Test Automation Framework for Implementing Continuous Integration

Manual testing is a laborious and time consuming process. In addition, it may not be effective in finding certain defects. Therefore, we introduce an effective framework for automated testing to help solve such problems. The proposed framework helps automate the distribution, execution, and results analysis of test cases. The workflow of tests and test environments are graphically expressed as tables. Many software development and testing practices can be automated and greatly simplified by using this framework. It can also be used to create a Continuous Integration (CI) system by incorporating the automated build tools or CI servers. This paper provides best practices on automated CI solutions using the proposed framework to provide developers and/or testers with a better idea of progress and code quality throughout the project lifecycle so that they can direct their time and expertise to more important, challenging issues.