Key Focus Areas while Testing a Healthcare App

Players in the healthcare industry face growing competition and have to keep up with the changes. The patients, today, have much greater options. Facilities have to understand what their target audience needs and present their services and brands in the best possible light.

Hospitals, clinics, and physician’s offices now find more sense in automating workflows that seemed to be too tedious. A healthcare app is an excellent tool for the industry to address many of the challenges. Among other functionalities, these apps can make the connection and communication between patients and healthcare facilities much easier.

Need for Health Care App Testing Services

When it comes to creating and launching a healthcare app, it is important that it meets all the regulatory and compliance requirements including HIPAA. The app should integrate and function seamlessly with the other existing systems used within the facility. There are many other user experience (UX) standards that it must meet.

Explore the key focus areas that must be addressed by health care app testing services:

1. Performance Testing

Health apps typically serve a much smaller number of users within a smaller geographical location compared to e-commerce or social media apps. Still, the implications of these apps are significant and performance is an important concern. The findings from performance testing can help health care app testing services and designers to define many areas including:

Scalability model
Local data size
Archival strategy

If a health app saves data or involves significant CPU intensive functions, it is essential to conduct extensive performance evaluation.

2. Data Confidentiality

The basics of a healthcare app design and testing must follow strict authorization and access control. This area must be carefully and fully taken care of. In fact, health care app testing services must go beyond and address the following sections too:

I. Departmental Controls

The patient care team must be able to access protected health information (PHI).

II. Report Generated Data

When it comes to health care app testing services, the relevant PHI fields should be concealed when the user doesn’t access patient data. It is important to implement strong restrictions on data availability within the main electronic health record (EHR) work process of the app.

3. Test Data Management

The coverage of test situation authentications affects the quality of a QA initiative. This depends on the availability of how diverse the test data is. This is more important when automation is an integral part of the QA strategy for protecting the strength of clinical/non-clinical workflows.

The test management strategy for health care app testing services must have the following characteristics:

Inconsistent form of data must be covered
The test data must be similar to production data
It must ensure a quick refresh at sub-category of production data
Referential reliability of the data and external links should not be accepted
The PHI should be organized for compliance confirmation

4. Usability Testing

Usability-based issues can also result in clinical issues. So, this is a crucial area to be addressed by health care app testing services. The characteristics of usability are typically fixed before the app reaches the testing phase. The IT department is the one that is usually focused on usability related issues during the testing process. There is a simple reason for that – IT adoption is a major challenge in healthcare.

5. Automation

Interestingly, automated testing has greater significance in the healthcare sector than in any other industry. The reason is primarily the importance of healthcare in maintaining the standard of human lives.

Tips for Testing Healthcare Apps

Now that you know which key areas are most important for health care app testing services, it is recommended to follow some important tips. These tips can help tipsters achieve better results with these apps:

It is quite important to record dates with utmost accuracy. Even a minor irregularity can result in a major defect that may remain unnoticed.
Healthcare apps have various parameters that must be considered when designing the test cases. The key parameters include:
Providers
Members
Methods of calculating commission
Various types of plans
Specialized health care app testing services are expected to have testers with comprehensive domain knowledge

The testers must understand the users for each system. They should be capable of thinking from their perspective. This is crucial to help testing services to detect defects with greater accuracy.

Types of Healthcare Apps

There is a surge in the number of healthcare apps available for different types and sizes of facilities in the industry. There are different players in this market who are leveraging the smartphone revolution by developing and releasing apps to make their processes simpler, faster and more efficient.

There are different types of apps, serving different types of end-users. Some of the common examples are as following:

Some categories of apps are designed to facilitate communication between patients and doctors. For example, apps for diabetics can send relevant readings to the primary care physician. They help the physician keep track of their patient’s health.
Some apps combine electronic medical records (EMR) into the algorithm to make it easier for doctors, hospitals, and clinics to maintain accurate records that can be readily accessed.
There are other types of apps that allow users to make healthier choices by providing them with expert suggestions in the areas of nutrition and fitness.

Also Read: Rise In Telemedicine And The Need For Healthcare Testing Services

Benefits of Healthcare Apps

There are different types of apps and health care app testing services ensure that all of them perform to their stipulated standards. These applications are meant to make healthcare processes simpler and comfortable. There are many more ways in which these apps benefit their intended users:

i. Secure Communication

Some healthcare apps can provide essential medical records and information about the patient. They can enable secure communication between the patient and doctor using encryption. This can help ensure compliance.

ii. Reporting & Monitoring

Some healthcare apps can enable regular monitoring of the patient. This can allow the practitioner or nurses to keep track of their patients’ health. This function can be beneficial in the following cases:

Asthmatic attacks
Heart failure
Diabetes

And other conditions with life-threatening consequences. The job of health care app testing services can become even more complicated when testing apps connected to smart medical devices that collect various health-related data to be transmitted to the physician.

iii. Scheduling Appointments

Many apps have the appointment scheduling feature integrated into them. This allows users to schedule appointments from anywhere and at any time.

iv. Record Consultation

Some apps can also have the feature to allow users to record conversations with their medical practitioner. There are many ways that these recorded consultations can be used by doctors and patients.

Some apps also include the feature of sharing reports, medical documents, and test results. This can help save time for everyone involved, providing all the relevant information on the fingertips.

Conclusion

The demand for healthcare apps continues to increase at a rapid pace. While the mobile technology available today is an important driving force behind this surge in both demand and availability, the role of health care app testing services has increased significantly.

It is important for testing services to keep up with the new features that keep getting added to such applications and ensure that they work at their optimal levels while meeting compliance requirements at the same time.

Need for the Right Performance Testing Strategy for your Mobile App

Mobile app development teams put a lot of designing and testing efforts to create high-quality mobile apps. They expect them to be used by tens of millions of users. Obviously you don’t expect your apps to be left abandoned, unused, uninstalled, or given poor reviews.

Building the right mobile app strategy can help you address this major challenge. Even when app glitches and bugs are common, they can be prevented. Performance Testing Services using these tips to build an app testing strategy helps prevent issues significantly.

6 Tips to Create an Effective Mobile App Testing Strategy

The best tips followed by organizations leveraging performance testing services for creating an effective app testing strategy are as follows:

1. Alignment between Test Goals & Business Niche

The types of tests and how performance testing services are integrated will depend on your business’ niche or specialization. The approach to performance testing also needs to be based on the mobile device type that your app will be used on.

You business type should determine what tests need to be run and how they should be performed
Consider the business’ needs and intentions
The test activities must be created to meet those specific requirements

2. Start Testing from the Oldest Device

New mobile device and OS versions are introduced every few months. So when performance testing services build their mobile app testing strategy, this continual version change will be taken into account. The code on a newer device is less likely to work effectively on an older device. So, you should run performance tests starting from an older version of the device or OS and move up from there. Of course, you need to check the user base and support matrix for your application in deciding the scope of test coverage.

Start testing with the app installed on the earliest version of the device that your app is meant to support
Then test against the app’s release
Keep testing against a newer version until the current device or OS version is tested

The chances are high that issues will be caught with the oldest version, first. When issues are found, it will be a safer point to start making rectification.

3. Test While Keeping in Mind the Next Version

New types of devices and apps are constantly being released. performance testing services should prepare their mobile app testing strategy while keeping the next versions and business models in mind. Modern app-based business models require location, interact with the Cloud, raise customer novices, accept payments, and do much more. These functions are possible only because the latest mobile devices support these functions.

Behind all these new mobile devices there are performance testing services that are carefully planned and designed to ensure that all these technologies worked as desired. It will be difficult to decide the next mobile devices and OS versions. Some devices may or may not have their next versions. You can address this challenge by getting prepared.

If you have been in the mobile app development or testing ecosystem for some time, you know that technology keeps evolving. You also know that the speed of evolution is increasingly almost on a daily basis.

