Cracking the Code with Effortless Automated Regression Testing for POS

PublishTime： 2023-06-30 Article Source：Keysight Blogs

Long lines and delays through the checkout are not only barriers to convenient shopping, but the financial impact on retailers is massive, with a whopping $37.7 billion of sales lost each year.

As a result, ensuring seamless POS software and payment device functionality is vital. However, regular software updates and new feature releases increase the risk of bugs and defects disrupting the checkout experience.

Retailers must perform regression testing to verify that no update, change, or bug fix impacts existing functionality. Doing this manually only increases the risk further because human error is inevitable due to the complexity of modern POS systems. Peripheral devices, backend integrations, and intricate workflows make it virtually impossible to cover possible test scenarios manually.

Test automation helps overcome manual errors by removing the reliance on human execution. Automation improves repeatability and accuracy while increasing test coverage to ensure you can test every component thoroughly, minimizing the risk of errors hitting production. Consequently, shoppers can flow through the checkout without interruptions, so retailers can begin to claw back some of those billions lost in sales.

The rest of the article will dive deeper into what regression testing is, how manual testing falls short, and how combining automation with robotics overcomes these obstacles.

What is Regression Testing?

Regression testing is essential for any application or system. The goal is to verify that previously tested features remain functional and unaffected after any changes that occur or bug fixes.

For retailers, regression testing is crucial because POS systems are constantly evolving. Updating features, introducing new payment methods, and integrating peripheral devices like barcode scanners and PIN entry pads, can introduce unexpected errors, functional regressions, and interoperability problems.

Performing regression testing for POS helps mitigate the risks associated with these enhancements. However, manually testing essential test cases is highly challenging when a wide range of test scenarios exist, such as:

1. Sales transactions – verify that various sales transactions, including multiple payment methods, refunds, exchanges, and discounts can be accurately processed.

2. Inventory management – validate stock availability, ensure new products can be added, and adjust stock levels after sales and returns.

3. Peripheral device integrations – ensure compatibility with POS systems for barcode scanning, terminals for processing transactions via different payment methods, and receipt printing.

4. Loyalty schemes and discounts – accurate processing of rewards, tracking promotions, and syncing up with customer profiles.

5. Reporting – validate POS interoperability with various backend systems, including logistics, customer relationship management (CRM), and sales for reporting and data analysis.

These test scenarios only scratch the surface of what is required when performing regression testing for POS systems. Depending on the complexity, POS regression suites can contain up to 2,000 test cases, covering critical functionalities, high-risk areas, or other areas impacted by recent changes. Attempting to manually execute accurate and timely testing for all these different test cases is a monumental task, so there’s little wonder that errors creep in.

Manual Regression Testing Challenges for POS

While performing manual regression testing for POS has been a common and traditional method, it’s not without several challenges that can impact software quality. Here are some of the most common manual regression testing challenges for POS that retailers must contend with:

Labor-intensive and time-consuming

As POS functionality evolves and new software updates are released, testers must execute existing and new test cases constantly. Putting a strain on available resources can often lead to delayed or canceled release cycles, impacting POS operational efficiency and the checkout experience.

Limited test coverage

When many test scenarios and configurations exist, manual regression testing often falls short of achieving the required coverage for POS. Limited test coverage increases risk, with unnoticed bugs hitting production, impacting real-world usage.

Peripheral device integrations

Peripheral devices, such as payment terminals, barcode scanners, and PIN entry devices, are often complex to integrate with POS systems. Simulating different device behaviors and user actions is repetitive but critical for ensuring sales transactions can be completed. Manually testing many variations can lack consistency, increasing the risk of faulty communication between devices and POS.

Lack of scalability

As POS systems constantly change and the level of complexity grows, manual regression testing can struggle to keep up. An increasing number of test cases and configurations can limit thorough testing, ultimately impacting every aspect of checkout – POS software, peripheral devices, and business-critical backend system integrations.

Test Maintenance

Due to POS software and integrations continuously evolving, manual regression test cases require a vast amount of maintenance. As changes occur, every test case must be adapted to reflect changes in functionality, system integrations, and business-critical workflows. Trying to perform test maintenance manually takes time and is incredibly mundane, leading to errors and inconsistencies between test cases and actual software behavior.

