Salesforce Testing Interview Questions and Answers

1. What is Salesforce?

Salesforce is a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) platform that enables businesses to manage all kinds of customer-centric aspects of their business, including marketing automation, customer service, analytics, application development, and more. The cloud-based CRM tool started out simple and straightforward.

The software company has continuously evolved, expanded, and introduced new products to its customers. Salesforce products such as Platform, Experience Cloud, Commerce Cloud, and Customer 360, help companies build their own custom applications, services, portals, and solutions to help automate and personalize the customer experience. Likewise, organizations are responsible for performing Salesforce performance testing to ensure they are functioning properly, are responsive, and scale well as their user bases expand.

2. Describe Salesforce testing.

• Salesforce testing is a process of identifying any errors, gaps, or missing requirements within a Salesforce customization and configuration versus the actual requirement.
• Testing is important in ensuring that the functionality delivered meets the user’s expectations. During testing, potential bugs in the application are discovered and fixed before it goes live.
• APEX is the platform development language used by Salesforce CRM.
• Additionally, it provides a built-in unit test case for developers to validate their code. QA performs manual testing in Salesforce, including happy flow testing, functional testing, integration testing, regression testing, and system testing.
• The following tools can be used for Salesforce automation testing: Provar, AutoRABIT, Assure Click, Selenium, and QTP. The open-source Selenium tool is the best one to choose.
• Testers are required to create functional flow reports based on the status of test cases, in order to determine the functionality of an application.
• Different entry criteria and rule criteria are given to process builders to test the system’s behavior.
• Time-based workflows are also used to check the system’s functionality.

3. Why Salesforce testing?

In Salesforce testing, the main aim is to test the customized application features rather than the ones that are built into SalesForceDotCom (SDFC). Because one of SFDC’s main USPs is that anything in it can be customized according to the needs of the user, Salesforce tests these features to ensure that any enhancements or custom features will not malfunction in production or fail to work smoothly with other modules in SF.

It is important to test the custom features in SDFC because:

• This allows us to determine whether or not the code works.
• Based on the business requirements, it helps verify that the application can meet client requirements.
• This makes it easier to detect problems early during testing.

Common Features are:

• Maintains a positive relationship with customers. Checks the functionality of time-based events.
• Enhances communication with clients. Automates the daily tasks.
• Salesforce provides inbuilt objects to reduce the development effort, boosting the productivity of developers.
• Salesforce does not require any additional software. Checks code and configuration for functionality.
• A Salesforce app store called App Exchange allows developers to reuse existing applications. Developing custom applications is also possible with Salesforce.
• Reporting capabilities built into Salesforce. Users can be assigned to Salesforce by an administrator.
• The initial installation of the system will help you confirm that the requirements have been met. Process builders help you test the system’s behavior and condition.

4. Explain Salesforce Testing Process?

Testing Salesforce would be similar to testing any web-based application. Testers, however, should be able to understand the customizable features that are being built in order to focus on those features entirely instead of the built-in Salesforce features during testing.

Customizable Features Includes:

• Sales and Service clouds
• Standard and Custom Objects
• Salesforce Security concepts
• Workflows and Process Builder
• Lightening module
• CPQ Configure, Price, Quote
• Reports and Dashboards

Sandbox environments are used during Salesforce testing. Sandbox environments are needed by developers and testers for different purposes.

After the code has been deployed in a Sandbox environment and approved for release, it would be moved from the Sandbox environment into production. Testers are assumed to have a basic understanding of all the terms used in Salesforce before beginning the test.

5. Explain Salesforce Testing Life Cycle?

A Salesforce Testing Life Cycle consists of five steps:

• Gathering requirements for testing: The business requirements of the application to be built should be understood.
• Planning tests: Establish a test strategy, objectives, and test plan.
• Setting up the test environment: Set up a sandbox environment on Salesforce and insert test data.
• Execution of the test: Run the tests and document any bugs that are found.
• Closure of the test: Prepare a test summary once all test cases have been executed and the identified defects have been fixed.

6. Explain non-functional Salesforce testing?

An application’s performance, usability, and reliability are evaluated during Non-Functional Testing. The following components are included in Non-Functional Testing.

• Performance: Tests that evaluate how well a system performs under particular workloads in terms of responsiveness and stability.
• Security: Testing to discover vulnerabilities in the security mechanisms of an information system so that they can protect data and function as intended
• Usability: A user-centric evaluation of how easy the application is to use.
• Compatibility: Checks to ensure the application is compatible with different computing environments.