4. Create a Progressive Approach to Testing

The right performance testing services follow a progressive approach to testing. The fact is that time is money and you cannot test everything from the very beginning.

Maintain limited test scenarios
Progress testing based on increasing complexity
At the beginning, conduct client testing separately from server-side API testing
Conduct load tests on each one before the complete transactions from client to server are tested
When testing is done early in the development cycle, test early and more often while keeping in mind that efficient time management is important

When you focus on a limited amount of critical testing points during the early stage, it will give you a clear idea of the potential scenarios that your app can and cannot handle. Every time you face an issue, fix it before moving to the next stage.

5. Understand the Different Carrier Networks

Your mobile app performance testing strategy should also take into account the carrier network available today. Modern devices will mostly use carrier networks to access the server. These networks are different in terms of their bandwidth, latency and speed.

Performance testing services must include carrier network testing into their app testing strategy to identify and address the way the app works across different types of networks. This component has a huge impact on the end-user experience.

6. Prepare for Interruptions

Mobile users will face more interruptions than their PC counterparts. This is because the way mobile devices are used is different from how PCs are used. With a computer, when you switch between different windows, different applications keep running in the background. With a smartphone or tablet, users can be using an app when they can receive a phone call. So interruptions are a common part of the user experience (UX) and should be considered when building the app testing strategy. Make sure to account for all types of interruptions that can occur with mobile devices.

Categories of App Performance Testing Strategy

When it comes to performance testing services for mobile apps, the following 3 categories must be addressed:

1. Device Performance

A slow performing app can send off many users. The device performance testing component of your app testing strategy must cover the following areas:

i. App Start-Up

Check the time taken by the app to start up. Once the user taps on the icon, the app’s main screen must appear no more than 2 seconds later.

ii. Battery Time

Check how quickly the app drains the device’s battery life. It is also important to check whether the use of the app heats up the device. This is an important factor and is usually associated with the use of resources. Excess resource use can create more load on the CPU and other components and heat up the phone.

iv. Memory Usage

Performance testing services should also include memory usage tests as part of the strategy. Adding certain types of functionalities to an app can have a huge impact on memory consumption. Sometimes, a single app can consume memory equivalent to that used by the OS.

v. Test on Different Software & Hardware

The strategy should also focus on testing your apps on different mobile devices. Apps can run smoothly on one device, but not on another one. For example, the Android platform is used by many different phone manufacturers. It is also important to test apps on different resource specifications – for example CPU speeds and RAM.

The device performance testing strategy must also test your app based on its usage with other apps and its functioning in the background.

2. Server/API Performance

Performance testing services must also cover testing for server/API performance as part of the strategy. When an app interacts with the server through API, the response time will have a big impact on performance. Your strategy must measure service performance based on the following factors:

i. Data Transfer

The data from the server must be handled efficiently
Loading data should not be a time consuming process
All data formats should be converted into relevant formats

Test whether the app is slowing down or response times are becoming longer.

ii. Test App Generated API Calls

Check whether the app is generating multiple API calls for a single functionality. Ideally, the number of calls from the app to the server must be low for optimal performance.

iii. Server Down Time

There should be provisions in the strategy for any server down time.

If the server is down, the data should be savable in the native database
If one server is down or under maintenance, a backup server should take over

3. Network Performance

As already mentioned above, performance testing services will include multi-network testing as part of the app testing strategy. Network performance testing should cover the following areas:

i. Jitters

Any delay in receiving information on the network is referred to as jitters. It occurs due to issues with the following:

Packet switch networks
Connectionless networks

The information is broken into packets and it travels by different paths between the sender and receiver. When the packets arrive at the receiver end, it can get scrambled. It is important that your app must be able to handle the scrambled packets to recreate the information. It is important that the system creates proper notifications for resending a request or waiting for the system to respond.

ii. Network Speeds

It is important that your testing strategy should involve app testing on a wide range of networks with different speeds. This includes testing on all the spectrums which are currently in use, ranging up to 4G and even 5G wherever it is available. It is important to test on both mobile networks and Wi-Fi. The app’s behavior must be monitored, even when switching between different networks.

So, it is important to address all these points when building the right performance testing strategy for your mobile app. You should cover all existing and potential scenarios to ensure that your app is fully ready before a release. Building such a strategy should help you prevent or reduce the chances of user migration.

Key Points to Remember Before Starting Salesforce Customization

Salesforce is a highly customizable and adaptable platform. Customizing Salesforce as per your business needs is essential to achieve the desired outcome. It is also a possibility that while using the platform, you will bump into features that you have never known or might want to customize.

If you are trying to customize your Salesforce implementation, here are a few essential steps you need to follow to get the desired outcomes.

Make Your System Ready

If you have a new org then you must be wanting to customize a lot of features to meet your business requirements. However, several parts of the Salesforce are already adapted that you want to customize as an existing org. Either way, customization may affect the current features of Salesforce. Hence, it is essential to avoid any negative impact of the customization.

New Salesforce org guarantees a clean system however, with existing orgs you need to do a bit of work. It is advisable to ensure that your current system is clean before conducting any customization.

Risk-Free Customizations in a Mature Salesforce Org

Is It the Right Way?

There is a possibility to straight away brainstorm the customization solution and jump to implement it. However, there could be many ways to implement customization and it is better for Salesforce development services to first consider all the options thoroughly. It will help you opt for more manageable and adaptable solutions.

For instance, complex customization done through standard Salesforce features including Flows or Process Builder can be managed efficiently by the majority of admins. But customization done in Apex takes a longer time to adapt and requires a Salesforce developer for efficient management.

It might look tempting to just code instead of building out the same functionality using standard features. But it is always better to configure as much as possible using the standard features and then eventually move to the Apex.

Use Sandbox!

It is not advisable to make the customization without having the option to roll back. The sandbox provides a safe customization environment and helps you test features without affecting your live system or a user. You get the option of using multiple Salesforce sandboxes. Here is how you can use these:

Developer Sandbox: It is created without any data to help you see a clean system without pre-existing data. You can use it to implement new customization and test them with the latest test data.
Partial Sandbox: It comes with sample data already present in the system. It enables you to check out the customization effects on your data. You can leverage this testing environment to use real sample data for testing or even leverage it as a template to add more test data.
Full Sandbox: It is also considered as a copy of your org. It enables you to deploy new customization and help you analyze how it would actually look in the system. It is normally used for final testing before the deployment. The best practice is to always keep the full sandbox updated as it is the closest to a backup of the live Salesforce system.

Take Expert Help

Salesforce comes bundled with a plethora of features and it is a cumbersome task to customize all of them with the same efficiency. Hence, if you want customization that you think is complex then it is advisable to take the help of experts.

The idea of having a professional Salesforce development service might look expensive to you at first but in the long run, you will end up saving money. It is because, in the majority of the cases, features are implemented incorrectly and affect other functionalities of Salesforce, and professional help just helps in fixing all of that.

Use Tools

Pro tools can help you execute complex customization with more confidence. For instance, Panaya ForeSight for Salesforce can support your Salesforce customization endeavors. It helps you identify the impact of your customization on other features and enables you to release the latest features securely.

Robust Testing

The new Salesforce customization always comes with the potential to affect features and other users in the system. Hence, before deploying it to live org, it is crucial to check its functionality in the sandboxes. Proper testing of the feature will help you validate whether it is working as per the expectation or not.

Helpful Naming Conventions

Using helpful naming conventions along with detailed description can help other admins and developers in the team to identify features easily. Salesforce doesn’t offer official naming conventions and you can have your own structure. However, to create good naming conventions, it is essential to follow these points:

Follow a Structure: Make sure to follow the same rule across the org. It will help in defining each and every feature clearly. For example; you can use object_fieldname__c (opportunity_email__c) for a custom field and Object – process for a process.
Keep it Concise: Keep it simple and easy to understand. It will also help in easier implementation and adoption. Hence, it is advisable to only keep essential information in the name.
Be Consistent: Not sticking to naming conventions will only increase the confusion. Following the above-mentioned steps, users can easily stick to a naming convention.

