COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS OF AUTOMATION TESTING

Abstract

The objective of this thesis is to put forth a case study on the profitability of Automation Testing for the advantage of the IT industry in India. The cost-benefit analysis has been done by considering the costs and benefits of automation testing, before the final software release. The potential benefits of test automation with regards to software quality after customer release were not assessed. Test automation is a significant venture which often requires dedicated resources. The investment in test automation can lead to major cost savings by minimizing the need for manual testing labour, especially when the software is developed with an agile methodology. It can diminish the cost of rework of software development, as test automation helps in the detection of defects as early as possible. Automation Testing has many disadvantages as well, such as test maintenance and test feasibility of the software product, and if these errors are not given attention, then the investment in test automation may end up being worthless or it might even deliver negative outcomes. The results of this thesis recommend that automation is extremely profitable and productive at the organization under study. This thesis is going to focus on the question “When should a test be automated?” as well as the trade-off between automation and manual testing. The paper also studies and analyzes the issues in the simple benefit and cost models that are generally used to make decisions. Here an alternate model is introduced that is based on opportunity cost and factors that influence automation. The aim is to stimulate discussion concerning these factors and their influence on the advantages and costs of automation testing.