The application of automated testing methodologies permits us to replace or supplement manual testing with a suite of test programs. Benefits to product developers include increased software quality, improved time to market, repeatable test procedures, and reduced testing costs.

With a complex testing process manual testing often yields inconsistent coverage and results depending on the staff and schedule employed. An automated test suite ensures the same scope and process is used each time testing is performed. The sum of improved test procedures and testing productivity is a substantial improvement in product quality. Automated testing detects functional and performance issues more efficiently, allowing test staff to focus on quality in areas such as documentation, installation, and hardware compatibility.

Automated testing has an up front cost to develop, but over the lifetime of a product it will offer substantial net savings. An average automated test suite development is 3-5 times the cost of a complete manual test cycle. Over multiple product releases with multiple cycles per release, this cost is quickly recouped. A typical automated test suite will run in less than 24 hours, without any human intervention required. With its much shorter execution time an automated test suite can be run multiple times over the course of a product development cycle. By testing earlier and more often bugs are detected and corrected earlier and at a much reduced expense.

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