The Automated Test Lifecycle Methodology (ATLM) comprises six primary processes or components:
1.Decision to Automate Testing
During this phase, it's important for the test team to manage automated testing expectations and to outline the potential benefits of automated testing when implemented correctly. A test tool proposal needs to be outlined, which will be helpful in acquiring management support.
2.Test Tool Acquisition
This phase guides the test engineer through the entire test tool evaluation and selection process, starting with confirmation of management support. Since a tool should support most of the organizations' testing requirements, whenever feasible the test engineer will need to review the system's engineering environment and other organizational needs and come up with a list of tool evaluation criteria.
3.Automated Testing Introduction Process
This phase outlines the steps necessary to successfully introduce automated testing to a new project, which are summarized in the following section
<1>Test Process Analysis:
During the test process analysis, techniques are defined. Best practices are laid out, such as conducting performance testing during the unit-testing phase.
Plans for user involvement are assessed, and test team personnel skills are analyzed against test requirements and planned test activities.
<2>Test Tool Consideration:
The test tool consideration process includes steps that investigate whether incorporation of automated test tools that have been brought into the company without a specific project in mind now would be beneficial to a specific project, given the project testing requirements, available test environment, personnel resources, user environment, platform, and product features of the application under test.
4.Test Planning, Design, and Development
Test Planning:
The test planning stage represents the need to review long–lead-time test planning activities. During this phase, the test team identifies test procedure creation standards and guidelines; hardware, software, and network required to support test environment; test data requirements; a preliminary test schedule; performance measure requirements; a procedure to control test configuration and environment; as well as defect-tracking procedure(s) and associated tracking tool(s).
Test Design:
The test design component addresses the need to define the number of tests to be performed, the ways that testing will be approached (paths, functions), and the test conditions that need to be exercised.
Test Development:
For automated tests to be reusable, repeatable, and maintainable, test development standards need to be defined and followed.
5.Execution and Management of Tests
The test team has addressed test design and test development. Test procedures are now ready to be executed in support of exercising the application under test.
When executing test procedures, the test team needs to comply with a test procedure execution schedule. Following test execution, test outcome evaluations are performed and test result documentation is prepared.
6.Test Program Review and Assessment
Following test execution, the test team needs to review the performance of the test program to determine where changes can be implemented to improve the test program performance on the next project.
