A Workflow-Based Test Automation Framework for Web Based Systems

Due to the high complexity involved in Web based distributed systems, it has been difficult to effectively perform the testing process with limited resources to obtain a more thorough coverage of testing. This might open the doors for potential security attacks. Testing such a system is complicated and expensive, and sometimes some tests may not be possible to perform due to the availability of resources. A workflow based test automation framework system was designed and implemented to conduct the test cases and demonstrate the concept. A tester can launch a testing process against a target system by clicking a few buttons on the user screens, and the framework of the workflow test automation system performs the entire testing job in the background. The workflow framework communicates with the participating testers performing testing processes, and provides feedback of each test in real time. The framework also allows plug-ins of a variety of testing workflow definitions for different testing processes.