Table of Contents
Welcome, Salesforce Learners! We hope you have experienced that feeling when every click works seamlessly within the Salesforce platform, but have you ever thought about how it works? Well, that complete process is done because of rigorous testing.
In this blog, we will dive deep into the role of Salesforce Testing in the Salesforce ecosystem. Also, we will discuss its types, levels, processes and how this testing ensures that Salesforce applications are working in the best manner for business success.
Before we provide in-depth information about the testing in Salesforce and unleash its layers, let’s quickly discuss the Salesforce platform for beginners.
What is Salesforce?
Salesforce is a famous customer relationship management (CRM) software company that provides multiple benefits to businesses by providing marketing, sales, automation, analytics, and application development. Salesforce brought revolution to the CRM industry by introducing a cloud-based model that allows the users to access their applications and data from anywhere in the world with an internet connection.
It helps businesses streamline their operations, gain customer insights, improve collaboration, and achieve ultimate growth and profitability.
Now that you know briefly about this platform, you should also know the Salesforce terminologies to better understand them.
Salesforce Terminologies
It is mandatory to know about Salesforce terminologies to understand its features and proper workings. We have listed some essential terms so that you can learn more about this helpful platform.
VisualForce: It is the framework or visual control center in the Salesforce platform to build custom user interfaces. It gathers multiple controls and languages under a single tab. VisualForce also aids in administration and intuitive development.
AppExchange: It is one of the best features of the Salesforce platform. AppExchange is a business app store with a variety of paid and free app integrations that can add new features to customise the Salesforce implementation.
Apex: It is the resident programming language that Salesforce develops. It allows the developers to customise the SaaS applications on the platform.
Salesforce Lightning: It is the modern user interface provided by this CRM platform. It provides a visually appealing and streamlined interface compared to the Salesforce Classic Interface.
Sandbox: It is a replica of the user’s Salesforce implementations that customers can use for training and testing purposes before it goes live. It is isolated from Salesforce’s production organisation.
These are some of the helpful terminologies that you should know to excel the testing process in the Salesforce environment. Also, let’s check out the definition of testing in Salesforce to clear the basics about this topic.
What is Salesforce Testing?
Salesforce testing is the process of verifying and evaluating the performance, quality and functionality of the Salesforce applications. Testers conduct various tests to ensure that Salesforce implementation meets the desired requirements and delivers a top-notch user experience. Overall, it is the process that involves testing the Salesforce deployments to ensure they function as expected.
There are different testing types like Salesforce Performance testing, manual testing, and automated testing, but before we talk about its types, let’s figure out the necessity of the testing process in the Salesforce ecosystem.
Why Salesforce Testing?
Whether you are a professional or a newcomer, understanding the importance of testing in Salesforce and Quality Assurance is essential for building a successful career in these fields. To gain a better understanding, take a look at the following points:
- It helps to validate codes and other configurations.
- It allows the testers to monitor whether the application is working as expected or not.
- QA engineers can accurately identify errors or bugs in the early stages.
- It reduces production issues, minimises business risks and avoids the need for costly rework.
- It aligns with the desired modern business requirements and ensures that customisations work correctly.
- It validates the consistency and accuracy of the Salesforce Data and ensures the integrity of the information.
- It validates third-party integrations with Salesforce.
- It improves and enhances the overall user experience and the software quality.
Types of Salesforce Testing
During the testing process, QA teams may need to pursue testing in multiple avenues. This is why it is essential to know about different types of Salesforce Testing, which are written as follows:
1. Native Salesforce Testing
Native Salesforce Testing uses the existing testing options which are available within the Salesforce framework. It focuses on code-oriented unit tests, and the native testing solutions are comprehensive. It allows the developers to use multiple testing tools integrated into the Developer console.
Thus, unit testing that focuses on developers is a good start, but when these tests reach the diminishing point, they will not show the actual user impact. Therefore, other testing like Integration tests, UI tests, UAT, and regression testing are vital as they focus on the user impact.
2. Manual Testing
Traditionally, Salesforce testing is solely based on manual testing, where tests are executed, analysed, and set up manually. However, Salesforce manual testing is versatile because testers and QA experts can plan testing scenarios and set up different testing types.
It includes regression testing, functional testing, happy path testing, system testing and integration testing. There is no doubt about the versatility of this approach. Still, it needs more scalability because it relies on the repetitive tasks operated by the testers manually, which makes it an inefficient practice, and it is also prone to human error.
3. Exploratory Salesforce Testing
It is an approach of testing where the testers or QA experts continuously learn, test and explore the Salesforce applications. In the Exploratory Salesforce Testing, the testers use their experience and knowledge to detect issues, validate assumptions and verify the overall quality of the applications in the processes.
