After the software testing manager has completed his/her evaluation of the commercial market, it can be found that there are no tools that meet the requirements within all constraints. It is worth considering whether it might be better to build their own (or wait for the market to catch up with you).
If you build your own tool:
#It will be most suitable for your own needs;
#You may be able to compensate in the tool itself for a lack of testability in the software under test;
#The software testing tool may be able to assume knowledge of your own applications, thereby reducing the work necessary to implement automated tests;
#It will probably not be very well supported in terms of documentation, help, and training;
#It may suffer from 'image' problems ('something developed by Joe in the next office can't possibly be as good as the tool described in this glossy color brochure from a tool vendor');
#The user interface may leave something to be desired (a software testing tool developed by technical people often considers ease of use to be unimportant).
If you buy a commercially available tool:
# It will probably be considerably cheaper to achieve a given level of features and quality (such as usability) than the cost of developing the software testing tool yourself (the cost of commercial tool development is spread over a large number of users; you have to bear all of that cost yourself if you develop your own);
# It should be well supported in terms of documentation, help, training, etc.
@ It is often seen as 'attractive' - something people want to be involved with;
@You will not entirely avoid building your own even if your basic engine is a commercial tool; you will still need to build support for your test automation regime.
If you do build your own, do not attempt to produce a Software Testing tool on the same scale as the commercial tools. Remember in most cases they have been under development for many years, funded by numerous users in many organizations. Build the smallest and simplest software testing tools that will give you immediate and real benefit. You might start by building some filters to use with your existing comparison tools, for example. You could collect information about any existing tools or utilities that different people or groups in your organization have already developed to meet some need within their own scope; these starting points can often be developed at minimal cost to give more general benefits to the organization.
If you build your own tool:
#It will be most suitable for your own needs;
#You may be able to compensate in the tool itself for a lack of testability in the software under test;
#The software testing tool may be able to assume knowledge of your own applications, thereby reducing the work necessary to implement automated tests;
#It will probably not be very well supported in terms of documentation, help, and training;
#It may suffer from 'image' problems ('something developed by Joe in the next office can't possibly be as good as the tool described in this glossy color brochure from a tool vendor');
#The user interface may leave something to be desired (a software testing tool developed by technical people often considers ease of use to be unimportant).
If you buy a commercially available tool:
# It will probably be considerably cheaper to achieve a given level of features and quality (such as usability) than the cost of developing the software testing tool yourself (the cost of commercial tool development is spread over a large number of users; you have to bear all of that cost yourself if you develop your own);
# It should be well supported in terms of documentation, help, training, etc.
@ It is often seen as 'attractive' - something people want to be involved with;
@You will not entirely avoid building your own even if your basic engine is a commercial tool; you will still need to build support for your test automation regime.
If you do build your own, do not attempt to produce a Software Testing tool on the same scale as the commercial tools. Remember in most cases they have been under development for many years, funded by numerous users in many organizations. Build the smallest and simplest software testing tools that will give you immediate and real benefit. You might start by building some filters to use with your existing comparison tools, for example. You could collect information about any existing tools or utilities that different people or groups in your organization have already developed to meet some need within their own scope; these starting points can often be developed at minimal cost to give more general benefits to the organization.
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