Add Details

The majority of Salesforce features come with an area where you can jot the description behind the customization. It can help developers and admins understand the functionality of the feature and prevent the duplication of customization. You can also use this area to log updates or customization done to a particular feature. It makes it easier to figure out the impact of any changes on other features.

Help Your Users

A lot of Salesforce features and fields including Apex or validation rules are capable of displaying the help text. These text messages enable users to easily figure out the accuracy of their actions and efficiently use new customization. Guidance for new customization helps users to easily adapt to new features. Making users know the purpose of customization surely enables users to use Salesforce more efficiently.

QA InfoTech offers end-to-end software development and testing solutions. Contact us for more information on how our experts can help you with Salesforce customization.

Top 5 Automation Testing Tools for Mobile Applications

In the competitive digitized space for businesses, an increasing number of companies are counting on mobile applications. These applications are developed for multiple operating systems, devices and come in several versions. For business firms, it is important to test the competence of their apps. Eventually, they look for mobile application testing services, which streamline the app’s functionality significantly.

Why is mobile application testing important?

Mobile applications presently serve as intelligent business tools, spearheading marketing and other commercial pursuits. A failure or bug in your app can lead to significant monetary losses. Besides, the functionalism of your app largely determines the user experience. Poor experience leads to poor reviews in the app store. This explains why most business owners seek mobile application testing service from reputed professionals.

Presently, the testing process has mostly become automated. This significantly slashes down the testing cost. You will come across a wide range of tools for automated mobile testing in the market. In this post, we have shortlisted the five best automation testing tools for mobile applications.

Checklist for choosing the right mobile testing app

Mobile application testing refers to the mechanism in which the apps are tested for their consistency, usability and functionality. These apps may be designed to run on multiple devices, such as tablets, PCs, and smartphones.

Here, we bring you a checklist which would prove handy while you choose an automated mobile testing app.

The tool has to seamlessly integrate with the present testing environment
The record and play feature comes in handy
Jailbreaking or rooting the device should not be a pre-criterion for running the testing tool
The mobile testing tool should come with an option to use Ruby, .Net, C, Java, etc. Besides, it has to be language-specific
The advanced tools are expected to come with an enriched functionality library such as Multi touch, Swipe, Zoom out and Zoom in
The tool must support all the methods for the identification of objects

Different categories of mobile app testing

When you leverage mobile application testing service from a trusted partner, the experts deploy robust tools to examine the following aspects of the apps.

Functional testing: This is the most common and basic type of test. Through functional testing, the functions of your mobile app would be examined, as per the necessary criteria.
Memory testing: As compared to computers, memory in most mobile devices is limited. Through memory testing, it can be revealed whether the app can optimize the available memory in the device when it runs on it.
Performance testing: Performance testing helps in evaluating the performance of the app. Through this type of testing, the operation of all its features can be checked.
Usability testing: Usability testing is carried out to determine the effectiveness, efficiency and value that the app delivers to the users.

Best Automation Testing Tools for Mobile Applications to choose

Here, we have presented the five most effective automation testing tools for mobile applications.

1. Robotium

Robotium is one of the most popular frameworks for mobile app testing. It provides complete support for hybrid and native applications. Through Robotium, it becomes easy to write robust and powerful automatic UI tests (black-box) for Android apps. Deploying this tool, it becomes easy for test case developers to write functions and scenarios of the user and system acceptance, encompassing multiple app activities.

Benefits

Robotium can test both hybrid and native Android apps.
It can be used even with little knowledge about the application being tested.
This framework is capable of handling multiple activities of Android automatically.
It takes little time to write down concrete test cases.
The execution of tests is very fast.
The run-time binding feature to UI elements makes the test cases more robust.
Robotium smoothly integrates with Ant, Gradle and Maven to rub tests, with continuous integration.
The test case readability gets enhanced significantly, as compared to standard tests of instrumentation.

2. Appium

Appium continues to be a popular automation tool for testing mobile apps. The open source nature of Appium studio has made it even more popular. It enhances both test development and test execution. For testers, carrying out robust tests becomes fast and easy. Appium supports web-based, native and hybrid mobile apps across iOS and Android environments. In iOS, it supports Safari and on Android, it supports Chrome. Besides, this tool supports inbuilt browsers as well. Since it has a cross-platform nature, it improves the code access reusability across various platforms.

Appium comes with the record and playback feature. This, besides, other features like XPath, device reflection and objects makes the test creation process easy. Besides, the testers can deploy any programming language of their choice for test writing. Interestingly, these can be used with any necessary framework, as per the needs of the project. Therefore, it automates all mobile applications, regardless of their platform or language. This helps in accessing the application’s back-end API and database. Appium is Selenium-based, and therefore, offers all the functional values of the latter for test creation.

Benefits

Testers can seamlessly set up Appium
Appium works well with any language compatible with WebDriver
It is compatible with every testing framework
Testers need not install Appium on the machine
With Java, it is possible to integrate the tool with other software
The testers can also use JSON Wire protocol, that shares a similarity with Selenium Web Driver

3. iOS Driver

iOS Driver is capable of automating any mobile, hybrid or iOS native application, integrating with WebDriver API or Selenium seamlessly. Evidently, automating iOS is as easy as carrying out the process on a browser. The iOS driver enjoys a complete integration with Selenium Grid. Therefore, one can use the existing infrastructure of web automation once again, including the utility and helper classes like page objects and data creation.

It should be noted that an iOS driver was developed, considering the scaling objective. Tests based on GUI are slow. Besides, they fail to furnish quick feedback if you run them sequentially. The iOS driver can couple up as a Selenium Grid node when you follow the WebDriver for Selenium protocol. Here, the tests can be parallelly run on the same architecture, as found on the web.

Benefits

One can run an iOS Driver in a Selenium grid as a regular node
It deploys JSON wire protocol
You can run iOS Driver on devices and emulators
Testers do not have to make any change in source
Localized native apps can get good support from the tool
iOS Driver can be deployed in an existing Selenium Grid for managing a simulator farm or device
There is no need to jailbreak the device on which it is used
Besides, you would not require any additional app
For iOS devices, it offers off-the-shelf support

4. Calabash

As an open source framework for testing, Calabash has gained significant popularity. It works well with both iOS and Android apps while writing and executing tests. It comes with Automated User Interface, which means that the tests can be written in Ruby and Cucumber. Calabash enables UI interactions within an app through buttons and input test by validating the responses. One can also configure it to various Android and iOS devices. Calabash comes up with validations and feedback in real time. Besides, it provides a strong foundation for testing strategies across multiple platforms.

Also Read: Detailed Checklist & Guidelines For Mobile App Testing

Calabash was developed based on BDD (Behavior Driven Development). It shares a similar framework with Test Driven Development. However, the application behaviour is well-defined, and the tests are not created to describe the API shapes. BDD is a mechanism where a common understanding is made with multiple stakeholders regarding the necessary features to be developed. This strategy fosters the development of the right design and software from the owner’s perspective.

Even if the testers are not aware of the basic coding skills, they can carry out automated tests for Android and iOS apps using the Calabash framework for test automation. It enables UI interactions as well. One can perceive the actual benefits when the tests are carried out on mobile devices. On configuring Calabash testing with hundreds of Android and IOS devices, you can obtain real time feedback.

Benefits

Writing tests become amazingly easy with Calabash. It comes with easy language syntax, and people without any coding experience can carry out the testing.
Through Calabash, testers can comprehensively enhance productivity or throughput.
The product quality is enhanced and one can predict the same.
The processes or products deliver improved consistency and robustness.
Expenses on labour costs are greatly reduced.
The output reveals more consistency with Calabash.

