Advantages And Disadvantages Of Using Automated Software Information Technology Essay

As we know, we have to test the software to ensure there are no errors or bugs in that software, and get the correct result that we expect from the software. Software testing can be done manually by people, or by using tools. An automated software testing tool is a piece of software that used to test the target software, that is, the software under consideration. For example, a tool executes various tests on the target software and then determines whether the tests are successfully passed. The automated software testing tools typically starts executing the target software, and passed various inputs to the target software for testing various conditions and then evaluates the corresponding outputs of the target software and keeps track of the pass or fail outcome each test. At the end of the series tests, the tool typically gives a summary result so that one can quickly determine the number and severity of the defects.

One of the advantages using automated testing software tools to do the software testing is because automated testing software tools can minimizes the use of manpower while speeding the checking process so that the software was tested efficiently in a short time compared to using manual test to test the software because manually testing takes time and requires a significant numbers of people. For example, automated software testing tools can test for thousands of simultaneous user or large volumes of data that cannot be easily carried out in manual manner because of automated software testing tools run tests significantly faster than human testers.

Another advantage of using test automation is that there can be a higher degree of reliability. Automation of test script execution eliminates the possibility of human error when the same sequence of actions is repeated again and again. This can be really important as we would be astonished to learn just how many test defects raised are in fact caused by tester error. This particularly happens when the same boring test scripts have to be run over and over again as well as when, at the opposite spectrum, really complex testing has to be done. Since the human factor is excluded when using the automated software testing tools that reduce the errors that may make by the human testers.

Besides that, testing process is consequently expedited by using automated software testing tools. Automated software testing tools run the tests significantly faster than human users. We just need to depend on the certain automated testing tool, which can naturally work faster, no longer to depend on the capabilities of a human tester, this will result in a lot of savings with regard to time. Besides that, test automation is comprehensive. Automated testers might contain a suite of tests that would help in testing each and every feature in the application. This means that chance of missing out key parts of testing is unlikely to occur.

Another advantage is that with the use of test automation, only one person will be able to implement the entire testing process since the bulk of the work will be handled by the program operations. If necessary, human tester has to do is to monitor the outcomes and make recordings. It is also possible that all the human tester has to do is start and terminate the testing program, making for more convenience and efficiency. By using automated software testing tools also can ensure better software quality. It is because we can run more tests in less time with few resources. For example, we can repeating test the software when there is some changes is make on the software without having to waste lot of time and resources. Repeating test the software can reduce the risk or bugs that may occur in that software during the change of the software.

However, there also have disadvantages of using the automated software testing tools in the software testing. One of the disadvantages is that the automated software testing tools is no human insight, in other words, it is lack of human perspective. For example, an automated tool may not identify missing heading tags since it cannot read the content. Another example is although a testing tool can detect ALT attributes for graphics, it cannot determine if the attributes are descriptive enough. The same applies to frame titles and field labels. Only a human tester can provide feedback on these issues.

Another disadvantage is that the use of automation tools may result in more errors, especially when the testing program is set up the wrong way from the beginning of the testing work. As a result, it can lead to more errors so we must be careful when use the automated software testing tools, to avoid any errors occur during the program setup it is advice that the program be set up by the computer expert. Sometimes the ordinary testers are not that literate in making use of computer programs that cannot be expected to know all the elements that contribute to the functionality of the tool, so the program must be signed by a professional. Automated testing doesn’t make sense when a test team does not have the expertise to automate correctly.

The disadvantage of the automated software testing tools may result automation script errors. If an error is made in the test automation script which is undetected, it could be fatal for the project since the correct testing would not have been done. In fact we may not even realize the error until the software launches and then falls over. Debugging the test script is major issue. If any error is present in the test script, sometimes it may lead to deadly consequences.

Besides that, automation tools are complexity. With the increase in the number of requirements for examples like business requirements documentation and software requirements specification that are to be tested, this leads to more and more complexity which makes the maintenance of test data extremely difficult.

Other than that, using automated software testing tools in test maintenance is costly in case of playback method. When there is a minor change in the requirement, even though there is a minor change in the user interface of the software, then whole script need to be changed and need to re-do all the things, whereas in case of manual testing, only the required test case is modified. In this case, its consequence the project will have to implement the change request management. As a result, they need to redesign and reprogram the test automation scripts.

There are many examples of the automated software testing tools, such as QA Wizard Pro, Quick Test Professional, Winrunner. One of the examples of the automated software testing tools is Quick Test Professional (QTP). QTP is a functional and regression testing tool. It is more reliability. Using QTP we can perform regression testing faster when compared to manual testing. QTP is fast, reliable, repeatable, reusable, and programmable. However, QTP needs more memory space (512 MB) because separate memory is required to store test objects and if any operating system problems are there, QTP will not work properly. QTP needs Add-ins to recognize the objects in which they are built. For example, if an application is built in Java, we need to add Java add-in in order to help QTP recognize the objects in the application. If you want to test an application that is build in a technology not supported by QTP, we cannot perform testing effectively. This disadvantage of the QTP automated Software tools is that scripts maintenance is not easy if the user interface changes for example, a situation where the labels for all objects have changed. We can update with global change by fixing label description. But we will not know if our change was correct until we test it either by running script or by making sure every object is correctly identified. We need a a professional when using the QTP to prevent any serious error occurs.

As a conclusion, using automated software testing tools have its advantages and disadvantages. When choosing the software to test the software, it is depend on the how the tester finds the requirements, time, cost and other external factors, which will full fill the requirement that we want. In order to get the benefit of the automated software testing tools, it is very important that the software testers follow the guidelines or the rule of testing.