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Test automation is the biggest thing to have happened to software testing in the recent years and has revolutionized the way organizations approach testing. The widespread popularity of the agile methodology, which focuses on continuous testing, has made test automation a necessity to meet the testing goals of an organization.

There are quite a few test automation management tools available in the market today, such as QARA Test, Watir, Appium, Tricentis Tosca, and more. These tools offer various features dedicated towards making the software QA process easier, faster and more efficient. If you’re looking for an automation tool, here are some key questions to ask in order to figure out which one will meet your requirements.

1] What are your requirements in software QA?

Every automation management tool is different and so before you choose one, you must have a clear idea of your QA requirements. Does your project primarily call for web/desktop testing alone? If it’s only a specific type of application your project requires, then you can opt for a software that caters to that type of application alone. For example, Watir is a platform for QA of web applications.

2] Are there any skilled resources in your organization?

Switching to automation not only calls for investment but also there’s the need to impart training to your staff, unless you already have skilled resources in your organization. If it’s the former scenario, you should choose a tool with a very short learning curve. QARA Test is one such tool that makes you learn automation in just 3 days.

3] What are the different integrations you want your tool to support?

Different test automation management tools support different integrations and what you choose depends on the type of integrations you need for your project. To begin with, closely study the different integrations and their purpose. The most common integrations are JIRA, BrowserStack, BrowseEmAll, SauceLabs, and Jenkins, among others. For example, JIRA integration is for complete test management while BrowserStack and SauceLabs are for grid execution.

4] What programming language is your QA team most comfortable working with?

Having skilled resources is great but what’s more important is the programming language your team prefers to work with. Different tools are built using different programming languages, which makes it very important to choose one wisely. However, a test automation management tool built using the Selenium framework, such as QARA Test, is a clever way to go about it. Even though Selenium is built using Java, it offers support for a host of programming languages, including Perl, PHP, Python, and Ruby, among others.

5] Which platform(s) or browser(s) do you work or intend to work with?

Some QA projects just work with a single browser or platform, such as native mobile apps built for either Android or iOS. However, other projects require you to execute testing simultaneously across multiple browsers and platforms. If your project demands the latter, you should look for test automation tools that offer cross-browser/cross-platform testing.

6] What is your budget?

Your budget is often the deciding factor that you simply cannot ignore. Make a list of all the tools that fulfill the requirements and then go for the one that is most cost-effective. If the tool of your choice does not fall within the budget you set out with, you might have to cut down on a few bells & whistles and get them sometime later.

The Final Word

Discussing with your QA team and the decision makers of your company to figure out the answers to these questions will make it easy for you to choose a test automation management tool that will help you increase test coverage, reduce the testing time and offer other benefits. If you want to share your experience of choosing a test automation tool, drop us a message in the comments section below.

MTD or Making Tax Digital is an initiative of the British Government to digitalize tax filing and accounting for their people. The idea behind the innovation was to help individuals as well as businesses to streamline tax filing, on a single platform.

When Will It Come into Play?

Making Tax Digital is expected to come into practice on April 1, 2019. However, this deadline is only for businesses that have crossed the VAT threshold. Businesses beyond VAT will be included under MTD by April 2020.

Who Is Included Under MTD?

Making Tax Digital will include a wide group of people, ranging from individual taxpayers, landlords, self-employed individuals and all businesses, except a few. Although, by April 2019, it will only be mandatory for the VAT registered businesses with a turnover greater than £85,000.

Why Was the Change Initiated?

The HMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs) claims that every year billions of pounds are lost to errors and miscalculations during tax filing. To cap these losses, the HMRC proposed the idea of Making Tax Digital administer taxes in a simpler and effective manner, avoiding the possible errors.

In short, Making Taxes Digital has been employed to make tax filing:

Accurate
Making Tax Digital desires to shape the tax process in such a way that there remains little chance of miscalculations and errors. A tight control of fraudulent activities will also be practiced.

Simpler
The HMRC will introduce tax software that allows small businesses to quickly file their taxes online, with ease and efficiency.

Faster
With efficient software available online, the tax filing for business owners and accountants will be more automated and time efficient.

How is Will Making Tax Digital Benefit People?

Everything At One Place
Users with MTD will create a single financial account that will include every detail of their liabilities and claims, all at one place.

Digital Interaction
MTD has replaced the telephonic conversations with online chats and emails. Users will no longer have to wait on call for several minutes to get their queries answered.

Up-to-date Tax Information At Every Time of The Year
Making Tax Digital by HMRC will require its users to update their tax statements at least four times a year. Although it is not a mandate to do it every three months, the information will need to be available on their digital accounts so it can be viewed by HMRC when required. Thus, a comprehensive tax picture for both the user and the government.

Fewer Efforts, More Time At Hand
One digital account will hold every critical information, tax payments will be done on the same platform, documents and spreadsheets will stay on the same account, using a third party software.

With this, tax filing and record keeping will be less of an effort for the users, saving them more time to be used on more important areas.

Tax Planning Better Than Before
By maintaining records digitally, users will develop a habit of updating their taxes regularly. This gives the taxpayers a clearer picture of their tax situation. Using this information, they can manage their taxes better. Payments this way can be budgeted to make financial management easier and effective.

Are There Any Risks Associated With Making Tax Digital?

The only problem with MTD is that a large number of businesses are used to the traditional method of tax filing. These businesses may be apprehensive to make the transition from the current practice to the digital platform. Although it may be scary to use entirely new software knowing that the HMRC is involved in the process, the benefits out-number the risks.

The best thing to do is to prepare you for the upcoming changes to make the best of what the government has in mind.