Part 3 of 3 - An Introduction to Regression Testing

Part 3 of 3 - An Introduction to Regression Testing

Written by: Paritosh Dave

 

Types of Regression Testing - Based on Method of Testing

 

Manual Testing – Here the testers execute the regression test cases manually after the changes are incorporated in code and a new build is received. It may take a long time to execute a majority of test cases, so adequate time should be allocated for the regression test cycle and adequate test resources should be budgeted.

Automation Testing - Many organizations lean towards utilizing some type of automated testing tools to automate the regression testing process. The test tool mimics the human actions on software applications and records the tests. Afterwards, the test scripts are enhanced and modified to include various test scenarios and various dataset input combinations to make it more robust. In the long run, automation regression testing saves time, money and resources by running the regression scripts faster (in turn saving time) and is more reliable and predictable.

Hybrid Testing  - Certain times its necessary to divide the regression suite test cases into 2 different sets – Manual set of regression cases and Automation set of regression cases. Depending upon the product under test and also depending upon resources and budget availability, it becomes necessary to run part manual and part automation. For example, in certain application or functionality, a human observation and evaluation maybe  required at all the times. Such test scripts have to be done manually.  In the same application, some functionality can easily be automated if they require repeated interaction and input, which means a Hybrid testing approach can be taken.

Conclusion:

Regression testing is a very effective testing strategy for organizations, as it allows the possibility of finding software defects before the product is shipped to the client. As is the case several times, the projects are often short of time, budgeted money and hence the testing cycles are curtailed more often than not. Changes which happen at the last moment, just before the product is going to be shipped, often have potential to create unintended consequences to the application. Hence execution of a regression suite helps a company weed out adverse effects of change and correct them at the right time, most every time.

References:

 

i)              Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regression_testing

ii)            A test methodology for an effective regression testing     - Srinivasan Desikan

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