Salesforce is well-known for its CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system. CRM is used by almost every organization as it assists them in managing their sales marketing, customer service, and other business operations. However, automation testing in Salesforce is of rising importance due to regular updates released by it. To ensure that frequent changes and updates do not break the system, testing becomes all the more important. Apart from this, there are numerous advantages of automation testing, like increased consistency and quicker feedback.
Overview of Salesforce CRM
There are many CRMs available in the market but Salesforce CRM holds a different position in the market due to its proficiency in on-demand software that helps minimize the cost for customers. They believe in continuous innovation and that is one of the foremost reasons for the success of the Salesforce CRM system.
Challenges Businesses Face While Salesforce Testing
Organizations consider testing of Salesforce a major constriction. However, the testing tools and open-source tools available can be used for automation testing in Salesforce, but those tools are not completely viable to carry out the purpose of testing.
Below given are some of the challenges that businesses encounter while performing automation testing in Salesforce.
Frequent Updates
To address the existing issues and enhance the customer experience, Salesforce delivers regular updates. However, there is a possibility that updates will impact the existing configurations, customizations, and integrations. Thus, testing needs to be done at least thrice a year.
Dynamic Components
The process of automation may get affected because Salesforce comprises active components, like UI elements and decision tables. These active components change with the change in the test script and can affect the existing functionality of the CRM system.
Data Management
While performing the automation testing in Salesforce, continuous data feeding is required. This is why the management of data becomes a little challenging when complex scenarios and data-dependent processes arise.
Integration Testing
Businesses integrate their Salesforce CRM system with other applications to streamline the different operations. Due to this, integration testing becomes crucial while carrying out automation testing in Salesforce. A skilled workforce is needed to perform the integration testing in Salesforce.
Skilled Employees
To carry out the automation testing, a skilled workforce is required which is not easily available in the organization. So the cost gets increased when hiring external experts.
Overall, there are many challenges associated with Salesforce testing, but with the right strategy and testing tools, it can be accomplished. Now, let’s discuss some of the best ways to automate Salesforce.
Best Practices To Carry Out the Salesforce Testing
Workflow Rules
The workflow rules are primarily designed to automate the standard internal procedures. Workflow rules are the features that provide notification to authorized people when there is a need assumed to take any action. It is one of the significant ways to automate Salesforce testing.
Process Builder
It is the graphical representation of automated processes made by the builder. For the processes that are performed manually, the technique of process builder streamlines the process of automation testing in Salesforce. Moreover, it includes the tasks, such as the creation of other tasks, sending emails, and updating fields.
Visualforce Pages
It is a framework that empowers the developers to design a custom user interface in the Salesforce applications. Additionally, with the help of visual force pages, custom interfaces can be provided to users, and hence the process of automation testing can be streamlined.
Apex Triggers
It enables the developer to write the custom logic for data modification and updates. Due to this, complex automation can also be performed in the Salesforce application.
Third-Party Apps
There are many third-party apps available to automate Salesforce. Not only this, these third-party apps can be easily integrated with Salesforce applications, and the tasks, such as email marketing, data management, etc., can easily be automated.
Benefits of Automating the Salesforce Testing
Improves Efficiency and Saves Time
The manual data entry and repetitive tasks are quite error-prone and time-consuming. Automation minimizes the need for manual data entry and repetitive tasks. The automation in Salesforce minimizes the extent of manual data entry. The automated processes in Salesforce streamline repetitive tasks and help employees focus on other important and strategic tasks.
Enhanced Productivity
Automation testing enables the QA team to achieve more tasks in a lesser period. Due to this, the sales get improved and business grows in a faster manner.
Scalability
The businesses can scale their operations without acquiring any additional staff or resources through automation testing. Automation processes in comparison to manual processes handle tasks more efficiently.
Consistency
Automation enhances the consistency rate of data entry, processing, and reporting. Moreover, automation increases compliance and regulatory purposes and hence leads to greater reliability and accuracy.
Conclusive Remarks
Automation testing in Salesforce improves the overall productivity, efficiency, and accuracy of business operations. Organizations can streamline their bottom line with automation testing.