In this article, we’ll dive into the world of functional testing and why it's a crucial aspect of all software
development within any organization. We' ll explore the different functional testing test types that can help
to ensure the quality of software, and perhaps, most importantly, we' ll shed light on the immense value of
automating these functional tests.
During the development planning stage, organizations specify the functional requirements that precisely
outline the capabilities their system should have. These requirements represent the essential features of
the software, as the system cannot function effectively without them. Functional testing plays a critical
role in ensuring that the developed software adheres to these requirements. If organizations want to
foster a more seamless development process and reduce any bugs or errors, wasted resources, and
extra expenses that can rear their ugly head during the development lifecycle, they will need to engage in
continuous and ongoing testing. And functional testing is exactly what can give organizations this
competitive edge.
Functional testing is also often referred to as performance testing. This is because these features are not
only essential for the system's performance, but also guarantee that customers receive an optimal
customer experience (CX). Ongoing, automated functional, or performance testing guarantees that any
updates to the software are free from defects.
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What is functional testing?
Functional testing is actually not just a single type of test, instead, it involves many different types of tests.
This allows organizations to use different techniques to test that the software they' ve built meets their
functional specifications. What type of tests an organization will use to conduct their functional testing will
depend upon their specific circumstances, requirements, and the type of code being developed.
Businesses commonly employ a combination of tests to achieve optimal results. Some of the most
common types of tests used on the proverbial ‘functional testing menu’ are:
1. Unit tests: Unit testing is generally the most common type of functional testing. Unit testing
involves testing individual components of the software or its source code to ensure they function
precisely as intended. The software development team most commonly performs unit testing,
although it may also be conducted by the quality assurance team. Unit testing is conducted to
identify any defects during the initial phases of development. It should always be performed in
parallel with development to ensure the best and most effective outcome.
2. Volume tests: Volume testing examines an organization’s software’s ability to handle high loads
by adding high volumes of data. This increased volume of data helps to determine if there are any
functional issues or bottlenecks occurring when the system experiences high loads. This enables
organizations to gain a better understanding of their software's capabilities and scalability.
3. Stress tests: Stress testing examines whether an application performs reliably and remains
stable or if it is susceptible to crashing under heavy load conditions. It is also frequently referred
to as endurance testing. Additionally, this type of testing can verify the application's ability to
handle issues effectively, and also explore the system's recovery time after experiencing strain.
Stress testing itself has a number of variations, including transactional, systemic, application and
exploratory.
4. Integration tests: Integration testing examines an organization’s software for potential defects by
examining the relationship between its individual software components. It is a comprehensive
form of testing that combines singular software components into groups for testing purposes. The
testers then examine the software to identify any breaking points between these components.
Incremental integration testing methods include top-down, bottom-up, or hybrid integration.
Hybrid integration combines both bottom-up and top-down approaches to test the communication
and interfaces between modules. These three methods are beneficial for isolating and localizing
problems within a large system. ‘Big Bang integration testing is more suitable for testing smaller
systems as it requires a temporary development freeze to allow the organization to address any
identified problems. In general, incremental integration testing is a much better choice as it leads
to quicker problem resolution and a more seamless development process.
5. Regression tests: Regression testing involves conducting testing after implementing a new
capability or fixing a bug. This testing ensures that the new modifications did not inadvertently
impact another part of the software code. Again, development may temporarily have to pause
while regression testing is carried out.
Regression testing itself can take several forms. For example, testing could be conducted on all
codes multiple times to ensure that the system is not negatively affected by any bugs. However,
this method is resource-intensive and time-consuming, so regression test selection is often
preferred. In this method, a decision is made to examine a select group of test cases based on
where the new change was made. Sometimes, a prioritization approach may be employed, where
the tester creates a priority list of test cases from the most important to the least. The high-priority, primary test cases undergo regression testing immediately, saving time and labor
resources.
Continuous testing
At every stage of the development life cycle, organizations and their quality assurance team
should continuously test their software. This is crucial to assess the software's performance
quality and to detect any issues at the earliest possible stage. By doing so, organizations
enhance their ability to safeguard their CX and prevent failures or problems that could damage
their reputation.
Testing has become one of the most important parts of software development. This is primarily
due to the rapid acceleration of development pace in recent years. Omnichannel customer
journeys necessitate higher levels of testing to examine and verify the complete end-to-end
customer journey, including transitions through different channels.
Testing automation
While continuous testing is your key to the kingdom of higher quality and better performing CX,
it does require constant, cyclical, and – to put it plainly – much more testing, iterating,
developing, deploying, and testing again. This puts the squeeze on resources and will become
unmanageable unless you embrace the power of automation. Organizations that automate
their functional testing services and conduct them in parallel with development work will save
time and resource requirements.
Automation of CX testing is the best way to make test scripts, naturally, update these contents
each time a change is made, and execute the running of tests on a customized premise. This
proactive approach will quickly identify issues before team members are even aware of them.
Most importantly, it ensures that defects can be detected and resolved before customers notice
them. Cyara offers a comprehensive and powerful functional testing solution for global
omnichannel organizations.
A large US retailer previously conducted all testing manually, which relegated them to complete
only two or three releases per year due to the effort and resource load this required. The team
spent two to three weeks on a single test cycle, but defects often went unnoticed as testing was
rarely fully completed. Partnering with Cyara for automated testing, the retailer achieved faster
completion of their comprehensive functional testing with minimal issues. In fact, they describe
how Cyara’s functional testing solutions reduced their test execution time by 97%, empowering
contact center agents to allocate more time to assist and serve their customers.
Cyara's man-made intelligence-based CX Change Stage engages undertakings to convey
perfect communications across voice, video, computerized, and chatbot encounters. With a
96% client degree of consistency and elite Net Advertiser Score (NPS), the present driving
worldwide brands trust Cyara consistently to convey client grins at scale.
To learn more, visit cyara.com or call 1-888-GO-CYARA.