Implementing Oracle Cloud application updates is challenging, but it’s much easier with test automation in place. Ideally, your strategy will mix manual testing with automated testing to improve the efficiency of your testing prior to launching any new applications or upgrades.
Believe it or not, there are certain questions that commonly arise during Oracle upgrades no matter what industry you’re in. Noticing all the conversation in the testing sector moving to automation, do I need to integrate automated testing into my testing strategy? Why run manual vs. automated testing? How long will the implementation take? Can we run automated testing side-by-side with manual testing until we’re comfortable?
Let us try and answer these questions and provide tips to help the implementation process go as smoothly as possible.
Why Integrate Automated Testing Into the Plan?
Quarterly Oracle updates, by nature of their frequency and certainty of implementation, call for keeping your applications up to date. The software is continually upgraded to ensure it is bug-free operation in the ever-evolving web, and offering the best service possible taking advantage of new functionality and productivity options. Automated testing assists your company be more agile and prevent business interruptions and worst-case scenarios.
The test planning process objective is to provide the proper level of test coverage relevant to your project’s scope. Test planning factors include:
- Objectives: measure progress according to design requirements and goals
- Plans: step-by-step approaches for testing
- Strategy: expectations for how to perform testing
- Milestones: how to measure success
- Responsibilities: who is responsible for accomplishing tasks
- Approach: schedule for performing testing
- Entrance/exit criteria: definition of inputs and success
- Environment: setting for tests, including types and numbers
- Reporting: types of reports and schedule of reporting
Your test plan should be structured to include test cases, which are detailed instructions for how each test should be performed. These instructions should be clear enough that the test can be repeated at any time by anyone and yield the same or similar results.
Get More Great Tips for Managing Updates!
Our team of Oracle Experts have pulled together some great tips and best practice considerations to improve your Testing Strategy.
How Long Will Implementation Take?
Automated testing implementation is fast. The best testing solutions come with common test scripts to make the process as smooth and thorough as possible. WinfoTest comes preloaded with more than 1,000 test scripts designed to work with your Oracle Cloud updates.You simply choose the relevant script for your set up and you’re off and running.
Your quick implementation brings benefits like more efficient testing, faster test runs, and better test scenarios. This means you can run numerous market scenarios that shed light on your vulnerabilities while allowing you to prevent common bugs and testing issues.
Why Run Manual vs. Automated Testing?
Testing protects your Oracle investment and keeps you ahead of the curve on productivity. The perfect test strategy includes a blend of manual testing and testing automation. The mix allows you to gain the benefits of both while minimizing the drawbacks of each.
For example, manual testing has limited scalability and tends to include more points of failure. Your resources are drained by spending time updating test scripts.
By integrating automated testing, you offload repetitive tasks, stop bogging down your resources, and gain the freedom to explore more advanced scenarios. This helps your organisation stay prepared for a wider range of possibilities and opportunities.
Automated testing quickly executes hundreds or even thousands of scripts, 24/7, without wearing down or taking breaks. Along the way, it prevents duplications and errors that would otherwise hamper the process. Your human testers can breathe easier and focus on other, higher-value tasks.
Can We Run Automated Testing Side-By-Side With Manual Testing Until We’re Comfortable?
If you’re wondering whether you must give up manual testing immediately upon implementing automation, there’s no need to worry. Using both strategies in side-by-side testing is ideal. In fact, this is one of the best practices for testing automation and allows you to ensure you have the correct set up running on the automated tasks while manually monitoring the execution.
Here are some of our tips for running side-by-side tests for optimal advantages during the early stages of implementation. Focus on tests that automate:
- Repetitive tasks
- Tests involving a high risk of human error
- Extremely time-intensive approaches
- Multiple data sets and builds
- High-risk conditions where mistakes cause critical issues
- Tests involving complex configurations and platforms
- Tests that are otherwise impossible to conduct manually
Testing success requires diligent planning and monitoring. After identifying and trying out an initial set of tests, refine your plan and ensure your testing is meeting goals.
Start by dividing tests into sets of logical groups to keep things manageable and coherent. From there, go beyond testing individual behaviors at specific times and broaden your test conditions. Add new tests and functionalities, testing each addition as you go.
Group individual, manual tests into larger sets of automated tests. You’ll quickly begin to see the benefits of scaling up with automated testing to reveal new insights and efficiencies.
Integrating Automation With WinfoTest
Automated testing brings a wide range of benefits for operational efficiency. Could these benefits help your organisation become even more productive than ever?
WinfoTest’s automated testing solution was designed to work with Oracle Cloud applications including the latest Oracle products and legacy applications like Oracle E-Business Suite. It requires no hardware or software and installs almost instantly.
With our testing automation, you also gain the benefits of improving staff morale and removing daily frustrations from your team’s professional lives. Make better use of your organisation’s intellectual and functional resources, rather than staying bogged down with manual testing.
To learn more about incorporating automation into your testing strategy, request a free WinfoTest trial today.
