Globally, workflow orchestration was valued at USD 19.28 billion in 2021 and is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 17.9% till 2030. The proliferation of digital payments, the growth of high-volume transactions, the complex processing of big data workflows and the rising need for digital transformation are fueling workflow orchestration in every industry that’s augmenting its processes and business outcomes using technology.
Any business process with mechanical, repetitive tasks can be accelerated with automation. But when you have multiple interdependent workflows, you will need orchestration to make data flow more robust, smooth, resilient and secure across all nodes.
In this blog post, we will talk about the why and how of QA orchestration.
QA orchestration is crucial in coordinating complex software testing tools and solutions, ensuring all threads are in sync across different service boundaries.
It involves configuring, coordinating, and managing multiple test cases, datasets, environments, automation tools, defect reporting, and monitoring to create a dynamic and resilient workflow. It enables teams with centralized management and monitoring of processes, tools, and results, smooth integration of testing tools with the prevalent IT infrastructure, and shorter delivery cycles.
While the basic principle of any workflow orchestration remains the same, what’s different about QA orchestration is its need when you already have test automation to augment testing
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To Bring Order to Automation Chaos
Interconnected workflows, disparate tools, devices, OS, browsers, and software of varying compatibility and interoperability quotients, diverse sets of legacy and modernized systems – Together, as much as they form an integral part of a modern software development cycle, they also add to its complexity and interdependency.
For all these to come together, synchronize well, and enable a smooth and consistent testing experience – you need QA orchestration.
QA orchestration involves coordinating and automating various aspects of the quality assurance process to ensure adequate testing, continuous monitoring, exhaustive reporting, and comprehensive documentation.
To Enable Smooth Scalability
QA orchestration is indispensable for ensuring the smooth scalability of software development.
Organizations must be able to scale up or down their testing organization based on business requirements without disrupting any of the related workflows. An orchestrated QA enables better handling of varying workloads by optimizing resource utilization and automating testing processes wherever required.
Integrated seamlessly with CI/CD pipelines, orchestrated testing provides rapid and consistent feedback, enabling frequent releases without compromising quality. Standardized and repeatable testing processes and effective test environment management ensure consistency and reliability during scalability.
To Strengthen Organizational Security and Compliance Position
QA orchestration is critical for meeting security and compliance requirements in software development. Creating orderliness in testing ensures consistent and efficient execution of various security checks, covering vulnerability assessments, code analysis, and data privacy.
The shift-left approach enables early detection of issues, reducing incidents of security breaches post-production and economic consequences of non-compliance. Continuous monitoring, traceability and extensive documentation boost the level of transparency and visibility of the testing cycle, thereby significantly strengthening an organization’s security and compliance standards.
As per the World Quality Report 2022-23, QA orchestration is witnessing a growing adoption rate among agile enterprises. With its capability to improve delivery timelines for software deployments and releases while maintaining high quality, a well-orchestrated testing organization provides teams with an efficiency edge that’s hard to replicate. However, challenges remain when trying to implement an efficient QA orchestration.
Lack of skilled QE talent, cross-functional collaboration, and adaptability to dynamic business requirements are the areas that often slow down the best of the efforts put in to build a resilient testing workflow. Hence, it’s advised that for automation and digital transformation efforts to bring sustained benefits for testing and DevOps, it’s best to build a resilient QA orchestration with the help of an experienced QE partner.
Several automation projects fail to sustain themselves beyond the initial years of implementation. One of the critical reasons stated is the absence of QA orchestration for a more streamlined and centralized management of testing workflows. So, if you are implementing test automation or keen on scaling it further, ensure you have your quality assurance orchestrated to make it resilient.