What is QAOps?
QAOps is an emerging practice that integrates QA (Quality Assurance) into the software delivery pipelines. It necessitates the QA team to work directly with the operations team and the development team.
- We can attain this by integrating QA procedures, automation, and a QA reporting dashboard with the SDLC
- Implementing QAOps means giving the QA team an extra role in the software development life cycle and thus increasing the collaboration between the tester and the developer’s team.
QAOPs mainly adhere to two key principles:
- QA deeds must be incorporated into the Continuous Integration (CI)/Continuous Deployment(CD pipelines)
- Software engineers should work closely with the operations and developers team while building the (CI)/Continuous Deployment(CD pipelines)
Life Cycle of QAOps: 3 Crucial Steps
QAOps is all about setting the accurate platform with the popular tools on the CI/CD pipeline to ensure that the newly built code is well-validated and tested. Setting up the test platform is familiar to us as it comprises 3 unique steps: Trigger, Execute, and Report.
Trigger
The trigger stage refers to generating accurate test cases suitable for testing the product’s technicality without wasting time building unnecessary test cases.
So, when designing the triggering phase, you must keep three things in mind:
- Map out the testing at the preliminary stage.
- Consider all kinds of testing, counting integration testing.
- Employ testing for code verification and deployment.
Therefore, the triggering step must be well-mapped and planned with the automated test life cycle. If this step in the QAOps process goes well, the entire team can be convinced enough of the product release.
Implement
The next stage in the QAOps procedure is the implementation phase. The parallel testing approved in the trigger step is implemented in this phase.
Multiple key factors verify the execution planning in the SDLC:
- Parallel tests that kick start the process
- Selecting the proper support for all the integration testing
- Examining the scalability of the whole procedure
- Making sure that the tests are executed in the accurate sequence as needed
- Distributing the load of implementation tests amongst several departments
- Guaranteeing that all the infrastructure and framework are accessible for the execution of the complete process
It’s, therefore, essential to understanding the significance of this precise stage in the QAOps procedure. Since the triggering step comprises planning out the testing, this phase executes the plan accordingly. Hence, the two crucial phases need to be performed in a row.
Report
The report phase is the last step in the QAOps lifecycle, which counts reporting the results of the trigger and implementation steps. The complete brief of the procedure is generated with a complete description as a final report. The perfect reporting module design comprises a summary and detailed information (in a snapshot).
Besides, the reporting module also includes and stores the history of previously running tests so that individual stakeholders can compare and evaluate the outcomes. Such reports should be made easily obtainable and on demand when needed.
For a better understanding of the report module design, the QA’s required to concentrate on some crucial areas:
- Snapshots and a comprehensive view of the whole project
- Concentrate on the root cause of the various steps involved
- Quick availability of precise outcomes without confusion
- Ensure easy accessibility of the report when required
- Entire details of the report so they can be referred to once again in the upcoming debugging procedure
- Examining the report’s scalability while managing a huge volume of data
The accurate QAOps set-up is a boon for the software delivery procedure. When such three key steps of the QAOps process are accomplished, it will lower the testing expenses and time a great deal, and that too, for various projects at a time.