make sense of the signals. Especially for B2B marketing which has to make sure that this shift in dynamics is effectively leveraged to generate awareness, drive leads and nurture relationships.

Swimming with the tide of dynamic information

The moot point here is whether this accent on immediacy of information holds intrinsic value for B2B marketing. Yes of course. Ignoring this new shift in information distribution would be a no brainer. The key here is to use these social streams to row people to your site and ensure the site is sticky enough for him to decide in your favor.

Social streams can help build reputation and trust that can help connect with your customers. In lots of ways it gives B2B marketers an easy way to participate in conversations that are about them. It is still early to tell though. Plunging into the stream would be the easy way to find out though.

This paradigm shift has come to stay and technology will be its prime driver. With Twitter going one up on Google on real time search stakes (an earthquake this minute appears faster in twitter than on Google) this information shift could forever change the way even a search result looks.

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Digital Media Marketing

The power of digital media (usually referred to online media) has inspired me a lot through these years or rather never ceases to amaze me!

In today’s discriminating and techno-savvy world, with almost every business accomplished through the internet, a company’s presence over the web has become mandatory or should I say ‘a crucial factor’?

Here are some of my observations how online channels are used by businesses today.

Realize

Based on my experience in this field (I’m not a techie thoughJ), I have found that very few companies have exploited digital media through their websites. I think every company needs to realize the importance of their presence on the web with the ability to act fast, engage a lot of creativity and utilize resources capable of delivering innovative ideas keeping in mind their budgetary constraints.

Web metrics play a crucial role in determining the type of content that can attract and hold a customer’s interest, make them stay on the same website for a long time and make them come back for more – ideally meeting the user demand. Today, static images and plain text are replaced with streaming media and much more interactive applications providing the customer with a personalized experience. I feel many companies are struggling to develop their web presence in making it into more productive, virtual and a truly aggressive weapon.

Though a company has a string of issues involved in managing their web presence effectively, they also have to emphasize on the digital media’s potential in transforming the entire market scenario thereby ensuring greater ROI.

I would also add that opportunities are in abundance for any company willing to try out on these lines!

React

As I was digging through an article on digital media, a particular sentence caught my attention which in fact is apparently inevitable. It says, ‘A website has 10 seconds to draw a visitor or the person will “go back to Google”’! Well, are we talking here about “Love at first site”? Yes we are!

In this fast changing world, one has to face the reality that none of the above turns into a reality so easily. Companies have to think from the customers’ perspective, analyze and optimize his or her experience on the website by tuning their infrastructure, improve data center capability and effectively manage content delivery, thereby nurturing relationships.

It’s a do-or-die situation where IT organizations especially need to focus and react immediately on enhancing the digital business in line with their business objectives.

Reap

There’s nothing compared to reaping enhanced ROI through comprehensive digital media marketing in today’s world which is going through a major financial recession. Though I might daresay that it would be a silver lining amidst the gloom, a well defined approach with a strategic network, leveraged intelligence and the intent of providing a rich customer experience ensures improved business responsiveness and better cost control.

Well I do want to write more on the other areas of digital media in the forth coming posts. I would honestly need your comments and suggestions.

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Virtual Reality and Marketing

Its interesting how (and how fast) certain things get adapted.

There have been these virtual reality worlds – SecondLife being the most prominent – that have caught on recently. They mostly serve the purpose of entertainment. Some “gurus” talk about how such virtual worlds will become a more intrinsic part of every person’s life.

So while that evolution is going on and all attention is focused on SecondLife and similar avatars (pun intended ), there is this tangential development that happens in, of all the places, in B2B marketing! Now you can host and attend virtual events, virtual tradeshows!

Fascinating, but will it really stick? This is the question I had when I saw the first versions of these virtual event platforms come out a couple of years ago. Well it seems it has. There seems to be quite some activity in this space. And especially in these cost-conscious, budget-slaugthering times, attending a virtual tradeshow seems like a great idea!

There are a few platforms that are fast gaining pace. And at Hexaware, we are participating in our first virtual tradeshow

SAP HR 2009 Virtual Conference (a virtual version of the real-life SAP HR 2009 conference that we took part in earlier this year). There is a registration fee (similar to the fee you would pay for the live conference, but there are no travel costs and hassles!).

See you at the conference! Link here -> http://www.hr2009.com/homepage.cfm?s=

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Some great conferences coming up!

Hexaware is participating in some really great conferences in May. May 4th to 6th we are at the Gartner Outsourcing and Vendor Management Summit in Las Vegas and May 3rd to 8th we are at the TDWI Global Conference in Chicago. While the Gartner conference is the definitive conference for the Outsourcing space, the TDWI conference is THE conference for Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence/Analytics. Should be an exciting week.

Am looking forward to attending some insightful sessions at the Gartner Conference. And meeting Fran Karamouzis, Allie Young, Partha Iyenger – key Gartner analysts in this space. Will also attempt to tweet while at the conference.

And then the third week is again tradeshow time. We are participating at the LOMA/ACORD Insurance Systems Forum May 17- 19 in Orlando, Florida and at Eye For Travel’s Travel Distribution Summit, May 19 – 20 in London, UK. Another exciting week. I plan to tweet from the LOMA/ACORD conference too.

Follow Hexaware on Twitter here -> http://twitter.com/hxmktg

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