By replacing manual regression testing with automation, retailers can reduce risk, improve accuracy, and increase scalability. There are several other benefits that software testers can gain too.

Automated Regression Testing Benefits for POS

As discussed, several obstacles make manual regression testing for POS challenging. However, by introducing automation into your testing process, a lot of the complexity that makes manual regression testing difficult can be overcome:

24/7/365 testing

Manual regression testing for POS traditionally requires being present in a lab due to software testers and QAs having to replicate physical actions. Retailers can run tests at night and over weekends by automating testing for POS graphical user interfaces (GUI) and using robotics for activities like payment interactions and barcode scanning. As a result, when human testers arrive at the testing lab, a lot of validation and testing has been completed. Not only does this reduce time-to-market and minimize release delays, but it frees testers to focus on complex scenarios and edge cases.

Peripheral device validation

As mentioned above, with an automated solution that can drive robotics to test physical devices and actions, retailers gain access to seamless testing capabilities that surpass the limitations of manual testing. Manually validating the functionality of peripheral devices is often challenging and error-prone. Automated regression testing, combined with robotics and computer vision, enables testers to simulate physical user actions and accurately replicate real-checkout scenarios, helping to get releases out to stores quicker.

Accelerate new feature releases

POS software and payment methods constantly evolve to meet changing customer needs. New features help modernize POS systems to improve operational efficiency while new ways of purchasing goods, such as mobile wallets and contactless payments, are popular. Offering shoppers their preferred method of payment should not be overlooked because failing to do so can push them to spend elsewhere, which can add up to billions in potential lost sales. Incorporating robotics with automated regression testing ensures the quick identification and resolution of new features or updated payment processes to maintain functionality without negatively impacting other areas of the POS system and its integrations.

Expand test coverage

All critical functionalities and test cases must be verified whenever a change or software update occurs. Manual regression testing inevitably fails to deliver enough coverage due to time constraints. As a result, bugs and defects can remain undetected, causing any release to be delayed or even canceled. Automating regression testing increases scalability and repeatability, helping software testers run all the necessary test cases before a deployment. A model-based approach for automated testing can quickly identify every test case so all scenarios, edge cases, and essential business rules are tested, minimizing undetected errors.

Simplify testing of complex integrations

Peripheral devices are not the only complex integrations in the POS ecosystem, with backend systems, such as inventory management, CRM, and accounting platforms adding to manual testing challenges. Attempting to test the POS IT infrastructure manually is time-consuming and prone to errors. By automating regression testing, retailers can quickly and thoroughly validate every technology layer and simulate real-world scenarios to ensure end-to-end functionality.

Reduce test maintenance

Another bugbear (pun intended) of manual regression testing is updating and maintaining test scripts after every new feature, software update, or bug fix. It is virtually impossible to manually perform a systematic and structured approach to validate functionality and stability due to its repetitive nature. By automating repetitive tasks, software testers can increase efficiency to help improve the overall reliability of their regression suites. Test maintenance can be reduced further if using a model-based approach to testing because new test cases can be auto-generated to reflect any change without impacting the rest of the model.

Automated Regression Testing for POS with Keysight Eggplant

Keysight Eggplant is an intelligent automation tool that helps retailers streamline, accelerate, and increase the quality of regression testing for POS. Defects and regressions can be identified quickly and early in the development cycle, saving time and accelerating releases. By combining robotics provided by Keysight’s partner, IntelliQA, with Eggplant, retailers get one solution to test the end-to-end journey throughout the checkout. Further capabilities include:

· Connecting and operating robotics to test payment transactions and physical user actions.

· Model-based testing to help reduce test maintenance.

· Intelligent computer vision that improves POS GUI testing regardless of the manufacturer.

· AI and machine-learning algorithms increase test coverage by identifying every conceivable test case.

· Track testing efforts with built-in analytics, coverage heatmaps, and screen recordings of test runs to understand what happened play-by-play.

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