Step-in Forum Blog AN INSIGHT INTO MOBILITY TESTING AND CHALLENGES - Part 2

Contributed By Kiran Gopisetty, Practice Head - Testing, Paradigm CreativesMobile technology has its own unique nuances and with the rapid advances of mobile technology and mobile apps, effective testing has become increasingly important for the design, development, testing and rapid deployment of mobile apps. Mobile Apps testing of Consumer or Enterprise applications is a significant challenge for even the most experienced software development organizations. However, due to the unique features of mobile devices, limited bandwidth, unreliability of wireless networks, as well as other changing mobile contexts (e.g., location), the traditional guidelines, checklists, test methods used in desktop/web applications, testing may not be directly applicable to mobile apps.AN INSIGHT INTO MOBILITY TESTING AND CHALLENGES - Part 2Contributed By Kiran Gopisetty, Practice Head - Testing, Paradigm CreativesMobile technology has its own unique nuances and with the rapid advances of mobile technology and mobile apps, effective testing has become increasingly important for the design, development, testing and rapid deployment of mobile apps. Mobile Apps testing of Consumer or Enterprise applications is a significant challenge for even the most experienced software development organizations. However, due to the unique features of mobile devices, limited bandwidth, unreliability of wireless networks, as well as other changing mobile contexts (e.g., location), the traditional guidelines, checklists, test methods used in desktop/web applications, testing may not be directly applicable to mobile apps. Therefore, it is essential to develop and adopt appropriate mobility specific test methodologies, guidelines, checklists, test methods and tools to evaluate the usability of mobile apps and this crossover involves a significant learning curve.To address these massive mobile app test challenges (as discussed in Part1 of AN INSIGHT INTO MOBILITY TESTING AND CHALLENGES), each QA organization has to come up with a test framework to help the QA teams reduce the test design process/cycle and work towards productive test execution for rapid roll outs to app stores/Google play store/windows market) to sustain the mobile industry competition.The Test framework should focus on building Checklists, Test Scenarios, Test Methodology, Reusable-Test Cases and Test Tools to provide 100% support for Mobile App test execution. We should understand the 360 degree behavior of mobile apps testing across the diversified Mobile industry/infrastructure before building a Test Framework for mobile apps testing.The advantage of this test framework are low cost of maintenance and higher re-usability across different Mobile OS, OS versions, diversified device OEM's etc.Mobility Test Framework should address the following:The Test Scenarios should focus on the below areas, for all mobile app(s) testing:BENEFITS of mTest Framework include:100% efficient test execution comparative to fresh test design followed by test execution, resulting in test design reduction time and better chance to increase the scope and add value to testing processWith 40% test design already in place, it saves half of the investment required for a fresh test design, for each of the new mobile app projects to be tested & certifiedLess maintenance of the Test Framework gives the Test Analyst a greater flexibility to maintain the framework resulting in maintenance time and savingsReduced training overhead since implemented solution will be common across all the Mobile apps (iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Blackberry, Firefox, Amazon Kindle, Nook)Produces dramatic savings in time, effort, and cost by reducing Test Plan, Test Scenarios, Test Checklist and Test Case Design/Execution cyclesEstablishes a best practice framework for existing/future projects, ultimately reducing offshore/onshore testing/maintenance costsIncrease testing team efficiency, allowing releases to get to production/app store, ahead of the scheduleAccelerates the ability to accurately discover and report bugs so that fixes and implementation can proceed quicklyEstablishes a repeatable process that can be duplicated throughout the organization to deliver ongoing time and cost savingsProvides a transparent visibility on Test Process, Test Coverage, Test Deliverables, Test Metrics etcEase of access to all the Test tools, for the client project teamSimplicity + Speed + Scalability = Ease Of Adoption and MaintenanceCONCLUSIONMobile is not a device, but a way of moving experiences around and promoting business to the next levelMobile will soon be a dominant global web access methodMobile is not desktop made smaller. It is a different medium with a different design approachUnderstand the network and device landscape before development to identify the testing bottlenecksTesting in an uncontrolled real-world test conditions (field based testing) is necessary, for multi-tier mobile appsConducting testing (Device resolution, Orientation, Density, Device Interruption, Crash Discovery, UI/UX etc) on actual targeted devices early in the test cycle is always recommended rather than emulator/simulator testingKnowledge on Mobility eco-system is very important for ease of existing framework maintenanceReusable Test Design/Execution Framework is essential to meet app deployment velocity/rapid rollout schedulesAn automation tool in place, to support all the Mobile platforms, OS versions, screen resolutions, orientations, input mechanisms (keypad, touch, voice) and which connects to an external system to carry out end-to-end testingMobility equals Productivity & Business longevity