Defining Test Automation Framework Requirement

Defining Test Automation Framework is one of the most important aspect of QA Automation. Well defined Test Automation Framework help QA team to speed up their testing process. Always remember, Automation Framework is not just a tool, but this is a group of multiple tools and processes working together to support automation testing of software. Refer the image below, the typical Test Automation Framework comprises many components and all these components should be consider from the beginning to create effective Test Framework.

Automation Test Framework Components

The most important part of defining Test Automation Framework is to identify application test requirements very clearly. The key points to be considered while defining requirements are:

1. Test Automation Framework should always focus on the long term goal it will help us to achieve. The Test Framework and its assets should allow complete end-to-end testing of the product.
2. Use appropriate/latest tools & technologies for test automation. The tools should be chosen very carefully considering the software application to be tested, how frequently chosen tool gets update/fixes, Support community.
3. The Automation Framework should be based on open technologies as much as possible, to limit the development and maintenance costs.
4. The Automation Framework should allow us easy integration with a maximum number of tools and component.
5. The Automation Framework should support parallel execution of tests i.e. running multiple tests simultaneously, run tests on cloud devices, Integration with CI tools.
6. Visual Testing is an important aspect of end to end testing and effective visual testing helps to reduce effort on functional automation testing as well so Automation Framework should consider visual testing from the very beginning.
7. The Automation Framework should provide Interactive and detailed Test Reports and these should be easily accessible to all stakeholders

The above are the key requirements which we should consider while defining the Test Automation Framework. In the next Article, I will explain the key points need to consider while defining the High Level Test Architecture.