7. Explain functional Salesforce testing. (or) Explain Levels of Testing in Salesforce (or) Explain Scope of Salesforce Testing?

The Salesforce application testing life cycle follows the same steps as any other platform.

Below is a description of these types with examples:

Unit Testing:

• A unit test is conducted by the Apex developer. They write code clauses which automatically check the coverage.
• You can determine how many records of data are affected, so that the code can run successfully in the environment.
• Code coverage ratios of at least 78% are required when deploying Apex code into a Production environment.

Example: A developer has scripted a password input text field with its validation ar (8 characters long, must contain special characters.); makes a unit test to test out this one specific text field (has a test that only inputs 7 characters, no special characters, empty field)

System Testing:

• Performed by an expert team of Salesforce consultants(Testers and QA professionals).
• Focus is on functional requirements and use cases. Generally, testers don’t understand the code (also known as Black Box Testing).
• From start to finish, a system’s technical processes are tested. Test scripts are based on specific outputs.
• Troubleshoots a problem with automated rules in the system, such as workflows, validations, and assignments.

Example: After generating a password, a tester writes a test case to verify that the password is saved accurately in the database. By doing this, the developer ensures that the code he writes is integrated with the database.

User Acceptance Testing:

• Tests of acceptance are conducted to determine if the software system meets all predefined specifications. As a result, both business stakeholders and end users can be satisfied by the system, as long as it complies with business, technical, and aesthetic requirements.
• There are generally two types of acceptance tests: User Acceptance Testing and Business Acceptance Testing. From a user’s perspective, the former evaluates whether the product meets all performance standards, while the latter ensures that the application aligns with business goals.
• End users conduct this test. A test script mimics real-world business scenarios with expected outcomes. Client confirmation of fit-for-purpose should be the desired outcome

Example: The client tests a particular feature on site, such as adding a customer to the CRM.

Production Testing (or) Production Verification Testing:

• Testing is conducted in the production environment by both the QA team and end users. Salesforce Consultants and end users repeat system testing performed in the Production environment.
• The purpose of production testing is to ensure that configuration and code have been properly deployed from the sandbox to the production environment. End users should repeat UAT testing after deployment.

Example: Verifying that the CRM has been created and deleted properly after go-live.

Regression Testing:

• Neither a manual nor an automated method can be used to accomplish this. This type of testing checks if any changes made to a custom functionality do not affect other features.
• The main objective of this process is to ensure that the released code and configuration features don’t conflict with existing processes.
• The test is done after releasing features intended for a specific group of users and testing those features with users who are not intended for the release.
• Testing is primarily intended to ensure that system users for whom the released features are not intended can perform their day-to-day activities without interruption.

Example: Testing the login functionality after a new user interface has been designed.

8. What are the Salesforce Key Terminologies?

Developers and testers must understand Salesforce terminology in order to work with the applications.

A few of the terms most commonly used in Salesforce are listed below:

• Opportunity: Opportunities are sales deals that an organization would like to keep track of. The general public should have access to opportunities provided by any organization.

An example would be a customer requesting a personal loan from a bank salesperson. Personal loans are an opportunity in this case.

• Lead: A lead is someone who expresses interest in an opportunity. Typically, this would be a caller looking for more information about an opportunity with the organization.

An example would be a customer approaching a bank salesperson for personal loans. The lead in this instance would be the customer, and the opportunity would be the personal loan.

• Record: There are a variety of fields that contain information about a specific item. A contact record, for example, typically contains fields related to a person, such as name, title, phone number, and e-mail address. These fields appear on the detail page of the record.

Tabular(Default) – Like spreadsheets, these consist of an ordered set of fields in columns, with each matching record listed in a row.

Summary – Similar to tabular reports, but you can also group rows of data, view subtotals, and create charts.

Matrix – Groups records by both row and column.

Joint – Report blocks that present a variety of views of your data.