It should be noted that using Calabash calls for certain prerequisites. Firstly, you should have the latest version of Ruby on the computer. Besides, you need to install Bundler, which would be necessary to deal with the dependencies. In Android sets, you need to install the latest SDK.

5. Google Espresso

Espresso, released by Google in 2013 for white box testing, happens to be a popular testing framework for Android devices. This testing framework is open source, and presently one can avail it as a component of Android Support Repository. Being flexible and simple, Espresso has gained popularity over the years. The APIs offered by this framework enable users to write UI tests. Espresso has gained popularity among testers as it comes from Google.

Benefits

As an open source framework for mobile app testing, Espresso comes free of cost
In Espresso, a simple API is used, that allows the users to write the UI test cases very fast
Being easily customizable, users can seamlessly deploy it making the learning curve minimal
For developers, setting up the framework before testing is simple
It supports black box testing, when integrated with CS/CI environments
Espresso is backward compatible and supports JUnit4 as well as out-of-app testing
It executes all tests at a rapid speed
Since it depends on the Hamcrest library, the testers can use matchers in order to evaluate complex situations
Support synchronization is also available with Espresso
The app’s UI gets synced automatically with test actions
Each of the elements in the app is thoroughly tested with Espresso
Besides, you will find the Espresso Recorder handy while creating tests; Most importantly, it is not necessary to write code
Espresso supports web component testing, as well.

It is recommended to compare and study the benefits of each tool and select the one suitable for your particular project need.

Understanding the Benefits of Using Lightning Web Components for your Business

Lightning Web Components (LWC) have emerged as a powerful programming model for developing web components. Significantly bolstering web standards, it is compatible with the Aura programming model, coexisting with the same. However, the performance of LWC remains unparalleled, which delivers a competitive advantage to its users.

Web Components have the ability to leverage elements, shadow DOM, modules, templates and various language constructs in ECMAScript 7 and more. Implementing LWC in your business, you can enhance your Salesforce lightning platform, propelling it to use web standards for developing UI.

Benefits of using Lightning Web Components

The prime benefit of implementing LWC is its speed, security and lightweight nature. Using LWC, business owners benefit from a dedicated layer of Salesforce services on the core stack. This includes Lightning Data Service, base lightning components and User Interface API. Although one cannot compose Lightning web components from Aura components, the reverse mechanism is possible.

Have a look at the advantages of implementing Lightning web components.

LWC, being fast, offers greater speed
For older browsers, LWC provides polyfill automatically, which in the normal case would not be supporting the basic web standards (web components, shadow dom, etc.)
It is light in weight
It offers better compatibility with browsers and enhanced security

How can LWC strengthen your business?

Let’s explore how you can leverage your business using LWC.

Better performance

LWC delivers unparalleled performance, which happens to be its prime advantage.

One can dodge the server call while implementing lightning web components. When you work with the LWC JS controller through Javascript, the data coming to the JS controller can be manipulated. Therefore, you can display the same simply as per your needs. There is no need to make a server call.
Besides, you have an enhanced DOM render engine. As compared to Aura component, you would enjoy a higher speed in component rendering.

Compatibility across browsers

Apps deliver an enjoyable experience to users, deploying SLDS (responsive design). Lightning Component supports the most advanced browser technologies like CSS3, HTML5 and touch events.
Salesforce Lightning Design System (SLDS) enables business owners to style the respective components the way they want. Therefore, you can customize the components as required. In a nutshell, business owners need not be concerned about responsive behaviour.

Faster development

LWC enables teams to carry out their tasks faster with sophisticated components, working seamlessly with mobile and desktop devices. The entire developmental efficiency gets a boost, along with parallel designing with components.

Evidently, LWC enables users to come up with generic components for a seamless performance. The Admin, implementing the Lightning App Builder simply needs to drag and drop them on the necessary page while using the generic component.

Other advantages of deploying LWC is that you can avoid ViewState Error altogether and experience a two-way binding process. This justifies why forward-thinking businesses have been deploying Lightning Web Components lately into their respective frameworks.

In our recent webinar on ‘How to increase your salesforce application performance by leveraging the platform ‘Cache’ using LWC’, we discuss how businesses can reap more benefits out of their salesforce apps using LWC as the framework model that is required to make contact with the database. The webinar recording is available under the webinars section of our website.

How React Native 0.61 Fast Refresh is Enabling Efficiencies for Developers?

React Native has become synonymous to cross-platform application development. The pre-cross-platform era made developers struggle with the codes of Native technology to develop separate apps for different platforms. For instance, developers had to write separate codes for iOS and Android mobile app development.

React Native has eliminated this time-taking and tedious process. It has brought in WORA (Write Once, Run Anywhere) functionality to simplify the app development process. React Native has now become one of the top cross-platform frameworks.

However, React Native has its fair share of challenges and bugs. No matter how minor, they obstruct the mobile app development.

Persistent Issues

1. Time Consuming Update – The procedure to update to other versions was tedious and took a lot of time.

2. Locating Exception Purpose – React Native app development service comes with a stack hint inside the chrome debugger console. It leads to time consuming component DidCatch and debugging without much assistance.

3. Crash – App crash is common and the platform doesn’t provide rich analytics for the reason behind crash.

4. Warm Reload Issue: Reloading React local code requires the app to be reloaded.

5. RAM Package – React Native app development company can benefit if the RAM package can support structures like codepush.

What is in Store in the Latest React Native 0.61 Fast Refresh Update?

With the introduction of React Native 0.61 version, developers are now able to easily optimize the features of React Native 0.60. The update has resolved all the bugs that were present in the 0.60 version and is now loaded with enhanced features to improve the performance.

Also Read: How To Select The Best Tools For Cross-platform Mobile App Development

Here are some of the worth noting latest features of React Native 0.61.

Enhanced CocoaPods Support

React Native 0.60 had a few updates to enable default integration of CocoaPods. But it used to create bugs and issues in the use_frameworks. 0.61 has fixed these issues and made it more easy and simple to integrate into iOS projects being built on dynamic frameworks.

New useWindowDimensions Hook

Hook is the new feature that automatically offers and subscribes with dimension updates. You can also use it against Dimensions API in the majority of cases.

Upgraded to 16.9

The new version doesn’t support old names for UNSAFE_lifecycle methods and comes with enhancements to the act.

Fast Refresh

The new Fast Refresh feature is the combination of existing “live reloading” and “hot reloading”.

Here is how it is helping React Native developers.

The latest Fast Refresh feature completely supports the latest React along with Hooks and function components
It easily recovers from mistakes including typos and it even goes back to the full reload if required
Fast Refresh doesn’t use invasive code transformation. Hence, it is reliable and trustworthy while using on default settings
Fast Refresh works accurately for both functional and class components. It also now updates at a faster pace

In a nutshell, Fast Refresh is highly flexible and reliable. It can be said that it is identical to the Hot Reloading feature however, now it performs flawlessly.

How to Upgrade?

To upgrade to React Native 0.61 Fast Refresh, it is advisable to leverage the latest React Native Upgrade Helper. It will help you identify the files that you need to change. It might look an old-school way to upgrade but it is pretty simple.

In Summary

Reach Native app development has become one of the fastest and cost-efficient means to release cross-platform applications. It helps in creating mobile apps that are secure, scalable, user-friendly, and easy to maintain.

QAIT DevLabs offer robust React Native app development services that can help you create highly-efficient and reliable mobile apps. Talk to our experts now for more details.

Best 7 Performance Testing Tools Trending in 2020

Performance testing is a non-functional type of testing that is conducted to determine how an application will perform under load. The tests are conducted on metrics including speed, stability, and scalability. The right performance testing services can conduct a wide range of tests. Find out what the different types of performance tests are and the best 7 tools that are currently trending in 2020.

