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Unlock the Fun with Passport Around the EXPO at EuroSTAR Conference!

April 15, 2025 by Aishling Warde

At the EuroSTAR Conference EXPO, we’re all about creating engaging, interactive experiences for our delegates, it’s a fun and rewarding challenge for attendees, and a fantastic way for exhibitors to connect with more visitors.

What is Passport Around the EXPO?

The Passport Around the EXPO is an exciting delegate challenge designed to get attendees actively exploring the EXPO floor. Every delegate will receive a ‘passport’ in their conference bag displaying each opted-in exhibitor logo. and must visit partner stands to have their ‘passport’ card stamped.

This initiative serves as a great icebreaker and provides an incentive for delegates to stop by and engage with your booth, while also offering a fun and memorable experience at the conference. It’s a simple, effective way to increase foot traffic to your stand and raise awareness about your company, product, or service.

Why Gamification Works at Booths

Gamification — using game-like elements in non-game contexts — has proven to be an effective strategy in boosting booth engagement. Here are some key statistics showing why this approach works:

85% of attendees are more likely to remember a brand that incorporates a gamified experience at an event.
78% of exhibitors report that gamification increases foot traffic to their booths.
70% of booth visitors are more engaged when interactive activities, like games or challenges, are involved.

Gamified experiences can lead to increased booth engagement by 30% or more, compared to traditional static displays

By participating in the Passport Around the EXPO, your booth becomes part of an engaging experience, increasing the likelihood of attendees stopping by, interacting with your team, and learning about your offerings.

How Does It Work?

Step 1: Participants receive a passport card upon arrival in their EuroSTAR Conference Swag Bag.

Step 2: Delegates visit partner stands throughout the EXPO and get their passport stamped.

Step 3: The challenge is completed once delegates collect all stamps.

The more stamps delegates collect, the more they’ll immerse themselves in the excitement and fun of the conference—and increase their chances of winning the very first ticket to next year’s EuroSTAR Conference!

Why Should You Participate?

Passport Around the EXPO isn’t just a way to engage delegates; it’s also a fantastic opportunity for your booth to stand out. By participating, you’ll be:

Maximise Brand Exposure: Participating in the Passport Around the Expo puts your logo directly into the hands of every conference attendee. It’s a high-impact way to boost brand visibility and ensure your company is top-of-mind as delegates navigate the EXPO Hall
Building Connections: It offers a great reason for delegates to stop and chat with you, providing an opening for meaningful conversations and relationship-building.
Fun & Interactive: It makes your booth more interactive, turning a simple visit into an engaging experience that delegates will remember.

How Can You Get Involved?

The best part? Participation is completely free and optional. All you need to do is sign up, and we’ll take care of the rest — including providing the Passport cards and stamps. There’s no need for you to supply a prize; EuroSTAR has that covered. All you need to do is be ready to stamp passports and connect with attendees who stop by your stand!

This initiative is a fantastic way to bring a bit of excitement and fun to your EuroSTAR experience, while also boosting your visibility and creating new connections.

We Can’t Wait to See You!

So, if you’re exhibiting at the EuroSTAR Conference, don’t miss out on the Passport Around the EXPO initiative! It’s a fun and easy way to engage with delegates and make the most of your time at one of the largest and most prestigious testing conferences in Europe.

We look forward to seeing you at the conference!

Author

Clare Burke

EXPO Team, EuroSTAR Conferences

With years of experience and a passion for all things EuroSTAR, Clare has been a driving force behind the success of our EXPO. She’s the wizard behind the EXPO scenes, connecting with exhibitors, soaking up the latest trends, and forging relationships that make the EuroSTAR EXPO a vibrant hub of knowledge and innovation.

t: +353 91 416 001
e: clare@eurostarconferences.com

Thought you couldn’t automate that? Think again.

March 5, 2025 by Aishling Warde

As testers looking to increase automated coverage, we often encounter parts of the user journey – such as when an email notification, SMS alert, or multi-factor authentication workflow is involved – that on the surface appear difficult or outright impossible to automate. This leads to reliance on manual testing, which can be time-consuming and prone to human error, affecting the speed of your testing process or likelihood of regression.

However, with the right tools, even complex test scenarios can be automated effectively, improving test coverage and accelerating release cycles. Let’s dive into some common challenges and how they can be tackled with automation.

Transactional emails or SMS alerts

If you’re responsible for testing a modern customer experience, for example a hotel booking system, the emails or SMS messages sent by that system are as critical to the user experience as the screens with which a user interacts.