• Account: Accounts correspond to any company you want to manage, including its customers, vendors, partners, and prospects.
• Contact: Contacts are individuals who work for an account. They might be employees of the account.
• Tasks and Events: In an association, tasks and events refer to all activities associated with a particular opportunity, contact, or account.
• Reporting: It is easy to keep track of real-time data with the built-in reporting features in Salesforce.
• Salesforce Objects: We can store data specific to an organization with Salesforce Objects, which are database tables. These are standard objects.
• Salesforce Standard Objects: There are a large number of standard objects in Salesforce, but you can also create custom objects.
• Salesforce Custom Objects: Custom objects are all items created by external entities other than Salesforce.com.
• Relationships: such as Master-Detail and Lookup.
• Case: An issue raised by a customer.
• Solution: Descriptions of issues and their resolutions.
• Forecast: revenue estimates for the organization.
• Folders: Contains all the documents and controls their access.
• Report: Analyzes the data stored in custom or standard objects.
• Dashboards: are generated from reports, and contain graphs or charts.
• Activity: consists of tasks and calendar events.
• Products: refer to the items that customers purchase.
• Campaign: refer to marketing projects.

9. List some Salesforce test automation tools?

• Selenium web driver
• HP Unified Functional Testing (UFT)
• Cucumber
• com IDE (Eclipse-based)
• Change Sets (Cloud Deploy)
• Ant/force.com migration tool
• Provar

10. Describe Salesforce Exploratory Testing?

Salesforce Exploratory Testing would include the following practices:

• Validate that data is consistent across multiple screens.
• Test cases should be documented according to the requirements.
• A negative test flow involves deleting default data generated in an application and validating its behavior.
• Form field input should be validated as part of the testing process.
• To ensure that data is rendered correctly across multiple browsers, cross browser compatibility testing must be performed.
• Each editable input field must be validated for maximum length, as well as invalid data.
• When invalid data is passed onto applications, testing must also include error message validation.
• Boundary Value Analysis should be used with great care when validating amounts on banking applications.
• Various test data parameters need to be considered when testing reports and dashboards.
• Both the application flow and individual functional flows should be tested.
• For both positive and negative testing, there are multiple permutations and combinations of functional flows.
• API testing is required for third-party applications integrated with the system.
• Coordinate with developers to identify the default Salesforce functionalities that complicate customization.

11. What exactly is Test-driven Development?

Test-driven development (TDD) is a software development process that consists of converting software requirements into test cases before software is developed, and testing the software against these test cases throughout the development process. As opposed to creating test cases after software has been developed. As part of extreme programming, test-driven development is related to test-first programming.

12. Describe the test-driven development cycle?

It involves the following steps:

Add a test: Adding a new feature begins by writing a test that passes if (and only if) the feature’s specifications are met. By looking at users and use cases, the developer can discover what specifications are needed. Test-driven development pays attention to requirements before writing code, which is a key benefit. Unit tests are usually written after code, in contrast to the usual practice.

Run all tests: This shows that new code is needed for the desired feature because the new test fails for expected reasons. In addition, the test harness works as expected. It means that the new test cannot have any flaws and will pass every time.

In elegant or hard code, whichever passes the new test is acceptable. Step 5 will still honing the code. There should be no additional functionality added.

It is now necessary to revise the new code until all tests pass. As a result, the new code will comply with test requirements and won’t break existing features.

The code is refactored for readability and maintainability, using tests after each refactor to ensure that functionality remains intact. It is important to remove hard-coded test data. After each refactor, run the test suite to ensure existing functionality has not been broken.

13. What is Salesforce Load Testing and What Strategies can be used?

The goal of load testing is to observe the behavior of an application under varying loads. A large number of users can be accommodated by Salesforce.com, a highly scalable platform. Salesforce.com is tested for performance bottlenecks by the platform’s developers.

Nonetheless, load testing becomes necessary when a newly introduced piece of code results in performance bottlenecks that need to be addressed. Performance testing tools such as HP LoadRunner and Apache JMeter can be used to load test Salesforce platforms.

A few strategies for Salesforce load testing include:

• Identifying how an application behaves under maximum load.
• Load testing should be done in the Sandbox environment rather than the production environment.
• It is necessary to identify important business processes and to prepare test scripts.
• It is necessary to execute test scripts and determine key metrics over time, such as Transactions per Second (TPS), Response Time, and Bytes throughput.
• After all the metrics are collected, the application needs to be evaluated for any performance bottlenecks.
• Be sure to inform other teams in the same environment about when load testing is being done if there are multiple teams working in the same environment.

14. How Salesforce Security Testing works and what tools can help with this?

Salesforce’s development team usually performs security testing on the platform. The ‘Application and Network Vulnerability Assessment Summaries’ provided by Salesforce should be reviewed prior to requesting a security test.

