Decision Support for Selecting Tools for Software Test Automation

Abstract

Context: Test automation is an investment having a high initial economic impact on software development. Utilization of test automation may positively affect the costs (e.g. by speeding up development iterations by providing repeatable tests and regression testing) and the quality of software or system, in large scale. Approaches to test automation may not always be appropriate or successful. The trade-off between manual and automated testing and the tools to be used have to be identified and justified. The task to decide which tools to use, to maximize the benefits is not a trivial one. There are numerous software testing or software test automation tools available, both commercial and open source and unique, multifaceted goals in every development environment (context). The exact number of tools is unknown and chances or resources to try out different choices are very limited. Objective: Contextual factors are acknowledged as an issue and well known and common to both practitioners in the field and consultation service providers. Selecting and utilizing the most effective and efficient tool(s) for specific purpose(s) in a specific context is essential for the success of business. The goal of the research is to define a systematic, empirically validated decision support system (DSS) for selecting a tool for software test automation