7.3 Similarities to Manual Testing

Once we have our test automation solution up and running and we have data to drive some testing we can confirm that our automated solution properly tests the SUT and faithfully reproduces the testing that was otherwise done manually. We still need to analyze what is to be tested. From this we need to define the test types and develop test data. This is all still very similar to the work we do in manual testing. However, the definition of data for automated testing is more structured as we're now reliant on the test automation solution and specifically the testing framework to work with our defined data and provide us with results. As with manual testing we will have results to analyze, but with automation we would expect a good portion of this analysis, at least as it pertains to verifications and comparisons, to occur automatically via automation. From here we need to ensure the confidence in our acceptance in that automation has met or exceeded our previous manual testing efforts. This is an important milestone and one which can help bring the team together in supporting their contributions in the development of test automation.