If a security test is still required after reviewing the summary, the Salesforce team can schedule a Security Assessment Test.

Following is a list of security testing tools offered by Salesforce:

Security Source Scanner for Salesforce.com:

Salesforce offers a static code analysis tool that is used for on-demand analysis of security source code. An overview report is generated with a list of potential security vulnerabilities based on a scan of the source code provided as input. A license is required to use a security source scanner.

Using the Secure Coding Library:

The standard library provided by Salesforce enables developers to follow the best coding practices in terms of security. As a result of using this library, developers are less likely to develop high-risk applications with security vulnerabilities.

15. Best practices for Salesforce testing?

Let’s talk about some best practices for testing salesforce apps now that we know what to test, where to test, and how to test.

Develop an effective test plan:

• Salesforce testing encompasses a host of business processes and components that require a solid test strategy.
• A clear understanding of the high-level objectives, the stakeholders involved, the testing phases involved, and the tools to be used must all be determined in this phase.

Create an integrated framework for testing:

• A variety of Salesforce Sandbox options are available for isolated Salesforce Sandbox testing.
• In order to test business-critical functions satisfactorily, all systems must be properly integrated into the sandbox so that integration tests can be performed in real-time scenarios like production.

Automated testing to speed up test coverage:

• When testing, automating critical and frequently repeated business processes, like the checkout or order fulfillment flow, can save a lot of time.
• Testing automation is possible with several types of API endpoints supported by Salesforce.
• Automation of API endpoints can be achieved using tools such as Postman, REST-Assured, and SoapUI.

16. Tips for Salesforce testing?

Salesforce testing must include the following features:

• Testing must include UI testing, functional testing, regression testing, integration testing, system testing and system integration testing.
• Automation testing can also be enforced on Salesforce using tools like HP Unified Functional Testing (UFT ) and Selenium.
• A tester needs to be cautious during UI testing as most of the web pages on the Salesforce platform are Visual Force pages. The dynamic nature of visual force pages need to be paid special attention as all the elements of a webpage may not be loaded at one go.
• To test an application’s entire functionality, testers need to create functional flows that include both positive and negative flow paths.
• It is also necessary to create and test workflows that take into account various user roles.
• An effective test management tool, such as HP ALM, is essential for documenting test cases.
• In order to validate reports functionality, test data must be prepared.

17. Responsibilities and Roles of a Salesforce Tester?

It is more common for Salesforce testers to be referred to as ‘Quality Engineers’ rather than QA people, as Salesforce testing requires the testers to create complex test frameworks, understand the functionality of an application in depth, and work well with developers and project stakeholders.

Although your company may not use some of the default Salesforce functionalities, some cannot be removed. Testing should focus on the customized functionality developed by the organization instead of the default functionality.

Here are some of the main roles and responsibilities of a Salesforce tester.

• In order to understand the customizable features built into Salesforce, a tester needs to be in regular contact with the development team.
• Since Salesforce requirements are often complicated and require a lot of effort to understand by testers, the tester needs to coordinate with the business whenever necessary.
• As per Salesforce’s standard rule, the tester should ensure the code coverage doesn’t go below 75%.
• To ensure data consistency, the tester needs to conduct role-based testing.
• Any third-party applications integrated with Salesforce need to be tested for compatibility with Salesforce.
• To validate the complex flows that result in inconsistent results in Salesforce, a tester will need to be familiar with load testing tools such as JMeter.
• You will need to understand multiple flow models.

 Salesforce Manual Testing

In manual testing, QAs test the software application by hand in order to discover bugs. In order to accomplish this, QAs follow a written test plan that details a number of different scenarios. From a user’s perspective, the QA must evaluate the performance of the web or mobile application.

To authenticate a Salesforce.com login, the QA must evaluate the logout process.

Steps in Testing:

• Navigate to the Salesforce login page.
• The user enters their registered email address in the ’email’ field.
• They must also enter their registered password.
• Clicking Login completes the process.
• Users are then redirected to the homepage.

Salesforce Automation Testing

There are several tools available to automate tests in Salesforce. For the purpose of this article, we will consider test automation using Selenium With Java.