Whilst it’s possible to pull together a solution reliant on a public email service like Gmail, or self-host and maintain an open-source solution. You’ve got better things to be spending your time on! Most now solve this by integrating a managed service like Mailosaur to access email testing functionality, and international phone numbers for SMS, to capture and perform assertions against every message a product sends.

Mailosaur facilitated easy email testing, streamlined QA automation … and provided crucial support for evergreen projects.” – Manager of Software Quality Engineering at Domino’s.

Authentication workflows

Whether you’re responsible for a fintech application, healthcare portal, or a secure ecommerce platform, you’ll almost certainly be responsible for securing access to key areas of your product. That means the introduction of anything from email verification on signup, password reset workflows, and the increasingly essential two-step verification processes.

Sure, if you’re a ‘one-man band’ you can use your own phone to set up 2FA/MFA at least, but not only does that not work for automation, it also falls apart as soon as you’re working at any kind of scale – whether that’s more QAs around you, or a product that supports sending SMS messages in more than one country.

Things have moved on, and there are now solutions that not only give businesses access to phone numbers internationally, but there are also solutions that can mimic apps like LastPass and Google Authenticator to test “auth app” functionality. Here’s a snippet showing how this is done using our platform:

// Get a one-time password (OTP) from an SMS 
const sms = await mailosaur.messages.get(inboxId, { 
  sentTo: ‘123456789’ // phone number 
}); 
 
console.log(sms.text.codes[0].value); // e.g. “654321” 
  
// Get a one-time password (OTP) from a ‘security device’ 
const currentOtp = await mailosaur.devices.otp(sharedSecret); 
console.log(currentOtp.code);  // e.g. “123456”

Email rendering bugs and blind spots

The way an email looks to your customer can differ wildly, depending on which email client they are using. While it might look perfect to you on Gmail or the latest edition of Outlook on Windows, there are a ton of email clients outside your organization.
With Mailosaur’s email preview functionality, you can instantly see how your email will look for any recipient, no matter what email client they use, so there are no nasty surprises.

Come and see us at EuroSTAR 2025!

We required a solution that could provide multiple servers, allow us to generate test email addresses, and support extensive email testing. Additionally, the ability to automate and perform high volumes of email testing daily was critical to our operations’’ – Sr. Director, Quality Engineering at Malwarebytes.

Automating traditionally difficult test scenarios is easier than you think, with the right tools, those “impossible” tests become straightforward and we’re here to show you how at EuroSTAR this June.

Stop by the Mailosaur stand for live demos, practical advice, and a chance to chat with our team about simplifying your toughest tests.

Author

Louise Buckmaster

Digital Marketing at Mailosaur, crafting content and resources for QA testers.

Mailosaur are exhibitors in this years’ EuroSTAR Conference EXPO. Join us in Edinburgh 3-6 June 2025.

The Power of Live Demos: Why 6 Minutes Can Make a Difference

January 30, 2025 by Lauren Payne

At EuroSTAR, we know that engagement is everything. The EuroSTAR Conferences EXPO Hall is a hive of energy, networking, and innovation, making it the perfect place to connect exhibitors and sponsors with software testing and quality engineering professionals. But in a bustling conference environment, how do you ensure your brand stands out? The answer: A Live Demo.

The Impact of a 6-Minute Live Demo

Six minutes may not seem like a lot of time, but in the right hands, it can be a game-changer. A well-executed live demo captivates an audience, sparks meaningful discussions, and showcases your solution’s real-world impact. It’s not just about explaining your product—it’s about demonstrating its value in action.

Here’s why these six minutes can make a difference:

Instant Engagement: Live demos create an interactive experience that draws attendees in and keeps them invested in your product or service.
Showcase Thought Leadership: Demonstrating your expertise and innovation positions your brand as a leader in software testing and quality engineering.
Drive Booth Traffic: A compelling demo generates interest and directs attendees straight to your booth for deeper conversations.
Boost Brand Awareness: Stand out from the crowd with a dynamic, hands-on presentation that leaves a lasting impression.

Huge Interest from Attendees

We’ve seen an incredible response from attendees to these Live Demos, with over 150+ participants attending these sessions during the Lunchtime break of the conference. It’s a fantastic opportunity to engage with a highly interested audience in a relaxed, interactive setting.

To add even more excitement, at the end of each demo, we run an attendee prize giveaway organised by the EuroSTAR EXPO team. All you need to focus on is what you wish to present—leave the logistics and incentives to us!

Expanded Access in 2025

Last year, Live Demos were exclusively available with the Platinum packages. This year, we’ve expanded access, allowing all Gold Sponsors to purchase a Live Demo as an exclusive package add-on. This gives more brands the opportunity to leverage this impactful tool and enhance their presence at EuroSTAR.

