Table of Content
What is Salesforce Testing?
Salesforce Testing is a crucial aspect of Salesforce administration and development that all Salesforce professionals must incorporate into their work. Irrespective of their area of expertise, be it an architect designing a complex integration, a marketer sending out a drip campaign, or an admin rolling out minor changes to a page layout, it is imperative to test their design enhancements against the original requirements in their environment. This process can uncover potential errors, flaws, or areas for improvement, thereby avoiding potential mishaps.
Just as you wouldn’t serve spaghetti without tasting it first, you shouldn’t release a Salesforce enhancement without performing testing at each stage. Given the high degree of customization and complexity of the Salesforce ecosystem, ensuring that enhancements and feature updates do not crash or compromise other elements of your Salesforce environment is essential to avoid causing substantial heartache to both you and your users.
What Are the Challenges of Salesforce Testing?
Salesforce testing is a whole different ballgame compared to traditional software testing. It’s not just about running a few scripts or checking a couple of features; it’s about navigating a dynamic ecosystem that’s constantly evolving. Here are some of the primary obstacles that Salesforce testing teams encounter:
- Rapid release cycles: Frequent Salesforce updates require continuous testing to ensure new features don’t disrupt existing functionalities.
- Extensive customizations: The platform’s adaptability necessitates thorough testing of custom objects, fields, and workflows, making it difficult to cover all scenarios.
- Regression testing demands: Maintaining an up-to-date regression test suite is resource-intensive due to Salesforce’s evolving nature.
- Automation complexities: While crucial, test automation in Salesforce can be challenging due to dynamic elements and frequent updates.
- System integrations: Salesforce often connects with various third-party applications, requiring comprehensive end-to-end testing to maintain seamless data flow.
- Variable user environments: The platform’s behavior changes based on user roles and permissions, demanding extensive testing across different user types.
- Business process comprehension: Effective testing requires both technical expertise and a deep understanding of the organization’s business processes.
- User acceptance challenges: Coordinating with diverse stakeholders and ensuring comprehensive coverage of use cases during UAT can be complex.
Salesforce Testing: Let’s get right down to it
Salesforce testing is a critical process that must not be overlooked by Salesforce specialists. Salesforce testing methodologies should be incorporated into all aspects of the ecosystem to ensure that enhancements and feature updates are robust and do not cause any unintended complications. It’s vital to test enhancements at each stage of the development process to avoid any future errors or mishaps that may arise.
Salesforce Testing is key to smooth and efficient project deployment. This is especially true with automated functional testing, where things you may not have considered during a build pop up due to the amount of integrated and connected features within Salesforce.
Proper Salesforce testing brings these unknowns to the surface, giving you the ability to fix and perfect a new functionality before deploying it into production.
In this post, we will review two phases of Salesforce testing, as well as offer up five quick wins you can achieve to make your deployment a success.
What are The Salesforce Testing Types?
To identify what to test and where to locate efficiencies within your Salesforce testing plan, it’s important to understand the kinds of testing needed for effective Salesforce releases.
To identify what to test and where to locate efficiencies within your Salesforce testing plan, it’s important to understand the kinds of testing are needed for effective Salesforce releases.
Unit Testing
Unit Testing is essential in Salesforce development, typically performed by Apex Developers on individual components like Visualforce or Lightning Components. These isolated tests use mock data to validate code behavior without affecting other units. Salesforce requires a minimum 75% code coverage for deployment, including specific coverage for triggers. However, developers should focus on comprehensive testing of common use cases, including positive, negative, bulk, and single-record scenarios, rather than simply meeting the coverage requirement. This approach ensures robust code quality and reduces potential bugs in Salesforce applications.
Salesforce Functional Testing
Salesforce Functional Testing is the initial post-development phase that thoroughly reviews new features for bugs and proper functionality. It ensures new developments align with existing features without negative impacts. This process is crucial for customized Salesforce apps, especially when dealing with complex elements like Flows, Validation Rules, or Apex classes. Testing in a UAT Sandbox helps verify the new app’s operation while maintaining the existing architecture and security model. Tools like Panaya can streamline test management, allowing early identification of issues before deployment. This approach ensures seamless integration of new features with the existing Salesforce org, minimizing risks to business operations.
