Continuous testing needs more than automation to be successful. Even though testing may be automated, some manual labour is still required to initiate the test, make necessary modifications, and guarantee that the test environment is stable, this leaves room for human mistakes. The testing procedure is slowed down by this extra effort, which also delays product delivery.
This is where test orchestration can help. Read on to learn about the Test Orchestration framework and its multifaceted benefits.
What is Test Orchestration?
The organization of automated tests into a sequential order for execution is known as test orchestration. It is a technique that focuses on carefully selecting particular tests (performance, functional, unit, etc.) and picking the proper sequence to run them in. Test orchestration allows app development teams to speed up releases, enhance transparency at each mobile app testing stage, and ultimately produce higher-quality products.
Performance concerns, a lack of communication and collaboration across teams, and restricted test environments may all be solved with an orchestrated testing pipeline integrated into the CI/CD pipeline. Additionally, test orchestration may be used to carry out more intricate app testing, including end-to-end, security, compliance, and update testing.
Why test orchestration is a benefit
Companies may develop a testing system that incorporates human and automated activities using test orchestration to make the most of automation. Let’s examine the advantages of test orchestration:
Maximum transparency at every stage of work
The test coverage is systematized through test orchestration, determining the required job order. All interested parties are aware of the project’s present status, including its advantages and challenges, and they are aware of which team members are now focusing on particular problems. By doing this, the likelihood of ignorance, misunderstanding, and confusion is reduced. All project members’ work is synchronized thanks to orchestration.
Unleashing the potential of continuous testing
Through test orchestration, testing becomes a crucial component of the pipelines for continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD). It enables your QA team to find the majority of problems with the application early on in the development process. The code may be tested right away after integration. Additionally, your team has real-time access to the code. The simultaneous occurrence of several events speeds up the transmission of the app.
Increased productivity
For testing teams, the usage of Test Orchestration technology ushers in a new era of productivity. These programs automate routine tasks, releasing testers from the shackles of tedious manual labour. With this increased freedom, testers may focus their efforts and expertise on the trickier and more creative aspects of testing. This change in emphasis enables them to research cutting-edge testing approaches, develop challenging test scenarios, and engage in original problem-solving. As a result, the testing department’s total productivity has dramatically risen, and the breadth and depth of the testing process have both improved.
Better visibility into release cycles
It is impossible to overstate the importance of the Test Orchestration framework, given that more than 78% of firms say that their biggest challenge with continuous testing is getting insight into the testing ecosystem.
You must have visibility into the app release cycle to spot and resolve bottlenecks early on, enhancing app quality and cutting down on time to market. The DevOps team can create key performance indicators (KPIs) from the input and output data gathered through test orchestration. The app team may then use these KPIs to assign roles and decide what to do next. For instance, video reports can spot and fix any issues that lower a piece of the app’s quality rating.
You may support testing activities and the choices that go along with them by using the reports and artifacts produced by test orchestration. These artifacts may also be used in the continuous delivery pipeline to provide standard benchmarks or criteria that act as quality gates.
Faster feedback loop
Asynchronous test coverage causes a variety of issues, including many mistakes, testing failures, and slow feedback loops. They cause a drop in developer motivation, which is ultimately to blame for the majority of app release delays. This highlights the need for an agile and motivated development team, where test orchestration can help.
By minimizing manual involvement during the testing cycle, test orchestration reduces the probability of mistakes and speeds up feedback. This enables testing teams to speed up the app testing life cycle and make them self-sustaining and minimize execution errors.
Optimize the testing pipeline
The testing process requires a lot of time and effort to maintain. Another essential advantage of test orchestration is that it accelerates the testing process, enabling developers to release builds more quickly into production. It is also possible to run several tests concurrently and iteratively. It is leveraging resources more effectively and bringing items to market more quickly, resulting in time and money savings and greater revenue outcomes.
Why Do Teams Need Test Orchestration?
Delivery teams may perform several rounds of mobile app testing in a very short amount of time with orchestration in place and yet maintain the appropriate levels of quality. Test orchestration emphasizes the accuracy of three crucial elements:
- Automation of the many test subsystems, including unit, system, integration, functional, performance, and other tests.
- Data setup used as input to each test unit, such as the system test’s input from the unit test or the performance test’s database is loaded with data from the integration test, etc.
- Validation of test results for both success and failure, such as the smoke test report that may expose the environment’s readiness and the performance test report that may assist in setting the appropriate capacity of resources required by the application.
It is crucial to strictly enforce the breakdown of the data setup during the test initialization if test orchestration is to be repeated in the same test cycles.
