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Test design is a step in the process of executing test cases using an automation tool, and it is an important step. However, it is different from planning, which is all about documenting the test schedule of the QA team and also outlining the tasks they will be taking up as a part of the process. Test design, on the other hand, is about defining the environment, the approach, the steps to be followed during execution and also the instructions to be adhered to while executing. It also involves defining the desired results for the execution so that it can be used to determine the performance. However, many beginners tend to get confused between the two.

When it comes to software QA, experts believe that the process should also be properly mapped out and designed so as to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness. This article takes a closer look into the importance of automated test design.

Why Automated Test Design Plays a Key Role

Automation is gaining huge popularity all over the world and organizations across the globe are embracing it to witness the multiple benefits like increased test coverage, increased efficiency & productivity, faster executions, higher accuracy, minimal regression testing time, and more. However, sometimes enterprises make the mistake of moving straight to the implementation of automation followed by the execution process, by investing in zero coding automation tools that make the process fast and easy. They start writing the test cases and executing them, expecting great results. In doing so, they miss out on the crucial step of automated test design and as a result, many a time it leads to the creation of test cases which are of little use to the product or application. To put it in one word, the test design has the potential to make or break the success of automation.

What is Automated Test Design

The concept of test design is to define what needs to be tested and what doesn’t. It involves a detailed analysis of the specifications and intended performance of the product to figure out which are the tests that will best serve to validate the functionality of the product. As simple as it may sound, skipping this step will invariably lead to execution of tests that could easily have been avoided, resulting in waste of time and efforts. An automation framework is a set of instructions that can be used as a reference for designing test cases for automation. Even a new age zero coding automation tools like QARA Enterprise is based on a Selenium framework that defines the guidelines for the same.

An important point to note here is that you need a human – a domain expert – to create a test design because it involves a lot of analysis and needs to be prepared with a keen eye for details. Given below are some characteristic features test cases created with effective automated test design:

Easy to read, write & maintain.
Created not for bug detection alone, but also for enhancing the user experience.
Easy to maintain, even by people who have not created them.
Needs less investment, efforts and time involved in writing and executing.
Closely aligned with the goals and objectives of the organization.
Important Points

The following points are important for the process of automated test design.

Detailed analysis of the product specifications to come up with a list for the QA Team.
Using methods like Model-based testing and other similar methods to write the test cases.
Defining or creating test cases for identification of bugs, enhancing the UI and other required criteria.
Referring a standard set of guidelines for the process.
Categorizing the test cases into relevant modules.
Conclusion:

So, test design is indeed important to make automation process a success, even if it means you’re using the modern zero coding automation tools. What the tools do is making the automation process faster for your organization. However, investing in the tool alone won’t work if you don’t have a team of domain experts to analyze the QA goals and design the QA process accordingly.

What is outsourcing? Well, to put it in a few words, outsourcing involves contracting your business process to a third party service provider located in the same country or in another country. Some of the common services outsourced are customer support, web design, data entry, Big Data solutions management, legal services and more.

Over the past decade, the BPO industry has witnessed a huge growth and this growth is on the rise. In fact, it has emerged to be one of the fastest growing sectors today. There are several reasons why organizations across the globe choose to outsource and some of them are given below:

Optimum utilization of resources
Reduction in the cost of operations
Access to sophisticated technology
Effective management of business risks
Expert teams at work leads to quick turnaround times
Allows business professionals more time to focus on core business activities
Flexibility of services to meet the changing market demands
There are several factors that have empowered BPO services and Big Data solutions is one of them and it has simplified analysis and management of data. Effective data management is essential for organizations belonging to every sector and the BPO services industry is no different. However, in spite of the growth, there are quite a few challenges that are plaguing the BPO industry and some of the key ones are listed below.

Challenge #1 Meeting Customer Expectations

Meeting customer expectations can be a challenge due to the increasing competition in the market. As customers are becoming all the more aware of the different products in the market, they have sky high expectations that can become very challenging for companies to keep up with.

Challenge #2 Challenging Working Hours

A major portion of the BPO industry today is off-shore, which means the process is outsourced to a team that is located in another country, likely in another part of the world. This results in the employees having to work for odd working hours and even for hours at a stretch sometimes, which leads to a loss in efficiency.

Challenge #3: Management of Large Volumes of Data

As we have discussed earlier, data is increasing like never before and this is only going to get bigger and bigger. Big Data has risen to be a cause of concern for industries across sectors and the BPO sector is no different.

Challenge #4 High Rate of Attrition

In spite of being one of the fastest growing industries, the BPO sector also suffers from one of the highest rates of employee attrition. BPO companies often have to incur additional expenses to train new employees time and again, due to the high rate of attrition.

Challenge#5 Working on a Limited Budget

Often the budget set aside by organizations for outsourcing is very low and BPO companies are forced to work within the limited budget. This often makes BPO services providers to struggle to meet the quality standards.

Challenge#6 Lack of a Quality Talent Pool

This is another challenge plaguing the BPO services industry today. Due to certain factors that are at play, it has become difficult to find the right talent pool for the BPO companies. This is a big challenge because in the absence of good talent, it can be difficult to achieve the highest quality of customer service, especially when BPO is a people-oriented industry.

Conclusion:

In spite of the many challenges, leading IT solutions firms, like The Digital Group, Accenture, and Tech Mahindra are venturing into BPO services, just like they are catering to other in-demand services like Big Data Solutions and enterprise mobility, among others. The challenges mentioned above are slowly being tackled as BPO moves towards achieving a new growth milestone.