Salesforce is a cloud-based software offering customer relationship management services to help organizations streamline their sales and marketing operations. They started as Software as a Service (SaaS) and now provide several solutions like marketing, automation, analytics, application development, and so on. Salesforce is in fact the number 1 CRM software in the world, with over 150,000 companies using it.
Also Read: What you need to know about Salesforce Einstein?
One of the best features of Salesforce is that everything can be customized as per the customer’s needs. But these feature updates and enhancements should not compromise or clash against other elements in the Salesforce environment. And in order to ensure this, we need Salesforce Testing. Salesforce Testing thus essentially helps with validating the customized features of the application, rather than its in-built features.
o Salesforce Testing can;
o Identify defects in an early stage, with high accuracy
o Help in ensuring stability for customized features
o Ensure that functionality is intact (with internal or external environment integration testing)
o Increase test coverage with end-to-end testing
o Validate the integration of third-party APIs with Salesforce
o Validate case management workflows designed for customer services
Salesforce Testing offers a plethora of benefits. It is beneficial to;
o Ensure that you build the most reliable software deployments
o Make sure that the software is fit for its purpose and won’t fall down under pressure
o Leverage key business users' expertise
o Optimize software release processes
o Isolate problem components in the earlier phases of software development life cycle
o Minimize business risk
o Achieve clear and concise reporting
o Enable quicker execution
o Facilitate better test coverage
o Spot defects earlier
o Deliver higher test accuracy,
o Reuse test cases for subsequent releases
o Optimize testing processes
o Reduce the risk of data leak/breach
o Decrease the number of production defects
o Increase customer confidence
o Increase testing for more software releases and patches within the same compressed time-frame
o Expand the testing window to 24×7, on nights and weekends, without adding new resources
o Enable continuous integration process to mature the testing departments
o Save enormous training costs, by consolidating processes and practices
o Help your developers get the most out of Salesforce
o Save time and money during the development process as well as after it
The testing process of Salesforce is pretty much the same as for any other web application. But the tester needs to have a clear perspective of the customizable features built during the test process, since it helps focus on the particular customized code, instead of the built-in Salesforce features.
The first phase of software testing, taking place post-development, is functional testing. It involves reviewing each new feature thoroughly, checking for bugs, and making sure that the new functionality works fine from start to finish. The tester then needs to ensure the new development works along with the existing features.
Functional testing in a Salesforce UAT Sandbox will further make sure that your new app operates as planned while preserving your existing architecture and security model.
Once functional testing has been taken care of, you’re ready for the next phase- UAT (User Acceptance Testing). For this, a tester works through different processes, using the new functionality in a real-world business case, in order to ensure that the user only sees the elements they need to see.
UAT also clarifies certain requirements which might not have been clear in the initial design. It is the best strategy a release team can use while making sure that system changes are palatable to and sanctioned by their intended audience.
Some general best practices to ensure successful testing are as follows;
o Tests should be run as real user profiles.
o Test data should be prepared to validate the reports' functionality.
o The testing method must comprise functional testing, UI testing, regression testing, and system integration testing.
o The dynamic nature of visual force pages needs to be paid special attention to, since all the elements of a webpage may not be loaded simultaneously.
o Positive and negative flows should be considered by the testers.
o User roles must be constructed and tested using workflows.
o Automation testing needs to be performed using tools like Selenium and HP Unified Functional Testing.
Needless to say, Salesforce testing is not an easy process. There are multiple challenges that can be faced during the process by a tester, some of which might be as follows;
o Testing advanced features like Visualforce, Salesforce or Service Cloud Console is not an easy task.
o A tester needs to recreate all their classic tests for the Lightning UI.
o Some of the standard functionalities can’t be removed, even if they are not in use.
o GUI tests won’t work when switched to the test environment.
o Automated tests should be able to work in every test environment.
o Some issues turn up while creating field locators for the Salesforce screens since some field IDs differ between companies.
Leverage AppShark's Salesforce testing and advisory services to validate your organization's customized Salesforce functionalities and integrations with other enterprise apps. We offer comprehensive life cycle testing, which includes Functional, Integration, and Automation Testing services to help you implement Salesforce.com or build other applications.
Our wide range of testing services covers all modules of Salesforce cloud applications including Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, and Community Cloud, in addition to a large repository of pre-built and ready-to-use test accelerators for Accounts, Leads, Campaigns, Contacts, Opportunity, Quotes, Cases, Email Marketing, Email Journeys, Subscribers List, Sales Forecasting, Lightning Communities, Community Pages and Reports, and more!
Feel free to connect and further the discussion. Contact us or mail us at sales@appshark.com