The goal of this testing type is to figure out those bugs or errors that cannot be detected by using traditional Salesforce testing methods. It is more like a creative and innovative testing technique where testers should think out of the box to identify the potential risks.
4. Automated Salesforce Testing
Automated Salesforce Testing is the backbone of the ecosystem because it efficiently manages the resources of the quality assurance teams. There are several Salesforce testing automation tools that help to deliver scalable and reliable results. Thus, it is true that Salesforce has a lot of hassles, like a heavy fee structure and a dynamic nature, and only some automation platforms support Salesforce testing.
In such a case, finding the efficient and right platform is a challenging task. So, it is better to use Selenium, Test Sigma, Functionize and Provar to overcome these challenges.
This is all about the different types of Salesforce testing that you should learn as a QA or Salesforce enthusiast. Now, we will explain the various levels of these testing types so that you can get an in-depth understanding of these processes.
Read More:
Top 10 Software Quality Assurance Tools For The Professionals
Salesforce Testing Levels
You must know that testing in Salesforce occurs at several levels, which follow a simple to complex path.
1. Unit Testing: Also known as Salesforce unit testing, it is carried out by the testers and developers at Apex, which is the native coding language of Salesforce. This testing operates at the coding level, where developers can include special clauses in the code, which has been carried out in the testing phase.
This process is accomplished by observing the volume of the data records, which is essential for running a successful code. It is an indicator of code coverage, but it is limited to other testing areas.
2. System Testing: This testing is done by skilled Salesforce business experts, and it focuses on the functional aspects of the system’s auditing. This testing ensures that all Salesforce applications function as expected.
When problems involving workflow, validation and assignment arise within the system, this testing is helpful because it allows easy troubleshooting with the support of an automated set of rules.
3. UAT: It is also known as Salesforce User Acceptance Testing, which is carried out by the final or end users who can test how beneficial the system is in satisfying their business requirements. This testing involves the creation of real-world scenarios and the capability to test the system against the use cases.
4. Salesforce Performance Testing: It is the process of testing the software applications under load to identify the performance issues and bottlenecks. Also, it helps to evaluate the scalability, responsiveness, and overall performance of Salesforce applications under different workload conditions.
5. Production Testing: This type of system testing is carried out within the production environment. This testing is helpful in validating whether the code and configuration made the smooth transition from the Sandbox stage to the production stage without any problems.
6. Regression Testing: It helps to analyse the system work expectations, even after any codes get updated or changed. Basically, regression testing shows the impact of releases and code changes on the existing processes. Specifically, this testing is only carried out when there is a code and configuration change because of a new update, release or fix.
As a Salesforce expert or learner, you need to know the gist of different testing levels in the Salesforce ecosystem. So, now that you know about its types and other levels, let’s jump to our next section, in which we will discuss its process.
Salesforce Testing Process
Like any other application testing, the testing in Salesforce is also the same. The Salesforce Testing process needs testers and QA professionals to design and plan tests for both custom and native features of Salesforce.
This testing process is carried out in the Sandbox environment and moved on to the production environment only when the code has been validated. Testers and QA experts need to be familiar with several business use cases to test the Salesforce effectively.
After knowing about the Salesforce testing process, you must remember to learn the best practices for these testing methodologies in Salesforce because only then can you produce high-quality Salesforce applications for the end users.
Read More:
A Step by Step Guide To The Quality Assurance Process
Best Practices for Salesforce Testing
There are multiple ways to improve Salesforce testing, but some of the most effective practices are listed below.
- Execute Salesforce tests with genuine user profiles.
- The testing and QA teams must start the testing process in the early stages to increase the test coverage and perform multiple tests.
- Testers should test valid and invalid data (both negative and positive scenarios).
- Developers should perform tests before sending the code for testing; this approach will help detect bugs in the earlier stages.
- Right salesforce testing automation tools can improve the quality.
- A walkthrough of the test cases with stakeholders and QA experts will help them understand the business requirements better.
- Execute multiple testing types like UI Testing, regression testing, UAT, etc.
- Updation of the test cases, if any updates are required.
- Test and create the user roles with the help of Workflows.
In Light of These Facts
There is no doubt that Salesforce is a widely used and popular cloud-based CRM system. Thus, you must have a clear understanding of Salesforce Testing if you want to make a bright future in the field of Salesforce or quality assurance. With this helpful guide, you can clear your concepts about testing in the Salesforce environment.
It would help if you did not forget the fact that effective testing is mandatory for building reliable Salesforce applications. Testing is not a one-time process; it is an ongoing commitment towards the Salesforce development. If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to get in touch with our expert team.