Multiple operating systems including Windows, Linux, Solaris, and Macintosh are supported by Selenium. Additionally, Chrome, Safari, IE, Edge, and Firefox are supported. A functional test may be automated using this tool. In addition, Selenium can be easily integrated with tools like Jenkins, Maven, and Docker to achieve continuous testing. In addition, tools such as TestNG and JUnit facilitate easy maintenance and the generation of reports for the selenium tests.

The purpose of this test will be to build upon the manual testing example shown above, and add a few features. The purpose of this test is to demonstrate how a custom field can be created for a custom object using Selenium and Java.

Step 1: Log in to Salesforce.

Set the path of the browser’s required driver in the system properties to launch the website in the browser of your choice. The ChromeDriver should be selected since this example uses Google Chrome. Here is the code.

Webdriver driver = new ChromeDriver();

System.setProperty(“webdriver.chrome.driver”, “Path of the chrome driver”);

Using the following command, maximize the browser for a clear picture of test cases being executed.

driver.manage.window.maximize();

Step 2: Go to salesforce.com

driver.get(“https://login.salesforce.com”);

Step 3: Use the following command to input your Username and Password

driver.findElement(By.xpath(“//input[@id=’username’]”)).sendKeys(“<Enter email>”);

driver.findElement(By.xpath(“//input[@id=password]”)).sendKeys(“<Enter Password>”);

Step 4: Use the following commands to click the Login button

driver.findElement(By.xpath(“//input[@class=’button r4 wide primary’]”)).click();

If you encounter any issues loading the page, add a wait so that the page can fully load

driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS);

This will take you to the Home Page

Step 5: On the home screen, locate the Quick Find Search Field and enter an object.

driver.findElement(By.xpath(“//input[@class=’quickfindInput version2 ’]”)).sendKeys(“object”);

Step 6: Click on the item that appears after entering it into the Quick Find Box

driver.findElement(By.xpath(“//a[@id=’CustomObjects_font’]”)).click();

Step 7: Select the “Create New Objects” button

driver.findElement(By.xpath(“//a[@value=’New Custom Object’]”)).click();

Step 8: Input the object name in the Label text box, and do the same for the Plural Label text box

driver.findElement(By.xpath(“//input[@id=’MasterLabel’]”)).sendKeys(“abc”);

driver.findElement(By.xpath(“//input[@id=PluralLabel’]”)).sendKeys(“abc’s”);

Step 9: Save the page by clicking the Save button

driver.findElement(By.xpath(“//a[@value=’ Save ’]”)).click();

The result of the test

The Custom Object created.

Salesforce Apex Testing

1.Why is Apex Testing Necessary?

Tests are crucial if you are designing a software product for end users. In testing, the given product is tested to see if it works as expected. The salesforce user interface is one way to test an application.

Testing through Salesforce is different than testing through other means. Using this code, if you call via SOAP API, you can send 200 records using bulk services. To implement Salesforce App exchange, the following rules must be met.

Note:

• Our unit tests must conceal a minimum of three-by-fourth of our code; all these tests must be completed efficiently. All unit tests in the enterprise namespace are automatically implemented when implementing the application in a production enterprise.
• Apex code does not contain system.debug calls. The Apex code does not include Test classes and Test methods.
• Triggers should have a precise testing scope. Classes and triggers must be compiled correctly.

2. How are Apex tests performed?

These are the tests Salesforce develops:

Single Action: An individual record is tested to determine whether it generates the correct or expected result.

Bulk Actions: From 1 to 200 records can be called any Apex code, such as a class, trigger, or extension. We recommend testing individual records or bulk records.

Positive Behavior: The assumption behavior is tested to determine if it occurs in every presumed mutation.

Negative Behavior: As a result of this behavior, applications cannot indicate a negative amount, cannot include future data, etc.

Restricted user: The user is tested to see if the code was implemented or if an error occurred.

3. What is an Apex Unit Test?

Apex encourages the execution and creation of unit tests to facilitate the development of strong and flawless code. A unit test is a class method that checks whether a specific part of code works correctly. Unit tests will not store data in the database and will not have arguments. Test classes should specify unit tests, which are written with “@isTest”.

Here is an example:

Private class MyTestClass

{

@istest static void test_1

{

Test code to be executed.

}

@istest static void test_2

{

Test code to be executed.

}

}

The following examples show how to implement unit tests for some common Salesforce constructs:

4. How to get triggers to run in Apex?

Triggers are APEX scripts that execute before or after a Data Manipulation Event (DME). You can use these to perform custom actions before or after a record has been inserted, updated, or deleted.