Whether you’re launching a new product, demonstrating a cutting-edge feature, or showcasing an innovative testing solution, a Live Demo is your opportunity to make an impact. Don’t just tell your audience about your solution—show them why it matters.

Secure Your Slot

According to the Freeman Trends Report 75% of attendees want to make the most of in-person learning with hands-on demos and activities. Incorporating live demos into your event strategy can offer dynamic, interactive experiences that resonate with the EuroSTAR Conference attendees. By showcasing your solutions in action, you not only demonstrate value but also position your brand as a thought leader in the industry.

Live Demo slots are limited, and demand is high. If you’re looking to maximize your exposure at EuroSTAR, this is your chance to shine. Book your Live Demo today and make your six minutes count!

For more details on how to secure your slot, reach out to our team or visit the EuroSTAR Conferences EXPO website.

Let’s make innovation visible—one Live Demo at a time! To find out how you can achieve your marketing goals and more at a EuroSTAR Conferences EXPO, speak with Clare Burke.

Clare Burke

EXPO Team, EuroSTAR Conferences

t: +353 91 416 001
e: clare@eurostarconferences.com

Share your Experience at EuroSTAR

September 19, 2024 by Fiona Nic Dhonnacha

Do you have an experience, insight, or an idea that could benefit your colleagues in the global software testing community? We have the stage for you…

The EuroSTAR 2025 Call for Speakers is open and the EuroSTAR committee Nele van Asch, Anais Van Asselt, Bart Knaack, and Linda Van de Vooren are looking for YOUR expertise. EuroSTAR brings the world’s testing experts together, all in one place. This is the most international testing event in the world, and a key opportunity to share your wisdom, lightbulb moments, insights, ideas, successes, failures & more.

The 2025 theme is AI on Trial: Exploring the Art of Testing AI. This opens the floor to a myriad of questions and discussions. We’ll delve into into the transformative world of AI and its profound impact on software testing. We are also looking for what the future of testing will look like, with or without AI, from a soft skill perspective or a technical perspective, as a deep specialism or ingrained in all activities in IT.

We have different talk types to suit your session style, whether that’s a new initiative, a powerful case study, or a technical topic. What can you share with the global testing community? How will you facilitate discussions, impart new learnings, or share new techniques?

See Call for speakers

What types of talks is the committee looking for?

Track Talks
Share your powerful ideas, case studies and innovative initiatives. Be useful! The EuroSTAR audience want actionable content. Share stories of trials & triumphs, successes & lessons learned, and bring new information or approaches. Allow for discussion time – this is where a lot of the learning takes place.

Deep Dives
EuroSTAR attendees are hungry for technical talks so we’ve introduced deep dives to this year’s programme. Deep Dives are a more in-depth examination or analysis of your topic. Ideally include exercises where possible – these sessions should be super interactive.

Tutorials
These are pre-conference half day or full day training courses on a specific topic designed to develop certain skills. They should be interactive, feature group work, and encourage collaboration. It’s all about sharing in-depth knowledge (technical or otherwise), fostering collaboration through group exercises, and helping attendees hone their skills.

What you need to submit

Your submission needs a clear title, a compelling abstract, and 3 possible learnings that attendees will take from your talk. You MUST have tangible and clear takeaways for the EuroSTAR attendees to learn from, and apply immediately to their work. The audience is hungry for real-life knowledge!

So, whether you’re a veteran, an entrepreneur, or new to testing – this is the stage to inspire your peers, spark new learnings, lively discussions, and lots of new ideas. Check out all the information and start thinking about what actionable learnings YOU can share with the EuroSTAR audience in Edinburgh.

start your submission

7 Common Test Management Challenges AI Can Solve

June 5, 2024 by Lauren Payne

Test management is an integral part of software development that ensures that your software meets quality standards, is bug-free, and performs as expected. Unfortunately, there are some challenges in test management systems, causing significant issues while impacting application speed and quality. As software complexity grows, so do the difficulties in managing testing processes efficiently. To deal with the evolving challenges related to test management and software complexity, artificial intelligence (AI) plays a vital role. AI offers innovative solutions to many of these challenges. In this blog post, we’ll explore seven common test management challenges and how AI can solve them.

Navigating Key Challenges in Test Management

Efficient test management, improved productivity, increased ROI, and faster time to market are the things that every organization expects from its test management solutions. There are many aspects that stop companies from achieving the best results from their test management processes. They may experience inadequate test coverage, resulting from a lack of thorough testing across all possible scenarios, compromising the product’s quality and introducing the risk of undetected defects.