Types of Performance Tests

The different types of performance tests conducted by performance testing services include:

Load Testing: This tests the workload that is produced in normal conditions and measures the application’s response time. It also helps in identifying any bottlenecks.
Stress Testing: Extreme workload is applied to find out the load point at which the app will crash.
Spike Testing: This involves changing the workload rapidly and monitoring the application’s response.
Endurance Testing: This involves exposing the application to the expected workload for a prolonged period of time to check how well it can handle it.
Scalability Testing: This test involves a gradual increase in workload to find out how efficiently the software can scale up.
Volume Testing: Volume testing involves the performance testing services feeding the software’s database with large volumes of data to check its data processing capabilities and efficiency.

Best Performance Testing Tools

The top 7 performance testing tools which are used widely by performance testing services in 2020 and their key features are as follows:

1. WebLOAD

This is an enterprise-scale load testing tool that can generate real-life and reliable load scenarios, even in most complex systems. Its smart analytics provide in-depth performance insights. The tool comes with built-in support for hundreds of technologies. It also integrates with several tools to support simpler monitoring.

The key features of this performance testing tool are as follows:

It is available on the Cloud or as an on-premise deployment
Readily extensible and supports all the major web technologies
Creates a flexible test environment
Native JavaScript based on smart scripting with validation engines, parameterization, and powerful correlation
Detects bottlenecks automatically

WebLOAD is widely used by performance testing services with complex and heavy user load requirements. You can conduct stress and load testing on any web-based software by creating load from on-premise systems and the Cloud. It supports technologies including enterprise applications to web protocols. It supports integration with tools like Selenium, Jenkins, and many others to allow continuous load testing for DevOps.

2. LoadNinja

LoadNinja allows you to build scriptless load tests. It is preferred by performance testing services because it helps reduce testing times by half. Other advantages include replacing load emulators with real browsers and generating actionable metrics.

This tool allows you to debug in the real-time, record client-side interactions, identify performance issues instantly, and do much more. LoadNinja allows you to boost your testing coverage without compromising on quality. It removes cumbersome, repetitive tasks involved in script translation, dynamic correlation, and script scrubbing. It allows you to spend more time in developing scalable applications and less time on creating load testing scripts.

The key features of LoadNinja are as follows:

Real browser load testing at scale
Create a scriptless load test and playback feature
Real-time management of virtual user activity
Real-time test debugging
Advanced browser-based metrics with reporting and analytics features
Cloud-based hosting eliminates maintenance of the server

LoadNinja supports the following protocols:

HTTPS
HTTP
Java-based protocol
SAP GUI Web
Google Web Toolkit
WebSocket
Oracle Forms

3. LoadView

LoadView is also widely popular with performance testing services. This is an on-demand and fully-managed load testing and stress testing tool. It is different from most other load testing tools in that testing is conducted in real browsers. The result is close emulation of real users and highly accurate data. It is fully cloud-based and is readily deployed in minutes. It allows creating multi-step scripts simulating user interaction with your application or website.

Some of the key features of LoadView are as follows:

Supports advanced load testing features like global Cloud-based infrastructure, point and click scripting, and real browser testing
Allows instant and easy creation of test scripts without the need for coding
Supports Rich Internet Applications including Java, Flash, HTML5, Ruby, Silverlight, and PHMP among others
Over a dozen global Cloud locations supported by Google Cloud Platform and Amazon Web Services
Test compatibility with dozens of desktop and mobile devices and browsers
Easy to share performance metrics and reports
Identifies bottlenecks and supports scalability

4. StresStimulus

StresStimulus is popular with performance testing services because it is capable of handling scenarios that may be difficult to test using other tools. It works by automatically fixing playback errors using its unique autocorrelation feature. The tool records user actions before replaying them to emulate changing usage patterns. It also keeps track of load impact on the responsiveness of the software and the server infrastructure. It can also detect hidden concurrency errors and provides in-depth performance metrics.

The key features of this performance testing tool are as follows:

Cloud or on-premise testing using multiple load generators
End-to-end Test Wizard reduces the learning curve by covering all steps
Option of manual scripting is available, but not required. The tool supports upto 3 scripting languages.
Allows script export to Visual Studio test format
Can be used as a Fiddler add-on or an independent tool

5. Apache JMeter

JMeter is a popular open source performance testing tool that is designed for load and performance testing. It can be used to analyze and measure the performance of a wide range of software, covering services including networks and servers. It is mostly used as a website load testing tool for different types of web service applications.

JMeter is a Java platform application that can be integrated with the test plan. It also allows you to create a function test plan besides a load test plan. Some of the key features are as follows:

Supports multiple load injectors that can be managed using a single controller
Doesn’t require advanced infrastructure for load testing
Requires lesser scripting efforts relative to other API performance testing tools, as it has a user-friendly interface
Supports all Java-based applications
Easy analysis of key load based stats and resource usage monitors by presenting simple graphs and charts

JMeter supports the following protocols – HTTPS, HTTP, XML, Java-based protocols, SOAP, and FTP among others.

6. SmartMeter.io

SmartMeter.io is the preferred option for performance testing services who want to address the drawbacks of JMeter. The tool supports the creation of a simple scriptless test environment with its Recorder. It provides test reports and has features like automatic test criteria assessment and test runs trend and comparison analysis. The tool offers full support for CI/CD integration. Its key features are as follows:

Create a scriptless test environment
Advanced response body extractor
Real-time results and GUI test runs
Comprehensive reporting, automatic assessment, and test execution comparisons
Supports CI/CD integration

The SmartMeter.io supports the following protocols – HTTP, FTP, LDAP, JDBC, JMS, and SOAP. There is no need for browser plugin or proxy setup. It has excellent capabilities in CI integration, distributed testing, and provides unmatched performance testing support when it comes to validating apps.

7. Rational Performance Tester

Rational Performance Tester from IBM is designed to create and run performance tests. It is also a powerful analysis tool. The tool allows you to verify the stability and scalability of web-based applications before they are deployed. This is an automated performance testing tool that develops a demo of the transaction process between the web service and the user.

It is capable of gathering all the information and analyses them to help improve efficiency. It makes it easy to detect and rectify any leakage in the application or server. Rational Performance Tester is widely used by performance testing services to develop error-free and effective cloud computing service. Some of the key features of this tool are as follows:

Supports event-based and scheduled testing
Supports scriptless testing
Runs with large tests involving multiple users
Supports real-time reporting that allows instant performance issue identification
Supports automatic detection and identification of dynamic server response
Supports automated test data variation
Runs website load tests with HTML version of web pages opened during test recordings

The performance testing tool supports the following protocols – Web HTTP, Citrix, XML, SOA, Weblogic, Websphere, SOA, and Socket Recording.

Conclusion

The above are the best tools that are currently used for performance testing services. When it comes to choosing from these tools, you should consider a number of factors. This includes the protocol support you require and licensing cost. You should also consider the hardware and software requirements of the tool. It is also important to consider the tool vendor support. It will also be required to consider the cost of training your teams.

It is important to realize that there is no single tool that can meet all your testing requirements. You will be required to use multiple tools to ensure that your products are tested more comprehensively. So, it is recommended to select the top tools from the above that can address all your testing needs.

Why is Security Testing Imperative for Quick Apps Launched During the Corona Times?

Covid-19 pandemic-induced lockdowns and social distancing norms have changed the way consumers interact with technology. Consumers find themselves suddenly relying more on apps for a wide range of purposes, needs, and activities.

There is an unprecedented surge in demand for apps for staying healthy (physically and mentally), shopping, communication, entertainment, and much more. The result is a high release rate of all types of apps. There is suddenly a huge market, which has resulted in the creation of massive competition. All developers are focused on releasing their apps with the quickest turnaround.