@isTest

public class TriggerTestClass

{

static testMethod void testMethod1()

{

// Perform DML here only

}

}

5. How to get Standard Controllers to run in Apex?

The standard controller places a record into a variable that can be accessed by a page.

@isTest

public class ExtensionTestClass

{

static testMethod void testMethod1()

{

Account testAccount = new Account();

testAccount.Name=’Test Account record’ ;

insert testAccount;

Test.StartTest();

ApexPages.StandardController sc = new ApexPages.StandardController(testAccount);

myControllerExtension testAccPlan = new myControllerExtension(sc);

PageReference pageRef = Page.AccountPlan; // Add your VF page Name here

pageRef.getParameters().put(‘id’, String.valueOf(testAccount.Id));

Test.setCurrentPage(pageRef);

//testAccPlan.save(); call all your function here

Test.StopTest();

}

}

6. What does Apex Test Data mean?

It’s temporary data that isn’t saved in the database. The inserted data is not saved in the database after the test method is executed. The database does not save or commit any modifications made to the records. Data management is easier because test data is temporary.

7. How to Run unit tests?

To verify the utility of the apex code, we will run the unit tests. We will run the apex test methods in the developer console.

We may run the following groupings of test cases:

• Few or total all test methods in a particular class.
• Few or full methods in a group of classes.
• An inbuilt collection of classes called a test suite.
• Complete unit tests in the organization.

These tests can be run as follows:

• Salesforce user interface
• Salesforce expansions through visual studio code.
• API
• Lightning Platform Developer Console.

To run unit tests through the Salesforce interface, follow these steps:

• Then choose Apex Test Execution from the “Quick Find Box” in Setup.
• Choose Tests from the drop-down menu.
• Select the tests to run. The catalog of tests consists simply of classes that represent test methods.
  • Select a managed package namespace from the foldout list to choose a test within an installed package.
  • Select [My Namespace] from the fold-out list to select a test that is available at your enterprise level.
  • To select a test, select [All Namespaces] from the fold-out list.
• Selecting “Skip Code Coverage” will prevent code coverage data from being gathered.
• Press the Run button.

Salesforce Performance Testing

1.Performance Testing – what is it?

Testing a software’s performance under variable conditions is a type of performance testing. In this case, performance refers to multiple variables: stability, scalability, speed, and responsiveness – all under multiple levels of traffic and load.

Consider the case of developing a gaming app. Perform a performance test before releasing it to ensure it will perform at expected quality levels no matter what the hardware or software environment is. A performance test should include:

• High-speed loading and playing.
• Text and visuals should be rendered as intended.
• If multiplayer, it should support multiple players
• and use minimal memory.

2. What are the different types of performance testing?

Software performance testing determines a system’s readiness in several ways:

Load Testing: This metric measures system performance when there are multiple concurrent users running transactions. While the number of users or operations on a certain software increases, load testing primarily monitors response time and system stability.

Stress Testing: Tests that assess how a system performs under unusual user conditions, also known as fatigue tests. The software is tested to determine what is the breaking point.

Spike Testing: Tests how a software system performs when it is repeatedly subjected to high traffic levels and heavy usage.

Endurance Testing: Tests that evaluate how a software will perform under normal conditions over a substantial period of time, or soak testing. Detecting common problems such as memory leaks which can affect system performance is the main objective here.

Scalability Testing: Analyzes whether the software is able to handle increasing loads steadily. Adding load incrementally while monitoring the system’s response is an effective way to do this. Furthermore, you can also play with other variables such as memory, bandwidth, etc. while keeping the load at a steady level.

Volume Testing: Also called a flood test because it involves observing the system with data to see if there are any points where the system is susceptible to being overloaded and what fail-safes should be implemented.

3. What are the most important metrics for performance testing?

To evaluate the results of system performance testing, the following metrics or Key Performance Indicators can be used:

Memory: A system’s available and/or used storage space when processing data and executing an action.

Latency/Response Time: The amount of time it takes for a system to respond to a request after the user makes it.

Throughout: The number of information units processed by the system for a given period of time.

Bandwidth: The amount of data that can move between two or more networks per second.

CPU interrupts per second: How many hardware interruptions a system experiences during processing data.

Speed: How fast a web page loads with all its elements, including text, video, and images.