Similarly, inefficient test case prioritization leads to a misallocation of resources, with critical areas receiving insufficient attention. Thereby prolonging testing cycles and delaying time for the market. Moreover, insufficiently realistic test data fails to accurately simulate real-world scenarios, hindering the effectiveness of testing efforts and resulting in potential oversights. In case of having flaky test cases in test cycles, testers may experience inconsistency and uncertainty in the testing process. It can delay product release and affect ROI. These challenges collectively contribute to inefficient productivity, as valuable time and resources are wasted on ineffective testing methods. Efficiency suffers as testing cycles become prolonged and repetitive due to the need for rework and debugging. Consequently, ROI is impacted negatively as the cost of rectifying defects increases. Plus, the time to market is delayed, leading to missed opportunities and potential revenue loss. It is crucial to address these challenges effectively to optimize productivity, efficiency, ROI, and time to market in the software development lifecycle. Let’s learn how AI-powered solutions can address test management challenges.

1. Difficulty in Test Case Prioritization

In simple words, test case prioritization (TCP) refers to arranging test cases based on their significance, functionality, and potential impacts on the software and running them in the correct order. However, prioritizing test cases effectively is a challenging task in test management. With limited time and resources, it’s essential to focus your testing efforts on the most critical areas of an application.

Test Case Prioritization can help in efficient test management

Integration of AI in your test management solutions can help you with efficient test case prioritization. It analyzes factors like code changes, historical defect data, and business impact to automatically prioritize test cases. Machine learning algorithms can adapt over time, continuously improving prioritization based on past results and changing project requirements. By leveraging AI for test case prioritization, teams can optimize testing efforts and identify high-risk areas early in the development cycle.

It helps to Improve efficiency and reduce time to market as resources are allocated more effectively, ensuring that high-risk areas are thoroughly tested early in the development cycle.

2. Incomplete Test Coverage

Achieving comprehensive test coverage is essential for identifying potential defects and ensuring the overall quality of the software. In a traditional test management system, when test creation is a manual aspect, you may not have complete test coverage, leaving critical areas untested. This incomplete test coverage is a common challenge in software testing, leaving potential defects undetected. Besides manual issues, many other factors can lead to incomplete test coverage, such as time constraints, resource limitations, or oversight in test case creation. Incomplete test coverage increases the risk of releasing software with undiscovered bugs, which can lead to customer dissatisfaction, costly rework, and damage to the organization’s reputation.

Comprehensive test coverage can make test management better and improve productivity

To address the issue of incomplete test coverage, organizations can leverage artificial intelligence (AI) solutions that offer innovative approaches to test case generation, prioritization, and optimization. AI-powered test management tools can analyze application requirements and usage patterns to generate test cases automatically, ensuring comprehensive coverage across various scenarios and edge cases. By using AI for test case generation, teams can enhance the effectiveness of their testing efforts and minimize the risk of overlooking critical functionalities.

3. Availability of effective Test Data

Realistic and diverse test data plays a crucial role in effective software testing. It allows testers to simulate real-world scenarios and ensure comprehensive coverage of the application under test. However, generating and managing test data manually can be time-consuming and error prone. Plus, manually generated data may not always represent the diversity of data encountered in production environments. This can lead to insufficient test coverage and potentially overlook critical edge cases and scenarios.

Availability of effective Test Data improves productivity and reduces time to market

AI offers innovative solutions to address the challenge of test data availability by automating test data generation, management, and optimization. AI-driven test data generation tools can analyze application requirements and usage patterns to generate synthetic test data automatically. These tools use machine learning algorithms to simulate real-world scenarios, enabling thorough testing without compromising data privacy or security. Apart from synthetic test data generation, AI- AI tools can analyze existing data sources to profile and identify patterns, correlations, and anomalies within the data. Plus, AI-driven test data solutions can easily be integrated with existing testing workflows and tools, allowing testers to easily access and utilize generated test data within their testing environments. As a result, testers can conduct thorough testing without delays caused by manual data generation, improving productivity and time to market.

4. Bottlenecks Caused by Flaky Test Cases

A flaky test case is one that exhibits non-deterministic behavior when executed repeatedly within the same environment, resulting in intermittent results. Flaky test cases can cause delays and inconsistencies in test results and reduce the testing process’s reliability.

