An important step in the software testing process is regression testing. However, many people still don’t understand what regression testing is. We’ll define regression testing, discuss its significance, and provide guidance on when to do regression test and why automation is important.

What is Regression Testing?

Regression testing ensures that existing functionality of software continues to work properly after changes are made. Whenever code is modified, such as fixing a bug or adding a new feature, regression tests are run to confirm these changes have not disrupted current features. The regression test suite re-executes select tests from previous releases to validate core functionality. If regressions are found, more tests are added to prevent future breakages. This quality control process gives teams confidence that code changes have not introduced new issues.

Why is Regression Testing Important?

Regression testing is crucial as any code changes can potentially break existing features without being detected. It double checks that changes have not affected current functionality unexpectedly. This mitigates risks for customers. Some key reasons make regression testing important – it ensures features won’t start malfunctioning due to updates. Previous bugs are less likely to resurface without being caught. Issues are found and fixed much cheaper during development versus after release. Thorough regression testing leads to better quality, stable software by reducing bugs before production. It also helps manage technical debt over time and lowers risks to customers from unexpected problems arising from code changes.

When to do Regression Testing?

Regression testing should be done after any significant changes to catch issues early. This includes after adding new features or making major code changes. It is important to do so before releases so bugs are not sent to customers. Any time upgrades or updates are done testing ensures they did not break existing functionality. External integrations also require regression testing. Projects with frequent changes benefit from periodic testing like weekly or monthly. And testing after bugs are fixed prevents those same bugs from reappearing.

Why to Automate Regression Testing

Manually performing regression tests can be very time consuming and prone to errors. Automating regression testing helps overcome these challenges. When tests are automated, they can run continuously every time code is deployed, ensuring all areas are tested quickly. This catches bugs sooner. Automation also allows testing at scale, with thousands of test cases able to run automatically. Automated tests are more consistent since they are not subject to human fatigue or oversight. The results are objective without human bias or errors.

Additionally, automated test suites act as self-documenting records of how the software should work. They free up personnel for more important tasks. For projects with frequent code changes or releases, automating regression testing is crucial to help speed up the process and improve software quality.

Conclusion

Regression automation testing without coding is a crucial part of the software development process that ensures existing functionality continues to work properly after code changes. Automating tests with a tool like Opkey transforms manual test cases into automated ones with a few simple clicks, allowing non-technical teams to easily build and run regression test suites. Automation catches issues early, scales to test large codebases, and frees up personnel for more important tasks. Opkey is a leader in regression test automation. Their no-code test creation and pre-built test cases accelerate test setup. Change impact analysis and self-healing scripts also help optimize the testing process. Opkey has helped companies like Just Group significantly reduce testing cycle times and achieve better coverage. If you’re looking for an easy way to automate regression tests, we’d recommend checking out Opkey.