Codeless Automated Testing in ServiceNow

Manual testing is tedious and time-consuming according to the different situation of the testing module. To overcome this issue, the software industry has introduced Automation Testing.

At the starting period of ServiceNow we need to do testing manually. From the Istanbul version Automated Test Framework is introduced. ServiceNow offers an Automated Test Framework (ATF) to improve ServiceNow application tests.

Automated Test Framework (ATF)

• Automated Test Framework is a ServiceNow application used to automate the tests performed to confirm applications, customizations, or configurations.
• ATF gives you the tools to generate and run automated tests on your ServiceNow non-production instance.
• ATF gives functional testing that permits actions such as creating records, setting field values, and checking results of field values. If a test fails, ATF shows that the outcome doesn’t meet the expected results of the test and includes details of what the underlying problem may be.

The need for ATF
Every year there will be a major updates in ServiceNow tool that includes application improvement and adding a new functionality. One of the advantages of the ServiceNow platform is testing, because the customer faces a common challenge while upgrading a ServiceNow instances. It’s a challenge for customers to adapt integrations of all modules after Peer testing .The results of skipping or rushing these tests, it will affect the instances. By mistaken, any errors that have been pushed into production instance it will affect the dependent users who trust this application.

Benefits of using ATF

• It’s a time saving and avoids repetitive testing –set up the tests and reuse them every time when you upgrade or adjust your instance
• Stay away from user error – Since the tests are automated, they’re performed exactly the same way every time you run them
• Permits you to create reusable tests –When you create ATF tests, you can reuse them for future upgrades
• Speeds up test creation –create test templates and add predefined lists of steps from the existing test plans. Reuse this template whenever necessary
• When UI changes have been detected, the testing would not affect because ATF is independent of UI changes. But if we use third party automated testing tool the UI changes has been detected then it will affect the code. ATF is adaptable to UI changes which reduces a maintenance burden during testing
• The testing can be done at custom applications
• ServiceNow delivers a quality product which paves a trust in this platform
• ATF is compatible with browser testing, and is planned for functional testing of business logic
• ATF can be incorporated with Jasmine, an open-source testing framework for JavaScript
• ATF tests should just be run in sub-production instances

Not prescribed to use ATF

• You should not use ATF tests or any other functional testing tools in your production instance
• ATF is not planned for testing every single UI component
• No mobile/tablet testing support
• ATF can be used but is not suggested for unit testing
• ATF is not a load testing or performance testing application

Conclusion

It reduces human involvement, also reducing testing errors and saving time otherwise more time will be spent on manual tests. While using ATF tool by organizations, there will be a high scope for conveying value to ServiceNow projects quicker. The biggest pro of ATF is all-in-one solution and at the same time, the con is end-to-end testing.