Flaky test case detection can help with efficiency and reduced time to market

AI-powered tools can analyze test scripts and execution logs to identify and address flakiness automatically. With machine learning algorithms, these testing tools can identify patterns indicative of flaky behavior and suggest corrective actions to ensure consistent and reliable test results. For instance, QMetry’s test management platform allows testers to gain control over flaky tests is identifying them using a “Flaky Score” derived from its execution history. With AI-powered flaky test detection and mitigation processes, testers can minimize disruptions in the testing process and improve the overall reliability of their testing efforts.

Flaky test detection not only increases efficiency and reduces time to market but also allows testers to focus on productive tasks without being hindered by inconsistent test results.

5. Unidentified Defects passing on final product

Detecting and resolving defects early in the development process is critical for delivering high-quality software. However, identifying potential defects among thousands of lines of code can be challenging, even for experienced testers.

Efficient defect detection helps with better test management, faster time to market, and improves ROI

AI-driven defect detection models can analyze code changes and historical defect data to identify patterns indicative of potential defects. Machine learning algorithms can predict which code changes are most likely to introduce defects, allowing developers and testers to focus their efforts on high-risk areas. By incorporating an AI-powered defect prediction system into their test management processes, testers can proactively address quality issues and minimize the impact of defects on the final product.

Therefore, AI-powered defect detection can help with better test management, faster time to market, and improved ROI as defects are detected and resolved before they impact the final product.

6. Managing Test Environment

Managing test environments with diverse configurations, dependencies, and constraints is a huge challenge for many development testing teams. When testers try to deploy and configure test environments manually, it can lead to inconsistencies, delays, and resource contention.

Better test environment management can Increase productivity and reduce time to market

AI-driven test environment management solutions can help testers to manage test environments in a better way. Using infrastructure as code (IaC) and configuration management tools, AI-powered solutions can automate test environment provisioning, configuration, and maintenance. Using machine learning algorithms, AI-driven solutions can optimize resource utilization, predict capacity requirements, and proactively identify potential bottlenecks or failures. By incorporating AI-driven test environment management into workflows, testers can ensure reliable and consistent test environments throughout the software development lifecycle. It influences increased productivity and reduced time to market as testers can focus on testing activities rather than dealing with manual deployment and configuration of test environments.

7. Test Result Analysis:

Test results analysis to identify trends or patterns plays a significant role in improving test coverage and reliability. In case of traditional test management systems, manually reviewing test results and logs is time-consuming and error-prone, especially in large-scale testing environments.

Efficient test result analysis can improve the efficiency and reliability of testing efforts

With AI integration, test result analysis becomes easy and more efficient. AI-powered test result analysis tools can aggregate and analyze test results from multiple sources, such as automated tests, manual tests, and performance tests. The application of machine learning algorithms enables these tools to identify correlations between test outcomes, code changes, and environmental factors. These tools can also perform root cause analysis and trend prediction. AI-driven test management tools allow testers to gain valuable insights into their testing processes and make data-driven decisions to improve quality and efficiency.

Key Takeaway

Test management can be complex and challenging with traditional methods and tools. However, AI offers innovative solutions to many of its inherent difficulties. AI-powered test management solutions offer technologies like machine learning, predictive analytics, and natural language processing to overcome common test management challenges and improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and reliability of their testing processes.

From test case prioritization to test environment management, AI-driven solutions have the potential to revolutionize the way software is tested and validated. AI can lead to faster release cycles, higher-quality products, and improved customer satisfaction. As AI continues to advance, its role in test management will only become more significant, empowering organizations to meet the demands of their users and sustain in a competitive software landscape.

Modern AI-powered tools like QMetry Test Management for Jira by QMetry can help you to manage all your testing activities through integrated tracking tools (e.g. Jira) and automation frameworks.

QMetry’s second-offering QMetry Test Management is designed for Agile and DevOps teams. These products are fully integrated into CI/CD pipelines giving testing teams and leaders full control over testing projects. These tools also manage manual testing seamlessly.

Both QMetry Test Management and QMetry Test Management for Jira offer scalable, compliant, and secured test management that allows you to deal with different testing challenges. Gen AI offerings of these tools have features like smart search, auto test case generation, and flaky test case detection making your testing super-efficient. These tools have potential of reducing time to market, improving ROI, and increasing efficiency.

Want to learn more about these test management products and how they can improve your test management experience? Schedule a call now!

Author

Deepak Parmar, Global Product Marketing Leader at Qmetry

QMetry is an innovative leader in AI enabled test management and automation products for Agile and DevOps teams that empower enterprises to build, manage, and deploy quality software at speed with confidence. QMetry is revolutionizing testing through AI-driven test authoring, test execution, and quality analytics for agile teams globally. Experience QMetry’s AI – enabled Test Management powered by QMetry Intelligence (Gen AI) delivering quality at speed and scale. It is a powerful, scalable, compliance driven quality orchestration platform that enables quality at speed with improved ROI.”

