What is Salesforce Testing?

Salesforce testing has become a necessity as the application and systems surrounding it become more complex. But for many Salesforce users, testing isn’t on their radar.

This is due to the common misconception that, since Salesforce is a “packaged” software of sorts, it doesn't require testing. Instead, it’s perceived by many (but not all), as an out-of-the-box solution that works without continuous testing.

But this perception is far from the truth.

Salesforce is an incredibly complex application that integrates with systems like SAP, and other desktop and web applications. It is customizable and requires wide-scale mandatory seasonal updates three times a year. This makes business-critical processes that rely on Salesforce very vulnerable to downtime, which can cost businesses millions.

Related reading: How to test Salesforce integration with SAP

So what exactly is Salesforce testing?

How can you make sure that your business has a seamless solution for testing that is maintainable and scalable

And how can you ensure the quality of your Salesforce-driven business processes and IT system at large?

Read on to learn more.

What is Salesforce Testing?

Salesforce testing is another way of saying software testing, however it’s specific to Salesforce.

It is the process of testing Salesforce for vulnerabilities whenever an update, configuration, or customization is made. End-to-end testing also ensures that integrations with Salesforce are working as they should.

It is a task that is most often carried out by QA teams and platform managers.

There are different types of tests that should be performed in Salesforce, but one of the most complex is functional UI testing.

Want to learn more about the different tests to carry out in Salesforce? Read our in depth guide on Salesforce testing

Because Salesforce has a particularly complex and heavy DOM structure, the majority of Salesforce testers test manually. But it is very inefficient. Here’s why:

The problem with manually testing Salesforce

Manually testing poses a serious quality problem to Salesforce platform managers. This is because as the system grows larger and more complex, more and more areas of the system become prone to risk.

By manually testing Salesforce, you’re not getting the coverage you need to ensure quality. It’s slow, it’s inefficient and it’s prone to human error.

With seasonal updates, configurations, customizations, and integrations, Salesforce testing becomes an ever expanding process.

This is where test automation comes in. What used to be perceived as a luxury has now become an absolute necessity.

But Salesforce is not the easiest platform to automate.

In the next section, we highlight what you should look for in an automation solution for Salesforce testing, and how to find the right solution.

Related reading: Why you should automate software testing

Finding the right solution for automating Salesforce testing

The right solution for automated Salesforce testing will be different depending on the company using it, and the resources you have available.

When a code or low-code solution may work:

• If you have developer resources at your disposal for building test automation script
• If your QA team/testers have a high degree of coding experience
• You have plenty of time to dedicate to maintaining automation scripts

When a codeless solution may work:

• If you already have an established testing team or business users that are familiar with Salesforce processes, but limited or no experience in coding test automation script
• If you have used code-based automation in the past and struggled with maintenance

What to look for in the automation solution for Salesforce testing

Leapwork’s completely visual, no-code automation platform makes it easy for business and IT users to automate repetitive processes, so enterprises can adopt and scale automation faster. For rapid results, at lower cost, and requiring fewer specialist resources than traditional test automation approaches. Here’s how:

Accessible automation for QA managers and business users

When automation is put in the hands of those best equipped for quality assurance, you can remove the dependency on developers to create test scripts. Codeless automation means business users and QA managers don’t have to script to set up and maintain automation.

Easy validation of integrations

The easier it is to identify a problem caused by a faulty integration connection, the faster the fix. When using Selenium, it can take time to find the root cause of a bug. For example, Leapwork gives users three options for debugging - a video recording of a run, a debug version of the flow with data-driven insights, and an activity log to easily identify and diagnose why a test has failed.

No-fuss intelligent field recognition

Automating tests in Salesforce on the best of days is fragile and complex. With constantly changing HTML structures, Salesforce tests are overwhelming to maintain with code based test automation solutions like Selenium. Instead, a tool with intelligent field recognition makes it robust and easy to read data from a green screen terminal or SAP client, and validate that information against Salesforce in the browser, or vice versa.

Support for enterprise applications

Salesforce integrates with many types of systems, from ERP’s, to warehouse management, invoicing, and case management. With Leapwork, you can use the same visual approach to build automation across all your integrated applications – such as Salesforce, SAP, a green screen terminal, and Oracle.

Learn more about finding an agile solution for testing Salesforce in this short and insightful factsheet