Top 3 Salesforce Testing Tips

Salesforce has dominated the CRM market for quite some time, evolving and improving all the while. These advancements have equipped companies with the power to automate their sales processes, collaborate across departments, and seek new opportunities to create value. However, they have also made Salesforce into a complex, dynamic infrastructure. Quality testing is crucial to make the most of Salesforce’s abundant functionalities. The article below will walk you through it with the top 3 Salesforce testing tips.  

1. Share Your Test Cases… Early.

Open communication between the testing and development teams is a prerequisite for this tip. If your company utilizes DevOps or Agile methodologies, you’re in luck. You’ve successfully completed step one. Step two builds on step one by requiring management to facilitate collaboration between the testers, developers, and stakeholders.  

Sharing Test Cases with the Development Team

Share test cases with the development team prior to implementation. Companies that use CI/CD practices in their software development life cycle (SDLC) should already be familiar with the idea of tester-inclusive business processes. Sharing test cases with development early on provides them with the time and context they need to assess potential problems with their code.

Sharing Test Cases with the Stakeholders

After completing functional assessments, turn your efforts towards user acceptance testing (UAT.) This is the point in the testing timeline when stakeholders should get involved. UAT provides an opportunity to showcase the value and purpose of an upcoming feature. Not only does this help bridge the gap between business goals and technical requirements, but it ensures that time-consuming builds won’t be met with resistance from the end-user.

2. Automate Test Scripts. 

Of all the Salesforce testing tips, automation is the most universally agreed upon. Unfortunately, automating Salesforce testing can be tricky due to the dynamic nature of its web pages. It’s crucial to choose the proper testing tools to support your efforts, especially in enterprise-level companies where Salesforce is just one of many platforms in use. For those managing an extensive portfolio of applications and software, there are a few elements that your testing framework should include:

• Cross-platform automation functionality. Integrating with the other applications in your infrastructure shouldn’t be an additional burden. A testing framework that works across web, mobile, or cloud-native environments will reduce the chances of integration-related issues.
• End-to-end testing. Your testing tool should support the flow of an application or system from start to finish.
• Cloud-based infrastructure. Eliminating the need to set up your test environment infrastructure also removes the burden of maintenance from your testing team.
• Advanced analytics. Quality AI collects and reports data about test cases, automation results, and your product.

#1 in CI/CD, DevOps, and Testing for Salesforce

Before we cover the last of the Salesforce testing tips, let’s break for a Salesforce automated testing recommendation. Copado Robotic Testing was made for Salesforce development and deployment. Its low-code capabilities ensure that the testing process is accessible, even for those without extensive technical expertise. Additionally, a simplistic dashboard will be beneficial for shareholder involvement because it can turn complicated testing analytics into digestible visual representations. 

3. Be Comprehensive.

There are several different types of Salesforce testing for your quality assurance (QA) team to consider aside from the aforementioned functionality testing and UAT:

• Regression testing. Regression testing is an excellent candidate for automation due to its repetitive nature. The purpose of these tests is to ensure code adjustments or releases do not affect the existing code or any functionalities. 
• Integration testing. Salesforce’s compatibility with third-party applications doesn’t mean you’re off the hook. No Salesforce testing tips list would be complete without acknowledging the importance of testing for defects that arise from incompatible software modules.
• Load testing. This testing method measures the performance of your system under the stress of multiple simultaneous users. It is often confused with scalability testing, a separate, equally important endeavor. 
• Scalability testing. Scalability testing is a bit more comprehensive than load testing. While load testing focuses on maxing out the system, scalability testing measures its ability to perform whether it's scaled up or down. This type of testing is especially useful for projecting the outcome of fluctuating data volume, traffic, and transactions.
• Production testing. Salesforce production testing validates the success of new code and configuration deployment.
• Security testing. Salesforce and its built-in platforms, like the nCino Bank Operating System, come complete with their own safety measures. Despite this, testers will be responsible for the security of any app integrations or configurations they facilitate.

Before testing, make sure your team has a solid plan regarding where your priorities lie. Identify which areas of the system are most vulnerable to bugs and consider running parallel tests to ensure they remain in working order despite any changes to the infrastructure.

How to Get Started

Contact us or schedule a demo when you’re ready to implement these Salesforce testing tips to optimize your methods. 

Copado is the #1 solution for Salesforce because we know Salesforce. For more information, check out our 2022 State of Salesforce Testing Report.