Automation Framework Few Ground Rules

Now that we have a product which starting to have users and customers, the development teams are working hard to create and implement features and new capabilities, the QA is doing a lot of manual testing, and the more testing you have, the more you understand that you are far from completion and it's getting harder and harder to understand where your coverage stands.

You need automation capabilities to raise your coverage goals.

A testing automation framework is an execution environment for automated tests. here are few points that will give you an overall guide to create your own effective framework, it is not restricted to a specific product, and you can implement those key items on any testing tool you have. 
 

• Logs
  • you need to keep in mind that after a run or if it fails running, there is a need to understand what went wrong, in order to understand what happened during execution, you need to have a testing log, try to log as much as possible, even in few levels. Logs should include pass/fail cases, SUT errors, SUT data, overall information.
     
• Version Tracking
  • The framework should be well-defined with its capabilities including fixes documentation, is some cases automation releases can be attached to the SUT releases.
     
• Documentation
  • Automatic Testing Framework it is an internal product which means it will have more users than yourself eventually, then you must document how it works, its structure, interfaces, the product releases it serves, development issues, etc.
     
• Testing Capabilities
  • A tight definition development goal and testing targets is most needed before every release, keeping the development teams for defined solution which can raise the product reliability
     
• Coding
  • A successful framework can only be developed when you follow correct norms. Clear norms help to understand the code you wrote, and eventually will help the developers which will continue developing the framework for you.
     
• Reusability
  • Make a separate library or a file in which you should maintain the methods which will be used again and again rather than creating separate methods this will remove redundant methods and code
     
• Data Abstraction
  • Keeping the script and data separate will help you a lot in making the framework clean and not redundant so always keep the data and script separate before you design a framework
     
• Coverage Plan
  • Keep in mind that the automation is to serve the product coverage needs and reduce testing effort, always set a coverage plan and maintain a known expectations of the coming release.
     
• Framework Technology
  • Always select use testing tools and frameworks which are well-known and support is a non-issue, it is always better to use help or other experience than to find out by yourself. time is crucial in automation.

of course, there are more rules, and in some cases, it depends on the programming language you use, and the environment which the automation is within, also all development rules are applying the automation process as well.