Automated Software Testing Benefits - Software Testing as a Service - page 111

9.3.3 Business Case 3
9.3.3.1 Tool Selection
In this project we faced this problem that the tool did not work with the script that
was developed with an earlier version of the automation tool. The tool vendor had
changed functions in the new version from the earlier version and did not provide
backward compatibility so that the script developed with the earlier version did not
work with the new version that we were using.
9.3.3.2 Solution
The applications we were testing were manufacturing and production planning
modules of Oracle's E-Business suite. We had received automation scripts for
around 1200 test cases that were developed using Quick Test Pro version 8.0. One
hundred ten person-months of effort were put into creating the scripts using QTP
8.0. We ported these scripts to QTP version 8.2. It required 75% of effort in port-
ing the scripts to QTP version 8.2 compared to the effort required in originally
creating the scripts.
9.3.3.3 Lessons Learned
The tool selection team should be formed before selecting a tool. This way, retrain-
ing of staff can be avoided. The automation team should verify the presence of
backward compatibility of newer versions with old versions, a thorough study of the
tool's capabilities and incapabilities, tracking of the newer version of the tool using
evaluation versions, and compatibility of the tool with a configuration management
tool so that script versions can be maintained easily. The team should also have
access to 24/7 customer support from the tool vendor.
9.3.4 Business Case 4
In this case, a test project was offshored from a customer when the customer decided
to take the project from the internal team. The service provider inducted fresh
resources for the project. They were provided with rigorous training.
9. 3.4.1 Problems
The recruited team members had different backgrounds and had no prior experi-
ence of working on similar projects. So the learning curve was slow. The team
required an inordinate amount of time to learn business processes as well as to
learn the testing tools. The script created by the team had a lot of errors, and these