How do Functional Testing Services Benefit Businesses

In an online landscape characterized by a multitude of software systems, it is the customer experience that ultimately determines whether a software system is good enough for the market. This means all functional requirements or specifications in software applications should work seamlessly and generate output conforming to the functional specifications. This is where functional testing services play a key role in validating the software system. These services test whether the functions of the software application work as expected.

This is done by providing the appropriate input and verifying the output against functional specifications or requirements. The result comes in the form of "pass" or "fail", for either a feature performs as expected or not. Functional testing for web applications or mobile apps is important to assess the web application’s or mobile app’s fitness before being released to end-users. It verifies whether the software and its various features perform as desired when exercised directly by a user or system. No wonder it remains an integral element of quality testing.

Why does functional testing matter?

Many dismiss functional testing, or, for that matter, software testing as a whole, as an unnecessary expense of time and money. However, nothing can be further from the truth as glitches spiraling out of control can lower customer experiences, damage business prospects, and invite lawsuits and regulatory penalties, and many more. For example, Apple’s updates to iOS 11.1 had glitches galore, with users reporting the system not typing the letter "I" and making a cracking sound during phone calls. Similarly, the Android OnePlus 5 showed a bug as users found it difficult to connect while making a 911 call. The two examples are testament to the need to have a robust functional testing strategy.

What are the common functional tests?

Functional tests are categorized into the below-mentioned forms and are typically performed by experts offering functional testing services.

Unit testing: This is conducted at the beginning of the agile-based development process to check whether each unit of code uses inputs and transforms them into desired outputs for the next unit. It validates whether each unit or component of a software system performs as expected.

Integration testing: It clubs multiple units or components of the build and tests them to ensure each component connects and functions as per the specifications. This is important as each unit has different programming logic, which may impact the work of other modules after integration. An integration test ensures individual modules do not interfere with the functioning of others and, together, satisfy all requirements.

Smoke testing: In this type of testing, testers check in a non-comprehensive manner whether the new build (and its major functionality) works as expected to enable detailed testing further. It is executed before any regression or detailed functional testing is performed on the build.

Sanity testing: As a subset of regression testing, it checks whether minor fixes and changes made to the code have any unexpected impact or are working as expected. If the sanity test fails, then the build can be rejected to save money and time from further testing.

Regression testing: This type of functional automation testing checks and validates the feature additions or bug fixes and ensures they do not adversely impact the existing features. This involves the re-execution of full or partial executed tests to check the smooth functioning of existing functionalities.

User acceptance testing: The final testing phase before the software application goes live, checks whether the delivered software solution meets the user, performance, and business requirements from the user perspective – in real-time. This test was performed by end-users during beta testing.

What are the benefits of functional testing?

The host of benefits business enterprises can gain from functional testing are:

• Ensures the satisfaction of the end-user in using the software product
• Identifies or prevents the occurrence of defects or glitches early on in the development lifecycle
• Ensures all product specifications/requirements are met
• Ensures proper working of each functionality of the software product
• Ensures the new features or enhancements do not have any adverse impact on the existing quality of the software
• Reduces overall testing costs by minimizing rework and improving quality
• Ensures security of the software application by identifying any software vulnerabilities or bugs
• Ensures compliance of the software application with various regulatory standards
• Ensures seamless interoperability of the software application with other systems or products

Conclusion

The timely conduct of automated functional testing in the SDLA can ensure the software application or product – web or mobile-based -delivers the experience and performance it is designed for. It helps to accelerate the product’s time to market and ensures the end-users are able to use the product to their convenience and satisfaction.

James Daniel is a software Tech enthusiastic & works at Cigniti Technologies I'm having a great understanding of today's software testing quality