Test Automation for Salesforce: Why does it matter
Tags: salesforce, test, automation
Published: 2023-03-13 09:00:39

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Over the years, Salesforce has grown from a contact database to an application development platform. Since it touches all nooks and corners of an enterprise, its proper working is critical. Thus, the need for continuous Salesforce testing cannot be considered as irrelevant. In this era of Agile and DevOps, manual testing isn’t a viable solution since you cannot keep up with the pace of development. Salesforce test automation is the most effective way to cope with the speed of development. In this article, we’ll discuss why Salesforce test automation matters and what you should look for in an automated Salesforce testing platform.

**Why does Salesforce test automation matter**?

We’re living in the era of continuous integration and delivery. It means that organizations need to roll out new features and enhancements on the daily/ nightly/ weekly or monthly basis. Everytime Dev team rolls out any update, QA teams need to perform regression testing to check that existing business processes and critical applications are working as expected.
 
Doing this manually isn’t a viable solution. Creating, executing, and maintaining manual test cases consumes a lot of time and effort. Furthermore, manual testing doesn’t guarantee adequate coverage. 

 Some of the top reasons why manual testing is a bottleneck:

 **Salesforce Customization**: Salesforce is very easy to customize. You can easily update lead generation form, approval process, price, or quote terms. However, these changes need to be documented and require robust testing. Doing this manually can be a tedious job for end users on a frequent basis.
 
**Seasonal Updates**: Salesforce rolls out three seasonal updates that can impact existing customizations and integrations. Testing three times a year manually can be a huge effort. 

**Test Maintenance**: Salesforce is a highly dynamic application. Seasonal updates bring a lot of improvement in UI functionality. However, the disadvantage is that these updates can break manual scripts, which require many hours to fix. 
 

The best solution to these problems is test automation for Salesforce.   
 
Salesforce test automation is important as it

 **Saves time**: Automation reduces dependency on humans. By automating some repetitive but important steps you not only speed up the processes but significantly reduce human error factor.
 
**Reduces risks**: There is no logical way to pick up test cases during manual regression testing. However, test automation leverages AI to pick up smart regression based on the impacted areas, ensuring that adequate coverage is provided.

**Saves costs**: Test automation frees up resources so that they should focus on more critical tasks. And, time saved is money saved. Furthermore, test automation helps you in rolling out new features and updates ahead of your competitors. This will increase your profitability. 
 
**Concluding remark**

 Whether you want to cope with seasonal updates or looking for Classic to Lightning migration, test automation is the key to success. Test automation not only ensures business continuity but also provides you the required speed to keep pace with SFDC (Salesforce Development Cycle). With the help of automation, you can easily create, execute, and maintain tests. By shortening the feedback loops, QA teams can provide quick feedback on the new releases. Thus, testing will no more become a bottleneck in Agile/ DevOps settings.