The need to reach the market instantly has enhanced an age-old challenge for application developers – security. Security testing is imperative for quick apps launched during the time of this pandemic. This is one aspect you cannot ignore in the race to beat the competition and reach the market at the earliest. This is where you cannot ignore the importance of security testing services.

Covid-19 & The Surge in Popularity of Apps

When you take a look at the growing popularity of apps in different parts of the world, there are some interesting observations. These observations also provide insights into the potential security threats that are faced by apps and the data behind them.

Healthcare Apps

Healthcare apps in South East Asia have emerged as the most popular apps. 6 of the top 15 mobile apps on Google Play store in South Korea were recently found to be about tracking Covid-19 pandemic. Developers of many apps state that source their data from government information have claimed a huge surge in the number of downloads since they launched their products. There has been a growth of 110% in spending on healthcare apps after the outbreak of coronavirus.

Real Estate Apps

Real estate is another sector that has experienced a surge in demand for apps. The most notable impact has been seen in Middle-East Asia. However, Covid-19 restrictions in many parts of the world have caused a slowdown in the popularity of real estate apps.

Mental Wellness Apps

The pandemic has also increased the demand for mental wellness and meditation apps. Apparently, people are finding these apps beneficial in dealing with sleeplessness and anxiety. According to a report, the top 10 mental wellness apps (English language apps) recorded 2 million more downloads in April 2020 against January 2020.

Educational Apps

Even when most educational institutions are closed, online education apps have gained widespread popularity and downloads. Users are not only relying on apps to facilitate online classes but also to fuel their need for e-learning. With so much time at their behest, tens of millions of users are exploring new online learning opportunities.

Also Read: Security Testing Services To Secure Educational Portals

There are many other types of apps that have gained widespread popularity during the pandemic. As apps are downloaded by more and more people, it means access to a greater number of user data. You cannot take security testing lightly in such a scenario.

Need for Security Testing Services

A security development lifecycle is a must if you want to create a secure app. You should consider and test security across the entire project lifecycle. Security/ Penetration Testing, secure code reviews, and security architecture reviews should be an integral part of the SDLC. This becomes even more important in a situation when the app deals with key information and sensitive data.

Security testing involves an active analysis of the technical flaws, vulnerabilities, and weaknesses of an app. It is important to address the following security concerns when testing your apps, not just during this time of quick releases, but also during ordinary times:

Confidentiality: All information must be accessible to only those having authorized access.
Authentication: To establish the identity of the user.
Integrity: To allow the receiver to determine that they are receiving correct information.
Availability: To ensure that all communication and information services are readily available on demand.
Non-Repudiation: Preventing later denial about the happening of an action.

It is also important to test the effectiveness of authorization features.

Why Mobile App Security Testing is So Important in this Scenario?

Explore the different reasons why app security testing is imperative during this time when you are releasing new apps continuously:

1. Prevent Potential Attacks

Security testing services help prevent potential attacks by guessing the behavioral patterns of attackers. There is never any certainty of how your app can be attacked. It can include:

Hacking into the app
Stealing data
Attacking backend systems

Security testers can anticipate potential future scenarios and mitigate relevant risks. Such services can guess potential attacker behavior and use the information to uncover flaws in the code. The flaws can thus be fixed before hackers can exploit them.

A penetration test is an example of such a security test. It involves the use of sophisticated tools and in-depth knowledge to guess attacker behavior. It also helps thwart attempts by attackers to access higher permissions and privileged information without authorization.

This will involve mock attacks by testers no different than a real attack attempting to break into the app to document the vulnerabilities. This can also include remote attack, man-in-the-middle attack and social engineering attacks.

2. Changes to Architecture of Network & App Components

As app downloads continue to experience a sudden surge, it has become increasingly important for developers to prevent any major security breaches after an app goes live. Security testing services can bring effective changes to the following elements before releasing the app:

Architecture
Design
Code

This requires evaluation of the app for vulnerabilities in the source code, security loopholes, bottlenecks, and potential attack vectors. It is important to fix issues before the release, as it is convenient and cheaper than addressing them later. Taking action during this step can help eliminate or minimize costs in many areas including PR and legal. In an environment when your app will potentially be downloaded by millions, any security breach can become a major legal and PR disaster.

3. Worry-Free App Release

Security testing services help you ensure a worry-free app release. Before an app is deployed in an IT environment, it has to pass technical and user acceptance tests. This helps ensure it aligns with the business and technical requirements. Acceptance tests assure that an app meets end-user requirements.

4. Meet Security Compliance Requirements

Security testing also allows you to meet stringent industry security compliance requirements before releasing your app. It is easy to ignore intensive compliance security testing in situations like the present when there is a massive demand for apps.

Compliance has a continuous role to play in preparing for, responding to and recovering from cyber incidents. Security testing services can help ensure that your app meets at least the following standards:

ISO 27001
FIPS 140-2
HIPAA
PCI-DSS
GDPR
OWASP

At the speed that many businesses are embracing mobile, you cannot take the risk of developing apps that are vulnerable to security threats.

5. Securing Application Code

Another reason you cannot ignore security testing services is that it helps secure not only your proprietary application code but secure code review also gives great visibility into the vulnerabilities that come with the usage of third party commercial and open source code. Releasing apps without proper and comprehensive testing can create loopholes in the app’s source code. Any such loopholes can be targeted by cybercriminals.

Hackers can create malware that takes control of the user device and can access sure data. Security testing can involve evaluation of entire code quality. This can help identify any loopholes in the code that can make your app vulnerable to such attacks. 3 different methods are used for such analysis:

Static Analysis (including software composition analysis a.k.a SCA)
Dynamic Analysis
Forensic Analysis

6. Preventing Data Leaks

Data leak is a major threat, especially at a time when both business and personal data are stored on the same device. Your apps will access personal user data to deliver a personalized experience. If your app is not tested, any vulnerabilities can increase the risk of data leaks in the present or in the future.

Experienced security testing services can eliminate any risks of data leaks. This is achieved by evaluation of hard-coded data including:

Application code
Data in transit
Personal & business data stored on the device

7. Preventing Real-Time Security Threats

Security testing plays a vital role in preventing real-time security threats. Many cyber attackers distribute malware that attacks an app at the time of execution. Such malware try to change the app’s functionality through the submission of malicious input during runtime.

Therefore, it is important to implement strategies to protect your apps from real-time security threats. Security testing services can identify malicious input submitted at the time of runtime. This is enabled through the use of the latest technologies such as runtime application self-protection or RASP. Such measures can prevent malware from making changes to your app’s configuration.

There are many more reasons you should seek security testing services for your quick apps launching during the coronavirus time.

You may also enjoy: Top 6 Upcoming Security Testing Trends in 2020

Need for Demonstrating App Security

As governments and organizations release apps focused around the coronavirus pandemic, they will have access to a wide range of user data. This makes it essential for organizations to demonstrate app security meeting the highest industry standards.

Covid-19 related healthcare apps have created a new set of security challenges. Phones with such apps can exchange information with each other when placed close together. In many cases, this creates a log of each phone’s owner in the proximity. This tech is used to alert contacts if they have been in the proximity of a Covid-19 person.

Security testing services can help ensure that such apps can meet the highest and most stringent standards in security, privacy and safety. Unfortunately, there is no handbook that addresses such new challenges that arose in these times; that can maybe present itself as a common global standard. Some of the different areas such services can help include the following:

Covering Vulnerability

Interactive analysis services provide the best of dynamic and static testing. They are focused on the most common and risk-prone flaws. They also enable custom rules for personalization of threat coverage for certain enterprises.

Scalability

Interactive testing from security testing services can handle apps of all sizes. This is important considering that dynamic and static tools cannot scale well. These traditional tools not only require expertise in set up and execution, but also for studying the results.

