By Chris Stark and Bob Soleimani

Over the past few years the automated testing using tools such as Quick Test Pro (QTP) have taken over software Quality assurance by storm.  Now-a-days with such a short application life cycle and fast changing UI (User Interface) the question is, well, is it worth spending on the infrastructure?  Usually the startup cost of these platforms is really high and there is also maintenance costs associated with keeping and updating the scripts. The best approach could be a hybrid system of both manual and automated.   The portion of an application that requires forms and transactions can be automated so in these cases repetitive testing proves to be of great importance.  Normally, the interfaces for forms don’t change that much from the original comp and with a couple tweaks here and there the script is up and ready to run again.  But automating a full application (especially web-based) will take too long and may need frequent updates to the test script.

Automated testing has proven beneficial in a more traditional software development processes such as ‘waterfall’. In methodologies such as waterfall, the software goes through a series of specific phases of development. By the time the “implementation” phase is completed and “verification” starts, the code for the application under test (AUT) is mostly stable, unit tested, and ready to go! It could go through some modifications, but not magnificent ones.  As the result, the script developed for the testing would be stable and require very few changes.  One of the major challenges of the test automation is outdated scripts.  This is a costly side effect of automation.  Basically the time it takes to develop a good test script and debug it is the time lost in testing and bug reporting. The developed script is good so long as there is no major change in the application code base.  Test team can use and reuse the script to the end of time; however, on any minor or major code changes the test scripts must be revisited and updated.

Today, with most firms embracing AGIL methodology and such shorter product life span, could automated testing be as beneficial? Well, it depends. Quality assurance (QA) engineers can still benefit greatly from automation in AGILE shops in CRMs, and applications with heavy data insertion and retrieval, file open and close. Basically, we may want to see if our form front and backend implementation can support 2000 hits without crashing the site front-end or the backend DB.   However, mimicking users’ navigation on a site can be a tedious scripting task to undertake and the value of manual testing may by far outweigh the automation. The biggest benefit will come from a hybrid system of manual and automated testing.  This method allows for very specific, targeted automated testing of critical components, while allowing testers to have time to manually test the application and detect bugs.

Let’s discuss: An article from Techcrunch  Saving the World or Another FB App?

EMG 30 sec rundown: During the UC Berkeley Hackathon 128 students “hacked” for 24 hours straight, building some of the coolest websites, games, Twitter stream analyzers, and Facebook apps. One of the categories teams were judged on was “social good.” Does this technology or software contribute to the social well being of our planet? According to writer Vivek Wadhwa there was only one team worthy of receiving the prize. The team built a system for villagers in developing countries that enables them to send SMSs to volunteers who can provide emergency medical advice. Most judges didn’t understand that developing countries do not have a medical emergency system like 911. The team that did win for “social good” developed a polling technology for Universities. Judges felt helping universities was “social good.” This raises the question, can we build a social media app that betters our planet and makes a healthy profit?

EMG takeaway: EMG is a leader in the world of social media and interactive marketing. Companies look to our expertise in these verticals. We saw a new form of marketing and it was up to us to show others how to use it. As early adopters and experts I feel nobody is better suited to show people how social media can better our planet.

Social media is constantly evolving and new ideas are created every minute; however these ideas are usually for personal gain and/or self promotion. It is a challenge to be selfless and an even bigger challenge to be selfless while making a profit. Creating ideas for the “social good” can be as simple as creating a Facebook fan page for trash pickup at the beach. The great thing about ideas to better our planet is that even on a small scale they can do big things.

 Final Words:  Social media has definitely become a part of our lives and changed the way we live. Using it to better our planet and improve the way others live is a great challenge.

3 Questions to Continue the Discussion: Do you have a favorite charity/cause/group? Can you think of a social impact app or technology for them?

Many companies create a product which people want, improve lives and solves problems, is this considered social betterment?

Is it even possible to develop an app that not only contributes to the “social good” of the world, but is also profitable?