Getting started with Salesforce test automation

What is Salesforce?

Salesforce is a cloud-based integrated customer relationship management (CRM) platform that gives all departments—including marketing, sales, commerce, and service—a single, shared view of every customer. Salesforce can be integrated with customized apps to meet the specific needs of specialized environments.

Integrating apps with Salesforce

To integrate an app with Salesforce, follow the standard approach to integration:

1. Define your objectives
2. Research and plan the tasks required to develop the app and enable the integration
3. Carry out the development project
4. Test the integration for completeness and errors, and ensure that it meets the expectations defined in Step 1

As with other development projects, much of the routine testing can be automated, saving costs and time.

What is Salesforce test automation?

Automating the testing of Salesforce applications and functionalities involves using specialized tools, scripts, and frameworks to automatically perform various types of tests on your Salesforce environment, ensuring that it functions as intended and meets the desired quality standards. The goal of Salesforce test automation is to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and speed of testing while reducing the manual effort required.

The goal of Salesforce test automation is to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and speed of testing while reducing the manual effort required

What are its benefits?

In the past, the software development of mainframe and desktop applications had the luxury of long development cycles because business cycles were long. Specifications that were a year old were still valid. Today markets change much more frequently, meaning that business requirements and therefore specifications can change rapidly. Speed to market is critical, and the ability to create apps quickly using generative tools means the development cycle is considerably shortened.

Software development is a time-consuming and resource-hungry process that’s prone to errors and delays. As a result, cost estimates can be off the mark. Automated testing can reduce time and resource requirements for testing, thereby saving costs and reducing time to market.

Beyond increased speed to market and cost reduction, Salesforce test automation offers several other benefits:

• Efficiency: You can run automated tests faster and more frequently than manual tests, enabling you to catch issues earlier in the development cycle.
• Accuracy: Automated tests follow predefined scripts, reducing the likelihood of human error.
• Consistency: Automated tests ensure consistent testing procedures across different testing cycles.
• Reusability: Reuse and modify automated test scripts for regression testing and future releases.
• Scalability: As your Salesforce application grows, automation can easily scale to cover a wider range of test cases.

Starting Salesforce test automation

Setting up a framework and strategy to automate the testing of your Salesforce applications ensures the quality and stability of your Salesforce implementation as you make changes and updates. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you get started.

1. Define test requirements and operating environment. First, it’s key to understand the basics. Before diving into test automation, make sure you have a good understanding of Salesforce and how its components work.
2. Set up test framework. Create a separate environment for testing purposes that mirrors your production environment as closely as possible. This helps ensure that the tests you run accurately represent how your application will behave in real-world scenarios.
3. Identify test scenarios. Determine the functionalities of your Salesforce application that need to be tested. Break these functionalities into test scenarios, covering both positive and negative test cases.
4. Create test data and expected results. Generate or create test data that will be used to simulate different scenarios during testing. This data should cover a range of cases to thoroughly test your application’s functionality.
5. Write test scripts. These scripts should interact with your Salesforce application’s user interface, simulating user actions and verifying expected outcomes.
6. Performance and load testing. Consider incorporating performance and load testing into your automation strategy. This helps you identify how your application performs under various loads and ensures it can handle real-world usage scenarios.
7. Security testing. Include security testing in your automation efforts to identify vulnerabilities in your Salesforce application.
8. Integrate with version control. Store your test scripts in a version control system like Git. This allows you to track changes, collaborate with team members, and maintain a history of your tests.
9. Conduct testing. Execute your test scripts against your testing environment and monitor the results to identify any failures or issues that need to be addressed. Repeat as required until all tests are successful.
10. Reporting and analysis. Implement a reporting mechanism to track the results of your tests. This will help you identify trends, track improvements, and prioritize fixes.
11. Continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD). Integrate your test automation into your CI/CD pipeline. This ensures that tests are automatically run whenever new changes are pushed to your Salesforce application.
12. Maintain and update tests. As your application evolves, update your test scripts to reflect new functionalities and changes. Regularly maintain your test suite to ensure it remains effective and up to date.

Integrating with a Salesforce mobile app using a smartphone or tablet has some particular considerations

Mobile app considerations

Some particular considerations should be taken into account when integrating with a Salesforce mobile app using a smartphone or tablet.

Devices

The integration needs to be tested on a variety of devices under a variety of operating systems, such as iOS and Android. Testing can be carried out in a simulated environment, but that can bring errors, omissions, and false positives. Testing should include various display modes, screen sizes, and display capabilities.

A second device/OS consideration is compatibility. Version control needs to take the mobile OS version into account. Upgrading a mobile OS could cause instability and incompatibilities with the integration. A minimum device configuration may be needed.

Performance

Mobile users are particularly sensitive to performance. Load times need to be short, and navigation through the app needs to be optimized for mobile users. The integrated app should have minimal requirements for data storage and processing power.

Security

It’s fair to say that mobile app security lags behind mainframe and desktop security, with ID theft and other malware exploits more common on mobile devices. Security testing ensures that data is secure.

Availability

Make the integrated app easy to find and install by incorporating compatibility with Google Play and other online stores.

Final thoughts on Salesforce test automation

Achieving successful Salesforce test automation is pivotal for maintaining the quality and reliability of your applications. While it demands meticulous planning and continuous upkeep, leveraging advanced tools can simplify the journey. Testim Salesforce stands out with its AI-driven, codeless test automation platform specifically designed for Salesforce. It addresses common testing challenges by offering stable, maintainable, and comprehensive testing solutions. To experience the benefits firsthand, consider exploring Testim’s features through their free trial.

This post was written by Iain Robertson. Iain operates as a freelance IT specialist through his own company, after leaving formal employment in 1997. He provides onsite and remote global interim, contract and temporary support as a senior executive in general and ICT management. He usually operates as an ICT project manager or ICT leader in the Tertiary Education sector. He has recently semi-retired as an ICT Director and part-time ICT lecturer in an Ethiopian University.