Code Coverage

Static testing may not check frameworks/libraries. This limits vulnerability analysis. On the other hand, dynamic testing is limited to checking the exposed surface of the application. The result is that you can miss out on significant security components in apps. Interactive testing from security testing services can help ensure that the complete app is tested from inside out. This means greater coverage over the complete codebase.

Conclusion

Users are exploring different ways to manage their lives in this time of lockdown. With everyone having a smartphone, apps are providing a world of new entertainment, learning, and other opportunities for the masses. Studies show that users spent 20% more time on apps in Q1 2020 when compared to Q1 2019. It was also the quarter with the largest record spend on app stores, with a figure of more than $23 billion.

Consumers are relying on apps to support them in different ways during the pandemic. With such a massive surge in demand for apps, developers must take all measures to ensure that only the most secure apps make it to the market. If you fail to realize the importance of security testing services, you will be putting your business at risk of repercussions of massive scales.

AI-Backed Big Data Testing for Futuristic Digital Transformation

The world of digital technology is always evolving. The smartphones, AI-based analytics, and Internet of Things are some of the biggest innovations of recent times. These technologies are driving massive digital transformation at all levels.

The massive growth in the use of the Internet, social media, and other platforms has seen unprecedented growth in data across the world. Most organizations, including those in the public and private sector, are now relying on Business Intelligence (BI) and data warehouse applications to assist them in making key data-based decisions.

Various data formats are organized and processed to help identify patterns for making future decisions. AI-based big data testing is already in use and making major strides in different domains. It is here to stay and evolve to enable futuristic digital transformation and ensure digital quality assurance.

Current Transformation

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought about a major transformation in the way the global economy works. Businesses, employees, and even daily routines of people have been transforming to adapt to the new conditions created by the pandemic. The challenges that have arisen out of this changing environment have created a need for new technologies. Digital transformation is no longer just limited to creating a digital presence, but it is also about providing customized user experience (UX) to the target audience or end-users to meet their needs. Most of these organizations are now ready to consider and embrace new technologies, no matter what their current technological statuses are.

Embracing Big Data & AI

The habits and preferences of consumers or end-users are always changing. The growing volume of analytical data that businesses have to process continues to grow at a staggering rate. It is just too big for normal analytics applications to analyze. This is where artificial intelligence (AI) comes into the picture to help achieve digital quality assurance. AI and big data testing are considered the key tools that will be driving futuristic digital transformation.

AI & Its Role in Analyzing UX Data

Testing techniques need to keep improving in ways that take into account how users interact with a product. However, this has been a challenge for a long time. The most important reason being that it was difficult to record the ever-evolving market standards and needs. Traditional, human-based testing systems focused on the functionality of products, not the market perception. This is where AI-backed big data testing comes in. AI-based systems can learn and upgrade algorithms based on UX data.

The Connection Between AI & Big Data

AI testing requires a regular inflow of data to become successful. And this is possible only with big data analytics. This creates an element of interdependence between the two systems, contributing to digital quality assurance. The result is the creation of a self-sustaining system that is always evolving.

Why is AI the Right Approach for Big Data Testing?

AI applications have the processing power that makes them capable of processing large volumes of data.

The human brain is incapable of matching the power of AI
AI is incomprehensibly more accurate and faster
AI has a much greater capacity for memory and storage compared to human testers
AI can never miss out on critical components when testing products
AI is capable of being automated
Frequent testing can be carried out in much shorter time frames
It helps in reducing overhead costs associated with testing

Organizations can fine-tune products before release. The result is greater quality products can be produced and the industry standards can be improved based on what is most suitable for the market.

Big Data Testing

Big data testing has, in itself, been a major stride in the digital transformation process. Find out how to adopt big data testing, how it can help improve digital quality assurance, and what is involved in it.

Adoption of Big Data Testing

Some of the key aspects of adopting big data testing include:

Implementing Live Integration: It is crucial to implement live integration, as data can be received from multiple sources. It enables end-to-end testing.
Data Validation: Data validation in the distributed file system. This includes comparing source data and added data.
Process Validation: Once the data is compared, process validation involves:

Business logic validation
Data aggregation
Data segregation

Output Validation: This step focuses on the following:

Eliminating data corruption
Effective data loading
Maintaining data integrity

The different ways in which a big data testing strategy can ensure digital quality assurance are as follows:

Ensuring data accuracy
Minimizing losses
Increasing revenues
Improving business decisions
Improving market strategizing and targeting

How Does AI-Based Big Data Testing Help?

AI algorithms and big data testing can come together to help you in so many ways:

Creating smart asset creation with data repositories
Identifying relationships between application requirements and test assets
Predicting incidents and responding in a proactive way

How Can AI Support Transformation in Testing?

AI can bring about transformation in testing and facilitate digital quality assurance in a number of ways:

i. Dynamic Analytics

It is well known that decision making is significantly affected by access to the right analytics tools and data. Machine learning (ML), a component of AI, is capable of processing tens of thousands of data points in real-time. ML allows you to develop models and predictive analytics capable of testing and retesting at a much faster rate compared to humans. Thus, the use of AI-based big data testing means the digital optimization process can become much more effective. It is more so the case with the use of automation in big data testing.

ii. Faster Processing

There are 2 areas where ML excels compared to human testers:

Analyzing a much greater volume of data at a given time
Ensuring a much higher quality of analysis

This means that AI-based big data testing is capable of streaming and expediting multiple digital processes and helping achieve digital quality assurance. ML is also capable of discovering a wide range of new relationships between the datasets. This can further help organizations in identifying new opportunities for revenue generation.

iii. AI Drives Economies at Scale

ML algorithms can learn from data and patterns at a much greater speed than humans or conventional applications. Thus, AI can help scale processes in ways that are simply not possible with traditional systems and teams. A model that can take months for data analysts can be processed by AI-based platforms within minutes or even seconds.

AI is capable of driving processes at scale and helps in making informed decisions. All these make it a crucial tool in the process of digital transformation. It is, however, important to ensure that the business use-case and the goal are clear. If business use cases are not clear, the situation can paralyze your organization despite technological expertise. Once this clarity has been ensured, AI and digital transformation can bring groundbreaking benefits.

How AI Enables Better Insights?

Combining big data with AI has created new needs around data preparation, infrastructure, and administration. In many scenarios, AI and ML technologies have become an integral part of how enterprises address different operational challenges.

There are different ways in which AI allows you to get better insights and ensure digital quality assurance:

i. New Data Analysis Techniques

Traditionally, deriving insights from big data was a major challenge. AI has created new techniques for big data analysis to help provide deeper insights. AI is the next higher step in the process of using query or SQL.

ii. Less Labor-Intensive Data Analytics

AI has made big data analysis and management much less labor-intensive and time-consuming. Human testers are still important for data management and analytics, but these processes should no longer take days or weeks to complete. AI is improving the world of data analytics with completely new capabilities by taking automated decisions based on training data. This is especially seen in the areas of specific use cases. It is revolutionizing how rules, predictions, and decisions are made without the need for sophisticated human know-how. In simple terms, AI-based big data testing allows insights and decisions to be made faster.

iii. Alleviating Common Data Issues

AI is digital quality assurance by addressing poor or low-quality issues in data. ML is capable of cleansing data. The algorithms can detect missing or outlier values, and duplicate records. If the big data is not clean, the insights derived from it cannot be relied on. This is where AI-based big data testing is helping organizations. When it comes to ML projects, most of the time is spent on the cleansing and preparation of data. This is a critical role that AI is playing and it is making a huge difference in enabling better business decisions.

Conclusion

Big data has been one of the biggest technological trends in recent years, revolutionizing not just organizations, but also societies. It is important for organizations to understand the importance of digital transformation in ways other than the technology itself. It is required to identify the right transformation goals while keeping in mind the ever-changing market and growth objectives.