QMetry is an exhibitor at EuroSTAR 2024, join us in Stockholm.

Exploring Stockholm’s Station Art

May 21, 2024 by Suzanne Meade

Stockholm, the vibrant capital of Sweden, is renowned for its rich cultural heritage, stunning architecture, and progressive urban design. When you are catching the train to Stockholmsmässan for the EuroSTAR Conference, check out the remarkable station art spread throughout the city’s metro system. These underground stations serve as canvases for artists to showcase their creativity, reflecting Sweden’s commitment to art accessibility and public engagement.

The Stockholm metro, also known as the Tunnelbana, is more than just a means of transportation. It’s a journey through time and artistry. With over 100 stations, each with its unique aesthetic, the metro system doubles as a sprawling art gallery. From colourful murals to intricate sculptures, every station offers something distinct, providing passengers with a visual feast.

The Origins of Station Art

The tradition of adorning metro stations with art dates back to the 1950s when Stockholm’s local government decided to invest in making public spaces more appealing. What began as an initiative to combat vandalism quickly evolved into a celebration of cultural expression. Today, the Stockholm metro boasts one of the most extensive and impressive collections of underground art worldwide.

The station art reflects a diverse range of themes and motifs, drawing inspiration from history, nature, mythology, and contemporary issues. Some stations pay homage to Sweden’s rural landscapes with depictions of forests, lakes, and wildlife, while others showcase abstract designs and avant-garde sculptures, pushing the boundaries of traditional art forms.

Notable Stations to Explore

T-Centralen: Serving as the central hub of Stockholm’s metro network, T-Centralen features mesmerizing blue-and-white artwork created by Swedish artist Per Olof Ultvedt. The ceiling resembles a starry night sky, with intricate patterns evoking constellations, offering commuters a celestial experience as they traverse the station’s bustling corridors.
Stadion: Designed by the celebrated artist Siri Derkert, Stadion station is a visual ode to the Olympic Games. Bold geometric shapes and vibrant colours adorn the walls, symbolizing athleticism, unity, and human achievement. The station’s dynamic energy captures the spirit of sport and camaraderie.
Kungsträdgården: Translating to “King’s Garden,” this station is a subterranean oasis adorned with relics of Stockholm’s past. Visitors are greeted by ancient sculptures, remnants of historical buildings, and fossilized tree stumps, reminiscent of an archaeological site. Kungsträdgården station serves as a time capsule, bridging the gap between the city’s past and present.

Station art in Stockholm transcends mere decoration; it serves as a catalyst for social engagement and dialogue. By integrating art into everyday spaces, the city fosters a sense of community ownership and pride. Whether commuting to the EuroSTAR Conference or exploring the city’s hidden gems during conference week, every journey through the Stockholm metro is a voyage through art and imagination.

The Art of Fika in Stockholm

May 16, 2024 by Suzanne Meade

As you gear up for the EuroSTAR Software Testing Conference in the vibrant city of Stockholm, there’s one local tradition you simply can’t afford to miss – Fika. Pronounced “fee-ka,” this Swedish coffee break ritual embodies the essence of social connection, relaxation, and indulgence in the midst of a busy day.

More than Coffee and Cake

In Sweden, Fika isn’t merely about grabbing a quick caffeine fix or satisfying your sweet tooth. It’s a cherished tradition deeply ingrained in the fabric of Swedish culture. Picture this: it’s 10 a.m. or 3 p.m., and you find yourself sitting with colleagues, friends, or even newfound connections from the conference. You’re sipping on a steaming cup of coffee or tea, accompanied by delectable pastries like cinnamon buns or a variety of other baked goods. Fika offers more than just a culinary experience – it’s a moment of respite, rejuvenation, and meaningful connection.

Popular Fika Spots in Stockholm

During your time in Stockholm, you’ll find ample opportunities to partake in Fika. Here are some recommended spots in the city center – just 10 minutes by train from Stockholmsmässan:

Café Pascal: Nestled in the heart of Stockholm, Café Pascal is a cozy haven for Fika enthusiasts. Indulge in their freshly brewed coffee and mouthwatering pastries while soaking in the charming ambiance.
Fabrique Bakery: With multiple locations across Stockholm, Fabrique Bakery is renowned for its artisanal bread, pastries, and, of course, Fika offerings. Treat yourself to their signature cinnamon buns or cardamom rolls for a truly authentic Swedish experience.
Drop Coffee: For coffee connoisseurs seeking a premium Fika experience, Drop Coffee is the place to be. This specialty coffee roastery and café boasts a carefully curated selection of beans and a cozy atmosphere perfect for savoring your coffee break.
Vete-Katten: Step back in time at Vete-Katten, a historic café dating back to 1928. Located in the heart of Stockholm, this iconic establishment exudes old-world charm and serves up a delectable array of traditional Swedish pastries and cakes.

