Automation Testing - Best Practices

To get maximum ROI from automation, observe the following

1. Scope of Automation needs to be determined in detail before the start of the project. This sets the expectations from Automation correctly.
2. Select the right automation tool: A tool must not be selected based on its popularity but its fit to the automation requirements.
3. Choose appropriate framework
4. Scripting Standards- Standards have to be followed while writing the scripts for Automation .Some of them are to create uniform scripts, comments and indentation of the code
5. Adequate Exception handling - How error is handled on system failure or unexpected behavior of the application.
6. User defined messages should be coded or standardized for Error Logging for testers to understand.

• Measure metrics- Success of automation cannot be determined by comparing the manual effort with the automation effort but by also capturing the following metrics.
• 
  

1. Percent of defects found
2. Time required for automation testing for each and every release cycle
3. Minimal Time taken for release   
4. Customer satisfaction Index
5. Productivity improvement

The above guidelines if observed can greatly help in making your automation successful.