If there is one characteristic aspect of today’s applications, it is that they are constantly changing. Both more frequent, and more frequent changes. Application development moves with the business, and so market conditions, legislation, technological developments and expansion of organizations impact applications. For this reason, the Agile development method is often adopted, leading to more releases. More releases lead to more and more frequent testing of the application. Not the favorite hobby of many a user…..

Increasing need for test automation

Application testing is often assigned to key users or process owners of applications. Right in between your normal duties, new releases need to be tested. And because the date of the new release is fixed, you are expected to do it quickly and well. Dependence on the availability of testers is often a huge challenge for an application management department. As a result, there is an increasing need to automate testing. How can you run tests in a consistent manner, without tester intervention and with extensive logging? In order to increase the number of releases, at lower cost and with higher quality?

What is Application Testing?

Application Testing is the name for automating manual process steps to test applications. For this purpose, we use UiPath Test Manager, an open and flexible test management tool. The advantage of Application Testing is that the developed robotic scripts can perform tests for different data sets. By using different user profiles, authorizations can also be tested. The test runs are scripted, for example, during the night. The next morning, the results are known. UiPath Test Manager also offers the ability to trace any issues back to User Stories, which are captured in a tool such as Jira, SAP Solution Manager, Azure DevOps or Service Now.

The Benefits of Application Testing

Using software robots to test applications leads to the following benefits:

• Reduce lead time of testing
• Time saving of key users in critical time of the project
• Scaling up number of test runs at no additional cost
• Reusability of developed test scripts
• Higher quality and consistency of test runs
• Avoiding boring work, higher employee satisfaction
• Consistent quality of testing across domains
• Extensive logging that includes reference to user stories

Case Study: Application Testing in SAP

For an international oil company, Tacstone Technology has developed more than 25 different test cases on SAP. In this, one test case is equivalent to a process (from A to Z), which can be as many as 45 steps (transactions) for 4 different data sets.

By using RPA within test automation we save a lot of hours and increase the quality of the performed tests. With this we give hours back to the business and better connect to the pace of change of the business. The return on investment of Application Testing is also very low, because of the limited investment for script development.
– Manager IT

An example of such a test case is the “Management & Maintenance” process:

1. Registering a defect in a machine
2. Create and approve a work order to fix the defect
3. Execution of order including ordering and approval of materials and services
4. Finalizing the work order
5. Checking of related logistical and financial documents

Key users have specified in a User Test Script Instruction (UTSI) what the steps (= transactions) look like, what user profiles are used for this purpose, and what datasets the script should use.

The concept below is applied to the development of any robot script:

More info? Request a live demo

Did the above pique your interest and would you like more information on how to get started with Application Testing in your organization? Request a live demo via our contact form.

If you are still unsure which RPA consultancy is right for your business, read this blog.