So, if you are attending the EuroSTAR 2024 Software Testing Conference in Stockholm this June, don’t forget to pause, take a deep breath, and indulge in the art of Fika.

Myth vs. Reality: 10 AI Use Cases in Test Automation Today

March 5, 2024 by Lauren Payne

For decades, the sci-fi dream of simply speaking to your device and having it perform tasks for you seemed far-fetched. In the realm of test automation and quality assurance, this dream is inching closer to reality. With the evolution of generative AI, we’re prompted to explore what’s truly feasible. Embedding AI into your quality engineering processes becomes imperative as IT infrastructures become increasingly complex and integrated, spanning multiple applications across business processes. AI can help alleviate the daunting tasks of knowing what to test, how to test it, creating relevant tests, and deciding what type of testing to conduct, boosting productivity and business efficiency.

But what’s fact and what’s fiction? The rapid evolution of AI makes it hard to predict its capabilities accurately. Nevertheless, we’ve investigated the top ten key AI use cases in test automation, distinguishing between today’s realities and tomorrow’s aspirations.

1. Automatic Test Case Generation

Reality: AI can generate test cases by analyzing user stories along with requirements, code, and design documents, including application data and user interactions. For instance, large language models (LLMs) can interpret and analyze textual requirements to extract key information and identify potential test scenarios. This can be used with static and dynamic code analysis to identify areas in the code that present potential vulnerabilities requiring thorough testing. Integrating both requirement and code analysis can help generate potential manual test cases that cover a broad set of functionalities in the application.

Myth: But here’s the caveat: many tools on the market that enable automated test case generation create manual tests. They are not automated. To create fully automated, executable test cases is a use case that remains a myth and still requires further proof. Additionally, incomplete, ambiguous, or inconsistent requirements may not always generate the right set of tests, and this requires further development. Test cases may not always cover edge cases or highly complex scenarios, nor are they able to cover completely new applications. Analysing application and user interaction data may not always be possible. As a result, human testers will always be required to check the completeness and accuracy of the test suites to consider all possible scenarios.

2. Autonomous Testing

Reality: Autonomous testing automates the automation. Say what? Imagine inputting a prompt into an AI model like “test that a person below the age of 18 is not eligible for insurance.” The AI would then navigate the entire application, locate all relevant elements, enter the correct data, and test the scenario for you. This represents a completely hands-off approach, akin to Forrester’s level 5 autonomous state.

Myth: But are we there yet? Not quite, though remarkable technologies are bridging the gap. The limitation of Large Language Models (LLMs) is their focus on text comprehension, often struggling with application interaction. For those following the latest in AI, Rabbit has released a new AI mobile phone named r1 that uses Large Action Models (LAMs). LAMs are designed to close this interaction gap. In the realm of test automation, we’re not fully there. Is it all just hype? It’s hard to say definitively, but the potential of these hybrid LAM approaches, which execute actions more in tune with human intent, certainly hints at a promising future.

3. Automated Test Case Design

Reality: AI is revolutionising test case design by introducing sophisticated methods to optimise testing processes. AI algorithms can identify and prioritise test cases that cover the most significant risks. By analyzing application data and user interactions, the AI can determine which areas are more prone to defects or have higher business impact. AI can also identify key business scenarios by analysing usage patterns and business logic to auto-generate test cases that are more aligned with real-world user behaviors and cover critical business functionalities. Additionally, AI tools can assign weights to different test scenarios based on their frequency of use and importance. This helps in creating a balanced test suite that ensures the most crucial aspects of the application are thoroughly tested.

Myth: However, AI cannot yet fully automate the decision-making process in test suite optimisation without human oversight. The complexity of certain test scenarios still requires human judgment. Moreover, AI algorithms are unable to auto-generate test case designs for new applications, especially those with highly integrated end-to-end flows that span across multiple applications. This capability remains underdeveloped and, for now, is unrealised.

4. Testing AI Itself

Reality: As we increasingly embed AI capabilities into products, the question evolves from “how to test AI?” to “how to test AI, gen AI, and applications infused with both?” AI introduces a myriad of challenges, including trust issues stemming from potential problems like hallucinations, factuality issues, and explainability concerns. Gen AI, being a non-deterministic system, produces different and unpredictable outputs. Untested AI capabilities and AI-infused applications can lead to multiple issues, such as biased systems with discriminatory outputs, failure to identify high-risk elements, erroneous test data and design, misguided analytics, and more.

