Software Automation Testing: Key Metrics to Keep in Mind

Chris Bateson
3 min readApr 11, 2022

For maintaining software quality, test automation is vital across any fast-paced agile development environment. It also has a huge investment. Test automation metrics, which seek to provide teams with insights about the test automation process’ effectiveness and efficacy, are a measure of how the test automation process is working.

Every single KPI identified in this process offers teams crucial information about their production cycles, helps identify bottlenecks, and undertake corrective measures to effectively address said problems. The implementation of automated testing which chosen metrics help measure improvement (e.g. the number of manual versus automated tests). It enables taking into account unique aspects of the organization, market, or environment — they are being used in. There’s no set of “universal metrics” report that will work in every capacity all of the time. Every single KPI identified in this process offers teams crucial information about their production cycles, helps identify bottlenecks, and undertake corrective measures to effectively address said problems.

Come on, let us take a closer look at some of the key benefits of analyzing such metrics:

a. The metrics seek to deliver an unbiased understanding of the QA aspect of the development process

b. They help companies quickly identify and address pain points

c. Test automation metrics also boost the team’s performance and effectiveness

But there are also some challenges associated with test automation metrics:

a. Test automation metrics can often result in an incomplete analysis about automation and its efficacy

b. Some metrics tend to encompass irrelevant results that affect the quality of analysis

c. While unit tests’ stats are easier, the complicated tests can be a challenge to monitor effectively

Now, let us take a look at some of the key test automation metrics you must keep a close eye on:

  1. Test coverage: Unit test coverage, which gauge precisely how much of the code has been covered by the unit tests, brings the benefit of offering insights about how thoroughly a codebase has been tested. On the off side, this metric does not factor in integration and acceptance tests which are vital for the software’s functionality.
  2. Requirements coverage: This metric offers information about which features have been tested and the number of tests in sync with users’ requirements. Though this metric is a crucial measure of the maturity of test automation, it does have a major flaw: it is admittedly an unclear metric that is rather challenging to quantify as well as measure continually.
  3. Test execution: A fairly common metric included in most modern test automation tools, test execution offers information about the total number of tests executed within a build. While this metric is critical for ensuring that automated tests were executed as intended, this metric cannot ensure a quality build since tests can have false results.

Finally, a quick list of tools you can use for analyzing test automation metrics:

  1. Testim: This one is an AI-powered automated testing solution which helps optimize functional tests.
  2. Allure: An open-source framework for reports about test execution, Allure can be used to keep an eye on test execution output.
  3. Calliope Pro: This tool is popular for helping with roadblocks as well as enabling data-driven decision-making.

There you have it ladies and gentlemen, a lowdown of test automation metrics. Now, it must be kept in mind that the ideal choice of these metrics will seek to empower your app testing and the overall development process with predictive analytics for a stringent QA process. This is because the ability to gather data from the testing process empowers managers with insights and information that help drive better decisions regarding the testing strategies for the process. Anyway, if you too are looking to kickstart your test automation process, we highly recommend hiring a trusted provider of QA automation testing services to help you navigate the process without a fuss.

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Chris Bateson

Explorer of Technology. Loves to Stay updated with News & Trends in the Business & Tech Space.