It is important to ensure that the projects are not singular efforts but make contributions to a far-reaching strategy. Big data testing alone cannot help serve the purpose. It is the intelligent, AI-based big data testing models that can bring about true digital transformation through digital quality assurance.

How to Overcome the Divergent Challenges of Performance Testing?

Performance testing is an important step in the development process. Despite its importance, it is a commonly overlooked step in the development cycle. Most developers will not show much interest in conducting rigorous testing on their codes to check how they perform when placed under heavy load. Interestingly, sometimes decision-makers and stakeholders also don’t realize how important performance testing is.

Performance testing can be significantly challenging. This means that it can be an arduous task for most of the teams. Many will not make performance testing an integral part of the continuous integration workflow. Instead, they will do performance assessment at the end of the development process, which results in creating a new set of issues and change in code base to fix performance bottlenecks near to the production release.

Challenges of Performance Testing

So what are these divergent challenges of performance testing that discourage most developers from integrating these tests into the process? Here you can find these challenges and also ways to overcome them.

1. Selecting the Wrong Tools

Many times the team will not select the right tool for performance testing services. The selection of the wrong tool often causes loss of testing days. The tool may also not be able to recognize the application’s controls. The process of selecting the right tool depends on many factors, including:

Application technology stack
Application communication protocol
Performance tester’s skill level
Tool’s licensing cost

The QA manager and team must thoroughly assess the application under test. They should also evaluate the tool’s licensing cost and select the best tool for successful testing.

Apache JMeter is among the most popular Java-based open source testing tools in the industry (or Software community) for performance testing. It has been designed to perform load testing and measure the performance of applications. It can be used for performance assessment and a wide range of services. Some of its key benefits include:

Configure simultaneous/concurrent samplings of a wide range of functions
Writing own tests
Assess database server performance
Supports web/mobile APIs testing

Some of the other popular and able load testing tools include Locust, Gatling, and Blazemeter.

2. Lack of Knowledge

Another major challenge for performance testing services is the lack of knowledge of its need. Most decision-makers and stakeholders have limited knowledge or don’t recognize the importance of performance testing during the development process. This can create a wide range of performance issues after the application is released, often causing it to crash in important events or peak load.

Performance testing should be planned as part of the end-to-end testing strategy. This strategy should involve everyone including the product owners, stakeholders and test architects.

Performance testing must be conducted involving databases, web servers, app servers, Load Balancer, network, IIS server and third-party apps. This can help ensure more effective performance testing/assessment and deliver a good user experience to our customers.

3. Inability to Create a Comprehensive Test Strategy & Coverage

A comprehensive testing strategy ensures that project risks are identified and prioritized. It also helps guide the actions required to address the risks. Creating such a testing strategy can be a big challenge in itself. Such a testing process will involve:

Identification of application performance characteristics
Planning of tests to exercise the performance characteristics
Simulation of real user interactions
Testing Web/Mobile APIs
Testing services to comply with the test strategy
Analyze the user pattern and production usage

Performance test results often fail to be effective because there is improper brainstorming when the test strategy and coverage are created.

It is important for the performance testing team to spend the time and effort in the understanding and analysis of application architecture. The team should also analyze other performance traits such as load distribution, availability requirements, usage model, technology stack, resilience requirements, geography of usage and reliability requirements

It is important to create a comprehensive, clear, and proper testing strategy for ensuring that all these performance characteristics are validated to generate effective performance test results.

It requires vast amounts of talent and knowledge to ensure coverage of critical business and performance functionalities. The scenarios should cover a wide range of parameters. The core functionalities can be simulated by gathering data on different scenarios. It is important to predict user data properly because most users will be using the application from their own context.

4. Time & Budget Limitations

Performance testing requires time and some budget to deliver effective results. The reason time and budget are not properly allocated is due to the absence of proper planning during the development process. This results in relying on low-skill resources that don’t have a full understanding of performance testing activities and best practices.

Most development teams are so much used to rapid development and deployment cycles that they think there is not enough time for additional steps. The fact is that this thought process has been developed because of the need for faster workflow. The truth is that there is never a shortage of time when it comes to testing the quality of a product.

Lack of budget allocation can increase the chances of using open source tools. This challenge can be overcome by planning proper performance testing from the very beginning. This must be done while keeping the resources, timeframe, and budget allocations in mind. If time is still a big concern for your team, you should either add more testing engineers to the team or limit the scope of the testing as per project priorities or goal. It is better to add skilled and experienced performance testing engineers who can clearly define the testing parameters.

5. Testing in Production Environment

Load testing in the production environment is difficult and a significant challenge in itself. During this type of testing, we need to ensure that there will be no impact on real-time users using the product. Any changes to the production environment can have an impact on the user experience. The solutions to this challenge are as follows:

Production environment trends must be closely monitored to identify the irregularities
Load testing activities must be planned in a separate performance tuning environment, a replica of production and not in an actual production environment. In case, there will be any budget constraints or other challenges to set up a production-like environment then we should have proper planning to avoid any impact on the end users.
The need for demand execution in actual production can be met by running such activities during off business hours and taking back-up of production database or setup/link separate database for performance testing on the production environment.

In the past, performance testing was conducted to simulate basic user actions at a protocol level. The availability of advanced performance tools in the market now allows testers to balance between exploratory and automation testing.

6. Proper Analysis of Performance Test Results

It is also a challenge to properly analyze performance test results. This is a major challenge and is faced by many testers. This is because in-depth knowledge of both system and application is required for deep analysis of performance test results.

Experienced performance testers should follow the testing process. They can understand the scenarios and can keep refining the tests on a regular basis. Such engineers can continuously review/monitor the application performance and add performance impacting scenarios for improving user experience.

It is also important to choose performance testing services with experience across the following areas:

Operating system concepts
OSI model
SystemWeb architecture
Networking concepts
Client-side performance concepts
Data structures
Server-side performance concepts
Load balancer and Firewall

DevOps Optimization

It has been observed that DevOps teams that integrate with load testing teams have been significantly more effective. This is a clear sign that automation and integration of performance testing services is an essential step in the development process. It has become easier to test in a cloud environment. The choice of the right testing tools can make it easier to debug new lines of code. Some tools also make it easier to test new iterations before deployment. This helps reduce the risks of causing major failures during the production environment.

CI/CD Unit testing further allows managing the complete software development cycle from a single interface. This helps the DevOps team to get a comprehensive view of the entire process. DevOps best practices recommend incorporating testing in the development pipeline and not at the end. So when it comes to performance testing, all the elements of DevOps cycle are ready. The results of the load test will also become more effective, as you will be able to get deeper insights from the process.

Performance Testing Best Practices

Performance testing can become even more effective when you follow all its best practices:

Get developers, performance testing engineers, and IT involved when creating the performance testing environment
Set up a test environment that accounts maximum-possible user activity
Keep in mind that the application will be used by real users. You must understand that the results will affect users and not just the test environment servers.
Best performance environment is a replica of production or as close to the production systems as possible (downscaled version of production in the right proportion)
Baseline measurements give you a starting point to determine success or failure
The performance test environment must be isolated from the quality assurance testing environment
Maintain test environment consistency
A performance testing tool will not do everything that is required. There may be restrictions due to limited resources. Testing tools must be researched for the right fit.
Keep the audiences in mind when preparing performance testing reports. Software and system changes should also be included in reports.
Actionable metrics can be determined by calculating averages. You can also find value by tracking outliers.

So, it is recommended to follow all these best practices to get the best out of performance testing services. Even if you have a highly time-sensitive continuous integration workflow, integration of performance testing is an important investment. Even when you lose some amount of time during the testing process, the benefits it offers in return are worth it. Besides, it is too valuable in helping to mitigate the risks. You cannot simply ignore the importance of performance testing in the development process.

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