Once you’ve set up automated testing and executed your test suite, it’s time to report your results. Your documentation helps inform stakeholders whether a software project is currently on track to meet deliverables or if a critical issue could lead to delays. Clear, comprehensive automation test reports allow team members to understand what’s going right and where there might be areas for improvement.
Importance of Automation Test Reports
Automation test reports provide insights into the current state of an application or system undergoing testing. Every team member gets the same results, which puts everyone on the same page regarding the status of a software project.
Well-structured reports give developers, testers, managers, and business owners enough feedback to make data-driven decisions. From there, they can determine whether a build is ready to move to the next stage or should be returned to a developer for bug fixes.
Automation testing reporting tools help track defects by assisting team members in locating failed test cases and issues caught during testing. That way, bugs get addressed quickly, reducing regression risks.
These documents also document the testing team’s efforts, including the methods used for execution and confirming that an application meets business requirements. That’s essential for industries bound by regulations like finance and healthcare.
Key Components of an Automation Test Report
Every test automation report includes specific components to give readers a comprehensive view of test execution and results. These elements allow stakeholders to interpret the report accurately when deciding upon future actions.
Summary/Project Information
This section gives readers a high-level overview of the software project and the test execution. It usually provides information like the overall number of test cases run, how many in that group passed or failed, and the start and end time for execution.
Test Coverage
Test coverage refers to how extensively your tests encompass different software components. This tells stakeholders how much of the application was validated using automated tests. It’s a critical metric that outlines the completeness of a team’s testing strategy. It’s also an excellent way to determine what areas of an application remain untested to ensure that critical application functionality doesn’t get overlooked.
Pass/Fail Rates
Here, you provide more details about the pass/fail rates over a series of builds. That gives stakeholders insights into the stability of the testing process and how coverage improves. Increases in failure rates can indicate some issues because of new defects introduced by new features or code changes. You can add details like failure categories (assertion vs. execution), breakdowns by test suites, and overall pass/fail percentages.
Defects Found
The defect summary section summarizes the number and types of defects discovered during test execution. This section typically includes the total number of issues uncovered, a breakdown based on each issue’s status (open, closed, in progress), and the severity level. The defect section also summarizes how many test cases caused the defects.
Types of Test Reports and Their Purpose
Depending on team needs or requests from business owners and other stakeholders, you may need to produce different test automation reports. To do that, you need software capable of adapting to your needs. Below are examples of automated testing reports you can reproduce using Ranorex Studio’s test reporting capabilities.
Detailed Test Report
This test provides information on each test case executed. It’s helpful to testers and developers who want to understand what occurred while running the test. The report provides descriptions of every test case, including:
- Case descriptions
- Input parameters
- Expected outcomes
- Actual results
Test Case History
The history report provides information on test cases’ performance over time, allowing team members to identify any tests with reoccurring issues. It also makes it easier to spot trends and patterns like slow execution or intermittent failures. Teams can quickly make changes as needed to stabilize test performance.
Code Coverage
Code coverage reports measure the overall percentage of application code reviewed using automated testing. They include details on the percentage of lines, methods, and branches covered. A higher coverage percentage can ensure the stability and functionality of software before release.
Performance Test
Performance reports offer insight into how the application responded to different conditions. This section provides information about the speed of the software, how responsive it was, and whether it remained stable throughout execution.
Essential Features of an Effective Report
It’s very easy to fall into the trap of bogging reports down in hard-to-understand jargon that offers no clarity to readers. Instead of this, focus on the information you want the reader to come away with. If the audience is a tester or developer, you will want to include essential QA testing automation details guiding them on the code areas needing fixes like:
- Test case names
- Test execution steps
- Expected vs. actual results
- Logs or stack traces
- Screenshots of tests
Project managers usually want to see details that let them know whether a project is on track for completion. Focus on providing insights into testing trends, actionable insights, and recommendations for next steps.
Customization
Because every team member and stakeholder has different needs, your testing platform should allow users to apply filters to customize the report view. Ranorex enables users to obtain the information necessary to fulfill their role duties.
Best Practices for Creating Automation Test Reports
Look for a test automation framework that simplifies setting up well-structured, informative automation test reports. Ranorex collects information directly from CI/CD pipelines, allowing you to provide results once a run is complete.
Standardize Reports
Use effective reporting templates containing the sections for the details you wish to report and use them across all test cycles. Incorporate specific metrics for each run to provide a baseline for understanding software performance. Keep the same terminology across different reports to avoid confusion. For example, successful tests should always be labeled with “Pass” versus “OK” or “Success” to keep things consistent.
Provide Regular Updates
Make sure that stakeholders receive timely updates for test runs. That way, they remain informed about any potential issues. Regular communication builds trust among team members and helps everyone coordinate to ensure you resolve defects or other problems and keep the project moving forward.
Incorporate Stakeholder Feedback
Talk with individual stakeholders early on to understand what they need from testing. It’s also an excellent time to clarify any confusion over requirements, metrics to use, and insights they expect to see. Your test report platform should allow them to view information in a format that makes sense.
As testing progresses, keep meeting with developers, stakeholders, and clients to determine how happy they are with the test results. Their needs may change through various iterations, requiring you to adjust the presented results.
How to Interpret Test Reports
Each test automation report provides a lot of information, which can be overwhelming if you’re unfamiliar with the different formats. It’s best to start by understanding the structure of the test reports you need the most. Once you know what’s in each section, it is easier to move from one place to another and find relevant information.
It also helps to start with the summary section, which gives you a snapshot of what happened during a test run. If you’re looking at the pass/fail ratio, check whether there is an unusually high number of failures, which can indicate a problem with the tests or the environment in which they run.
Dive into error logs, stack traces, and exceptions to understand whether the failure happened because of an application defect, test script flaw, or environmental issue. It’s a good idea to include screenshots or video recordings of the inability to help identify the cause of the behavior.
Automation Test Reporting Tools: Ranorex’s Reporting Features
Ranorex Studio allows users to set up customizable reports to help identify bugs and defects. The software enables you to record tests during execution or take screenshots to capture information about the point of failure. Users can quickly navigate to a failed test step, generate performance analysis logs, and share reports with others.
Check out how easy it is to design tests and reports with Ranorex by scheduling a demo.