4. Conducting Performance Testing?

Determine your testing environment and tools

• Identify a test environment that replicates the intended production environment. Do a close replication of hardware and software specifications by documenting them. Do not run tests in production environments unless you have established safeguards to prevent disruptions to the user experience.
• Running performance tests on real browsers and devices is the easiest way to test in real-world conditions. To avoid the many flaws of emulators and simulators, testers should use a real device cloud that provides on-demand access to real devices, browsers, and operating systems.
• It is possible to ensure that QAs are getting accurate results by running tests on a real device cloud. The testing process ensures no major bugs pass undetected into production, enabling software to offer the best possible user experience.
• Real devices must be included in the testing equation, whether it is manual testing or automated Selenium testing. If you do not have an in-house device lab that is regularly updated with new devices and maintains them at the highest level of functionality, you may wish to opt for cloud-based testing infrastructure. Run tests on 2000+ real browsers and devices using BrowserStack’s real device cloud. To get faster results without compromising accuracy, run parallel tests on a Cloud Selenium Grid. Test software in real-world environments to find bugs before users do.
• Sign up, choose your device, browser, and OS, and start testing for free. These simulators can simulate user conditions such as low network and battery, changes in location (local and global), and changes in screen size and resolution.

Identify acceptable performance levels for the system.

Determine the goals and numbers that indicate the performance test’s success. Referring to the project specifications and expectations is the easiest way to accomplish this. As a result, testers are able to define acceptable system performance based on test metrics, benchmarks, and thresholds.

Design test scenarios for testing.

Construct tests that will simulate real-world scenarios in which the software’s performance is challenged. Identify different scenarios that can be tested. Consider automating tests to ensure fast, accurate results.

Preparing the environment and tools for testing.

Before tests can run, Configuration Management must be used to program the environment with relevant variables. Make sure the testers have access to all necessary tools, frameworks, integrations, etc.

Test the performance of the application.

Implement the test case previously constructed. You can run multiple tests simultaneously to save time without compromising the accuracy of the results.

Re-test and debug as needed.

After the tests have been completed and bugs have been identified, share the results with the entire team. Fix the bugs by consolidating them and sending them to the appropriate developers. A few basic bugs can be fixed by QAs to save time and to reduce team-wide back-and-forth.

Re-run the test after the performance issues have been resolved to confirm that the code is clean and the software is performing at optimal levels.

5. Performance Engineering vs. Performance Testing: What’s the difference?

Performance testing has been covered in this article, but it is impossible to distinguish it from performance engineering.

In order to further optimize efforts and achieve maximum efficiency, performance engineering applies best practices throughout the software development lifecycle. A common practice for this type of work includes UI/UX design, architectural configuration, code structure, as well as aligning technical specifications with business requirements.

6. Best Practices for Performance Testing?

Follow these guidelines when performing a performance test on a system:

Begin at the unit test level:

• Perform performance tests as soon as code reaches the integration stage.
• Run tests on code before merging it into the main branch. Shift Left Testing is aligned with DevOps.
• Testing each code unit reduces the chances of magnified bugs showing up in the later stages.

Always keep the User in mind:

• This group of tests is intended to help create software that users can successfully use.
• Consider why speed matters to the user when running tests instead of just focusing on server response.
• Do some research on user expectations, behavior, and attention spans before setting metrics.
• Based on that, decide what acceptable software performance levels are.

Design realistic tests:

• Don’t try to test the performance of a server cluster by throwing thousands of users at it.
• Only the software would be stress-tested. In reality, traffic comes from a variety of devices (mobile and desktop), browsers, and operating systems.
• This must be taken into account while testing. With a platform like BrowserStack, this is simple.
• Utilize BrowserStack’s real device cloud to conduct tests on the device-browser-OS combinations that your target audience is likely to use. Tests shouldn’t begin with zero load.
• Almost any system on which an application is rolled out is going to be loaded in the real world. Load intensity and volume will vary, but they will never disappear completely.

Include it in Agile:

• Performance testing is often left until the end of a development project. The bugs have metastasized by then and are nearly impossible to fix.
• The developers are also tying up their time with errors that could have been avoided, causing significant delays in the project.
• Agile software development should incorporate performance testing to resolve this issue. Include testers in brainstorming sessions from the start in order to integrate testing into development.
• It is likely that testers will mention performance testing and emphasize the importance of conducting it as early as possible.