Given the number of deployments and testing stages involved, it’s helpful to use a tool that facilitates test management. One such tool is Panaya for Salesforce, which provides the ability to structure Salesforce testing and deployments, enabling you to identify any significant issues early on in the testing cycle, rather than after deployment.
By leveraging these tools and techniques, you can ensure that your Salesforce app works seamlessly with your existing org, reducing the risk of any adverse impact on your business operations.
Salesforce UAT Testing
User Acceptance Testing (UAT) is a critical final phase in Salesforce testing, where end-users evaluate the system in real-world scenarios before deployment. UAT ensures that the Salesforce implementation meets business requirements and user expectations. It typically occurs in a dedicated sandbox environment that closely mimics the production setup. During UAT, selected end-users perform tests based on predefined scenarios, providing valuable feedback on functionality, usability, and alignment with business processes. This phase helps identify any overlooked issues and confirms that the Salesforce solution is ready for real-world use. Effective UAT involves careful planning, clear test cases, and active engagement from business users, ultimately leading to a more successful Salesforce implementation that truly meets organizational needs.
Managing Salesforce UAT can feel complex, but it doesn’t have to be. A robust test management solution can greatly simplify your UAT cycles. Panaya is designed with Salesforce UAT in mind, offering features like test notifications, seamless collaboration, automated documentation, and easy defect reporting to empower end users. This approach can accelerate Salesforce testing by up to 85%, ensuring a smoother UAT process and minimizing disruptions during deployment.
Regression Testing
Salesforce Regression testing is a comprehensive system test that checks if new changes or bug fixes have inadvertently affected existing features. It’s typically handled by QA teams and often required by DevOps pipelines. Salesforce provides sandbox environments for safe testing without impacting the live system.
Automation plays a crucial role in regression testing, allowing for quick and consistent execution of test suites. Automated regression tests can be scheduled to run regularly, reducing manual effort and increasing test coverage. Tools like Selenium can be used to create and run automated regression tests, but they require coding knowledge and expertise. In contrast, solutions like Panaya’s test automation provides a codeless approach, allowing users to create and execute automated tests without programming skills. Panaya’s AI-powered platform enables quick test creation, efficient execution, and easy maintenance, making regression testing more accessible and efficient for teams of all skill levels.
Integration Testing
Integration Testing focuses on verifying the interactions between different systems or modules. In the context of Salesforce, this means testing how Salesforce integrates with other systems, such as ERP or any third-party apps. The goal is to ensure that data flows and interactions between integrated components work as expected, without errors or interruptions. Panaya, with its deep domain expertise in business applications, provides an efficient way to test complete business processes across Salesforce and integrated systems like ERP. It allows teams to create comprehensive, code-free test cases, promoting collaboration and ensuring alignment with business objectives.
System Testing/E2E Testing
System testing and E2E testing are critical in orgs with many managed packages or APIs. If you want to check an external API, an automation in Marketing Cloud, or that a PDF generator is performing after a new release, you need to run a system test or do End-to-End testing to test technical processes from start to finish. A few different people can perform E2E testing, but usually a Salesforce Expert, an external consultant or a system owner of an API-connected solution perform these tests.
There are several aspects of system testing. Performance testing assesses how well the Salesforce application performs under different loads, identifying bottlenecks, response times, and resource concerns.
Compatibility testing verifies that the Salesforce application works seamlessly across different browsers, operating systems, and devices.
Scalability Testing evaluates how well the application scales to accommodate increased user loads or growing data volumes. It helps ensure that the application remains responsive as user and data demands increase.
5 Salesforce Testing Quick Wins
Win #1: Get End User Buy-In and Adoption Before You Go Live
There is nothing more painful than expending resources on a build only to have users refuse to utilize your new design. One way you can avoid that situation is by designing for and involving your stakeholders in your development and Salesforce testing process.
