Application software testing is a vast segment; however, developers segregate it into two areas- manual QA testing and automated testing. QA engineers and IT companies are often asked by the customers when testing a software application – whether to opt for manual software testing options or give a try to new automated techniques.
There are certain cases, where automated software testing rules and at the same time, it could wind up costing you more than it’s worth. This is the reason why you must consider the costs and benefits as per the project.
Manual Testing
Manual testing is a process of going in and running each series or unique program of tasks and making comparison of the output with the expectations. Manual testing is a process in which engineer uses the program as a user and experiences functionality to check all the features are working properly.
The process of QA testing can be a tedious job as you need to select every setting within a software package. Take an instance, you have an app and you need o test it for 170 countries. This means you need to ensure each of the countries aligns with the apt currencies. For manual QA testing, you need to select a country and see the currency it is showing. If there are limited options, it will make the job more manageable to manually test the report.
In case you have approached a small company that is having limited financial resources, manual QA testing could be the best option for you. There is a big benefit you can avail from manual testing that is ability to see real user issues. While developing software solution, performing manual inspection allows you to see bugs that your user could face in future.
The manual testing option works best for short term projects.
Automated testing is meant for longer-term projects and their upfront cost is higher. It is advisable to opt for manual testing if your project needs the human touch like usability. Companies having limited expertise in the area are also suggested to start with manual testing. Once the team of engineers acquires mastering in testing, they can later move toward automation.
Automated Software Testing
Engineers use automated tools for automated software testing to run tests based on algorithms to make a comparison between the final output and the expected output. If the output meets all requirements and expectations, your program is performing fine, this means your project is bug-free. If the results do not match the expectation, you have to take a look for one more time and continue to run tests until the results match.
Automated testing option works best on long term project. The biggest benefit you can get from automated testing is the faster and effective output.
With the introduction of automated QA testing option, engineers are more benefited with short delivery cycle. However, it has not expelled the requirement for the traditional development cycle completely, but it has made easier for web parts.
You cannot neglect the testing part anyway to complete a successful software project. The type of testing (manual or automated) relies on several factors-
- Project requirements
- Timeline
- Budget
- Suitability
- Expertise
Three vital factors required by any project are time, cost, and quality. When it comes to testing, either manual or automated type of testing may acquire great results better than the other.
How to find which option will work best on your project?
Conditions favourable for Manual Testing-
- Exploratory testing – Such testing involves the knowledge, skill set, experience, innovation, intuition and creativity of the tester.
- Usability testing – If you need to measure the efficiency, user-friendly behavior, and comfort offered by the software to the users, usability testing should be performed by engineers.
- Ad-hoc testing – This is completely a spontaneous method of testing performed by experts. In this testing type, ideology and understanding behavior of the tester is the only key factor.
Conditions favourable for Automated QA testing –
- Regression testing – Due to frequent changes in code and the ability to run the regressions in precise way, you need automated testing approach.
- Performance testing – Where there is a requirement of simulating the thousands of concurrent users, users will require automation to do it.
- Repeated execution – For repeated execution, automated QA testing is a better option.
- Load testing – To complete the testing in efficient way in the case of load testing, automated testing works best.
Experts recommend Manual Software Testing or Manual QA Testing because it is cheaper and involves human observation. At the same time, some experts recommend automated testing as it saves time and provide error free results. Both the testing approaches have their advantages and suitability. It entirely depends on the budget, type, duration of the project.
