Test automation in DevOps environments has become a necessity for enterprises that want to improve the quality of the software they deliver, accelerate their process cycles, and reduce their Time-To-Market.

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What is DevOps and DevOps testing?

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DevOps refers to the joint practices and tools that combine software development (Dev) and IT operations (Ops).

By implementing DevOps practices, organizations can have a workflow without errors from development to production. This helps improve its quality and provide a better delivery process. DevOps also encourages collaboration between teams by bridging development and operations teams.

DevOps is based on continuous integration (CI/CD), in which the code develops in an agile manner. This promotes continuous development, as well as speed in testing and deployment.

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As more organizations adopt the DevOps methodology to achieve a more efficient software delivery, it is necessary to have multiple releases to production a day, which is why software tests should be faster. Therefore, automated testing in DevOps becomes crucial for improving code quality and software functionality at every stage of the development cycle.

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What is the role of automated testing in DevOps?

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Automated tests are used in workflows to validate software quality, accelerate delivery, and reduce human errors.

In a traditional workflow, after finishing coding, developers send everything to QA for manual testing. However, this process is slow, and errors are often not detected until late in the process.

With automation, QA’s role has changed completely, now, QA is involved since the beginning of the process and works hand-in-hand with development and operations.

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Benefits of automated testing for your DevOps cycle

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More efficient testing times

Automation accelerates cycles by allowing continuous testing and deployment. This provides a higher speed that allows enterprises and IT teams to deliver higher value to users faster and without compromising quality.

Automation allows you to execute tests in minutes or seconds, compared to manual testing, which saves time and accelerates development cycles and processes.

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Early error detection and better quality

Automated tests that are already integrated in the CI/CD pipeline identify defects immediately and prevent critical errors from reaching production. This way, they ensure that changes in the code are evaluated, which helps maintain software stability and quality.

Additionally, by identifying bottlenecks beforehand, users receive upgrades and bug fixes faster. This response improves satisfaction, loyalty, and brand reputation with quality software.

If these tests are not automated, manual validations are carried out, which slow down the process and increase the risk of errors in production.

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Greater test coverage

Automated scripts can evaluate multiple scenarios, which widens the coverage without the need for manual intervention. Greater coverage causes greater trust in releases.

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Lower costs in the long run

Although the initial implementation can be costly, automation reduces costs in the long run by diminishing or eliminating the need for repetitive manual tests.

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Enables scalability

Allows the distribution of development in different small teams that operate independently. Tests can be scaled without the need for increasing the team of testers.

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Consistency in different environments

Automated tests promote a uniform test coverage, and by making repetitive processes in different environments, the quality is consistent no matter the team and the project complexity.

Nowadays, automated tests are considered a DevOps best practice. This automation improves speed, reliability, and consistency in testing, which helps DevOps and QA deliver fast and quality software.

There are various tools with different integrations that can help achieve that, such as Tricentis Tosca, Azure Pipelines, Jenkins, GitLab, among others.

In Getecsa we have wide experience working with different automation tools for great leader enterprises. You can learn more about our case study implementing Tricentis tools here.

If you want to integrate automated tests to your DevOps cycle, this is the moment to contact us.

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