Business white paper

Mobile testingFollow these five steps to simplify and accelerate app testing.

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Business white paper | HP UFT Mobile

The rapid pace of mobile apps demands new approaches to all types of testing. To bring high-quality software to market quickly, your organization needs a strategy that covers all aspects of mobile testing from application level testing to real devices and from functional to performance, to network and security. This paper outlines five strategic steps to get you there today, in the area of functional testing specifically, and move your processes into the era of the user.

It’s the era of the user. So what does that mean for functional testing?The explosion of mobile devices creates a new set of challenges for your organization in your quest to develop and deliver robust mobile apps. To be successful, your organization needs to employ effective, efficient, and thorough functional testing throughout the application development lifecycle.

And that’s a problem. Conventional, manual testing, which is often the norm for desktop and web applications, simply cannot meet the challenges of testing mobile apps.

Mobile apps create new testing challengesThe era of the mobile app and the user creates unprecedented challenges for your functional testing teams. These include:

• Fragmentation—Mobile devices are changing and evolving at a bewildering pace. There are hundreds of new devices introduced every year. With new screen sizes, form factors, and operating system variations, these changes often cause problems for testing teams, because they cannot keep up with the pace of change.

• Urgency—To keep pace with a dynamic competitive landscape, mobile development must be fast—very fast. Mobile teams need to design, build, test, and release software in very short intervals. Conventional manual testing simply cannot keep pace with the agile world of the mobile apps while also ensuring proper coverage of functionality.

• Risk—Poor app quality can damage the reputation of your enterprise and its brands. Because users provide ratings and public reviews of apps, it’s impossible to not face public scrutiny if you deploy a bad app—and the impact of bad reviews and a low-rated app can be catastrophic.

• Complexity—As mobile apps become more complex and depend on new technologies—such as location-based, near-field communication (NFC), real-time events, and pop-ups—testing becomes more complex, both manually and automatically.

• Localization—If your enterprise offshores testing and app build services, your test teams need the ability to run remote tests that validate functionality over local devices and carriers. Otherwise, the experience for local users could be quite different from that of the test cases.

These challenges that arise with mobile devices and apps drive a new set of requirements for functional test teams.

HP LoadRunner HP Performance Center

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HP Service and Network VirtualizationHP ALM

HP UFT Mobile

Private cloud of dedicated real devices

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Deliver better software in less time with these five stepsWhile the era of the app and the user brings big challenges, it also brings big opportunities for companies armed with the right tools. Here are five strategic steps to move your functional testing processes into the era of the app and the bring the focus on the user, along with a look at the HP tools that enable your transformation.

Key strategic steps HP UFT Mobile solution

1. Test mobile apps on real devices.To gain a realistic view of the actual user experience, you have to test on real devices. Device emulators and simulators can be useful early on in the development and test process, but they don’t show you the actual user experience on devices with unique features.

HP Unified Functional Testing (UFT) Mobile software allows you to use a wide variety of real user devices in your testing environment. The software enables accurate, reliable, and repeatable testing on diverse mobile devices and operating platforms.

2. Use the cloud to host your testing reference devices.This is an essential requirement for an enterprise solution. A cloud-based service allows you to avoid the complexity of procuring, managing, maintaining, and updating your own testing reference devices. And it enables your testers to securely test and monitor your apps on real devices connected to live networks.

HP UFT Mobile enables access to a fully managed private cloud of dedicated mobile devices. This integration gives you access to real devices, including different types of phones and tablets, located around the world.

3. Automate mobile app testing.Manual testing on individual devices doesn’t scale. To keep pace with agile development processes and the demands of a fast-moving business, your test teams need automated tools that allow you to write a test once and run many tests on a wide range of devices in a short amount of time.

HP Unified Functional Testing software, which provides the foundation for HP UFT Mobile, provides automated functional testing for many platforms and technologies, including mobile. HP UFT Mobile extends this foundation to enable automated and manual testing of mobile apps on real devices based in the cloud.

4. Test mobile apps under different network conditions.The behavior of an app can depend heavily on network variables. This means you need to understand and control network conditions when you test apps. You should use a service that tests devices operating in live cellular networks, not just Wi-Fi networks.

HP UFT Mobile allows you to test apps on real devices connected to real networks with live network conditions. To enable an even broader range of testing, you can use HP Network Virtualization to test different network conditions such as carrier, network or location.

5. Leverage your existing processes and tools.Mobile apps should leverage your substantial investments in software quality processes, tools, teams, and policies. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Find the best way to extend your existing software development lifecycle processes and leverage your current assets to encompass your mobile apps.

HP UFT Mobile enables your enterprise to naturally extend your existing HP Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) software suite, including HP Quality Center software, to support the testing of mobile apps. With this combination, you gain the power and control you need to automate functional testing, along with an end-to-end view of the status of application quality.

Business white paper | HP UFT Mobile

Figure 1. HP UFT Mobile extends the HP Application Lifecycle Management suite to enable full end-to-end testing of mobile apps on real devices.

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Keep your eyes on the prize: a better user experienceThe rise of mobile apps brings a new set of functional testing challenges, from fragmentation and application complexity to urgency and risk. To overcome these challenges, your organization needs testing tools that are built for the unique requirements of mobile devices and platforms. That’s HP UFT Mobile—an end-to-end solution for the functional testing of mobile apps.

Ultimately, HP UFT Mobile helps you deliver not just better apps, but a better user experience—and that’s what really matters in the era of the app.

Learn more at hp.com/go/mobiletesting

Business white paper | HP UFT Mobile

© Copyright 2014 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

4AA0-2591ENN, September 2014, Rev. 1

Figure 2. HP UFT Mobile enables cloud-based access to real mobile devices.