The extent of these challenges is evident. In 2022, there were 110 AI-related legal cases in the US, according to the AI Index Report 2023. The number of AI incidents and controversies has increased 26-fold since 2021. Moreover, only 20% of companies have risk policies in place for Gen AI use, as per McKinsey research in 2023.

Myth: Testing scaled AI systems, particularly Gen AI systems, is unexplored territory. Are we there yet? While various approaches and methodologies exist for testing more traditional neural network systems, we still lack comprehensive tools for testing Gen AI systems effectively.

AI Realities in Test Automation Today

The use cases that follow are already fully achievable with current test automation technologies.

5. Risk AI

It’s a significant challenge for testers today to manage hundreds or thousands of test cases without clear priorities in an Agile environment. When applications change, it raises critical questions: Where does the risk lie? What should we test or prioritize based on these changes? Fortunately, risk AI, also known as smart impact analysis, offers a solution. It inspects changes in the application or its landscape, including custom code, integration, and security. This process identifies the most at-risk elements where testing should be focused. Employing risk AI leads to substantial efficiency gains in testing. It narrows the testing scope, saving considerable time and costs, all while significantly reducing the risk associated with software releases.

6. Self-Healing

By identifying changes in elements at both the code and UI layer, AI-powered tools can auto-heal broken tests after each execution. This allows teams to stabilize test automation while reducing time and costs on maintenance. Want to learn more about how Tricentis Tosca supports self-healing for Oracle Fusion and Salesforce Lightning and Classic? Watch this webinar.

7. Mobile AI

Through convolutional neural networks, mobile AI technology can help testers understand and analyze mobile interfaces to detect issues in audio, video, image quality, and object steering. This capability helps provide AI-powered analytics on performance and user experience with trend analysis across different devices and locations, helping to detect mobile errors rapidly in real time. Tricentis Device Cloud offers a mobile AI engine that can help you speed up mobile delivery. Learn more here.

8. Visual Testing

Visual testing helps to find cosmetic bugs in your applications that could negatively impact the user experience. The AI works to validate the size, position, and color scheme of visual elements by comparing a baseline screenshot of an application against a future execution. If a visual error is detected, testers can reject or accept the change. This helps improve the user experience of an app by detecting visual bugs that otherwise cannot be discovered by functional testing tools that query the DOM.

9. Test Data Generation

Test data generation using AI involves creating synthetic data that can be used for software testing. By using machine learning and natural language processing, you can produce dynamic, secure, and adaptable data that closely mimics real-world scenarios. AI achieves this by learning patterns and characteristics from actual data and then generating new, non-sensitive data that maintains the statistical properties and structure of the original dataset, ensuring that it’s realistic and useful for testing purposes.

10. Test Suite Optimisation

AI algorithms can analyze historical test data to identify flaky tests, unused tests, redundant or ineffective tests, tests not linked to requirements, or untested requirements. Based on this analysis, you can easily identify weak spots or areas for optimization in your test case portfolio. This helps streamline your test suite for efficiency and coverage, while ensuring that the most relevant and high-impact tests are executed, reducing testing time and resources.

What about AI’s role in performance testing, accessibility testing, end-to-end testing, service virtualization, API testing, unit testing, and compatibility testing, among others? We’ve only just scraped the surface and begun to explore the extensive range of use cases and capabilities that AI potentially offers today. Looking ahead, AI’s role is set to expand even further, significantly boosting QA productivity in the future.

As AI continues to evolve, offering tremendous benefits in efficiency, coverage, and accuracy, it’s important to stay cognizant of its current limitations. AI does not yet replace the need for skilled human testers, particularly in complex or nuanced scenarios. AI still lacks the human understanding needed to ensure full software quality. Developing true enterprise end-to-end testing spanning multiple applications across web, desktop, mobile, SAP, Salesforce, and more requires a great deal of human thinking and human ingenuity, including the capability to detect errors. The future of test automation lies in a balanced collaboration between AI-driven technologies and human expertise.

Want to discover more about Tricentis AI solutions and how they can cater to your unique use cases? Explore our innovative offerings.

Tricentis offers next-generation AI test automation tools to help accelerate your app modernisation, enhance productivity, and drive your business forward with greater efficiency and superior quality.

Author

Simona Domazetoska – Senior Product Marketing Manager, Tricentis

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