Regression testing is one of the most daunting testing tasks, especially when performed manually. However, the significance of performing regular regression tests cannot be underestimated. Reportedly, it accounts for up to 80% of the testing effort in software maintenance. Unsurprisingly, scholars such as Harman and You also claim that effective regression testing can improve the quality of software by up to 20%. How does regression testing contribute to software quality assurance? Find out in this article.
Software Integrity Maintenance
Detection of unintended changes in the behavior of software after its modifications, commonly known as regression defects, is one of the primary goals of regression testing. Whether the software was changed to fix bugs, add new functionality, or optimize the software, regression testing can identify undesirable behavior associated with these modifications.
As a result, teams can ensure their software works properly after each round of changes, which is critical for preserving the stability and reliability of applications.
Assessing the Efficiency of Bug Fixes
As mentioned earlier, bug fixes can potentially affect the behavior of software. To avoid such scenarios, thorough regression testing is needed to assess how effectively the changes address the bug and whether they introduce new regressions.
Improvement of Software Maintainability
Prevention of regression defects supported by regression testing is essential for enhancing the software’s maintainability. Additionally, the regularity of regression test execution facilitates early defect detection and helps to avoid the accumulation of unnoticed and unresolved technical issues.
Regression testing is also a useful way to ensure the compatibility of evolving software with other technologies that require integration.
On top of that, regression testing can act as a safety net for refactoring, the process of modifying the structure of existing code without altering its external behavior, which can enhance performance through reduced complexity and also improve code maintainability and readability. By simplifying refactoring, regression testing also improves the overall software sustainment.
Increased User Satisfaction
While the primary goal of software quality assurance is the delivery of high-quality software designed to satisfy its users, regression testing is a necessary component for achieving this objective. All of the benefits of regression testing mentioned earlier inevitably contribute to the software quality and, as a result, improve user satisfaction.
Even in the case of conducting regression tests on the software used for in-house purposes, for instance, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, user satisfaction is critical. While employees have to use ERP software implemented in the company regardless of their preferences, their work will be much more efficient if the software works as intended, which can be validated through regression tests.
Best Practices for Regression Testing in Quality Assurance
To ensure that regression tests bring maximum value to your company, it is useful to consider implementing some of the best practices listed below.
1. Automate Regression Testing
First and foremost, benefiting from regression testing without automation can be quite challenging, as it is one of the most resource-consuming types of testing.
Automation, whether through a proprietary solution offered for a fee or an open-source tool requiring constant supervision from professional developers, comes at a cost. However, by automating regression tests, your organization can significantly increase test scope and minimize costly manual work.
Currently, the market offers an extensive array of solutions for automating regression tests, including optimized products dedicated to specific software such as Executive Automats for Microsoft Dynamics 365.
2. Optimize Test Execution
Automation itself is the primary method to optimize the execution of regression tests. However, to make the most out of automation, you can further optimize test execution. Running parallel tests and improving the performance and reliability of test environments are some basic ways to enhance test execution.
3. Prioritize Test Cases
Even though automated execution of regression tests can considerably expand testing scope, achieving 100% test coverage, particularly with complex software, is virtually impossible. This means that organizations inevitably have to prioritize some test cases over others.
One of the most effective ways to prioritize regression testing efforts is to base it on the analysis of risks and their potential impact on the application’s performance and business in general. Areas of the application with the greatest business impact, as well as vulnerable elements with the highest likelihood of issues, are perfect candidates for testing.
4. Enforce Maintainability and Reusability of Test Scripts
To further facilitate regression testing, it is highly recommended to create test scripts that are reusable and relatively easy to maintain in the future. Test case maintenance is one of the major challenges of automated regression testing, and the easier it is to modify a test case and adjust it to changes, the easier its maintenance will be.
Modular test design, parameterization, and implementation of reusable libraries and functions, along with data-driven testing techniques, are some of the ways to improve the reusability and maintainability of test scripts.
Regression Tests and Quality Assurance: Conclusions
Regression testing plays a critical role in software quality assurance by improving the integrity, stability, and reliability of applications throughout their lifecycle, subsequently contributing to delivering high-quality software that meets user expectations. To achieve the full potential of regression testing, organizations can consider automating the testing routine according to best practices.