Paying careful attention to your end users’ needs, and even having them act as testers, shows them your design is meant to make their lives easier. Allowing end users to voice their thoughts and suggestions will create a sense of trust in your build. Ensuring that your design is serving the people who need it most.
Stakeholder involvement in UAT is a critical diplomatic step. As such, testing on influential voices in departments affected by your new rollout will create goodwill and positive anticipation during your change management process.
Tip: Install the free “Salesforce Adoption Dashboards” Managed Package to monitor use of your org after a deployment.
Win #2: Shift Left Test Testing
In testing, the “Shift Left” approach emphasizes catching defects as early as possible to save time, cost, and resources. Traditional testing models tend to focus on the later stages of development, but identifying errors earlier, at the design or development stages, can drastically reduce the effort and cost required to resolve them. In fact, addressing errors post-release requires exponentially more effort than fixing them early on. Shifting testing left ensures that quality is woven into every stage, leading to faster development cycles, fewer bugs, and a more streamlined process.
Solutions like Panaya identify what is going to break or be affected by your planned change, and NEEDS to be tested. The solution achieves this through impact analysis, which can pinpoint exactly where in your code or declarative objects something will break, allowing you to add these specific, predetermined risks to your Salesforce testing plan. Increase accuracy in your testing provided by full visibility, and no longer spend resources testing things that are not at risk of breaking.
Win #3: Prioritize Automation in Salesforce Testing
Automating tests in Salesforce can greatly improve both the efficiency and quality of the testing process. With automated tools, extensive test cases can run continuously without manual intervention, which is particularly beneficial for regression testing. Frequent updates to Salesforce require a reliable testing strategy to ensure new changes don’t interfere with existing functionality. Automated regression tests can quickly verify that everything functions as intended, saving valuable time and allowing testers to focus on more complex scenarios.
While adopting automation tools can be challenging, especially for organizations where team members may lack technical expertise in coding, Panaya addresses these obstacles with its codeless test automation capabilities. Panaya’s user-friendly interface enables both technical and non-technical users to build, execute, and manage tests easily without coding. This accessibility encourages broader team involvement, enabling business users, analysts, and IT professionals to participate in the automation process, thus enhancing the overall testing efficiency and coverage.
Win #4: Use Feedback from UAT on Your Release Roadmap
One of the greatest challenges in Salesforce Development is avoiding “Mission Creep.” Mission Creep happens when stakeholders stack new requirements onto your design and deployment, obscuring the original project and creating potential delays.
Continuous Testing allows you to head Mission Creep off at the pass, while incorporating feedback from your users into a Phase II or future release. Rolling user feedback into your Release Roadmap will show that you’re in touch with the needs of your company and honoring your mission of continuous improvement, while ensuring your deployment stays on track.
Win #5: Use Test Management Tools to Streamline Your Process
Effective test management is critical in Salesforce projects due to the complexity and interconnected nature of the platform. Salesforce implementations often involve multiple teams and stakeholders, making it essential to have a well-organized approach to testing that clearly defines roles, responsibilities, and processes. A structured test management system ensures that testing tasks are properly assigned, tracked, and completed, which is crucial for maintaining alignment with project goals.
Moreover, Salesforce updates frequently, and these changes can have cascading effects across various modules and customizations. Effective test management not only helps in defining the testing scope but also in prioritizing areas that might be more vulnerable to issues due to recent changes. This proactive approach minimizes the risk of unexpected disruptions in business operations and supports continuous delivery by helping teams maintain the quality of each release. With clear visibility into testing progress and outcomes, organizations can make informed decisions and ensure that the system continues to meet business requirements reliably.
Achieving Successful Salesforce Deployments with Panaya
Implementing and maintaining Salesforce requires a testing approach that’s not only thorough but also efficient enough to keep up with frequent updates and changes. Panaya offers a powerful solution for Salesforce teams, allowing them to streamline the testing process and improve deployment quality. Its comprehensive platform combines ease of use, codeless automation, and AI-driven insights, making it accessible to both technical and non-technical team members. Here’s how Panaya transforms Salesforce testing:
- One Platform for All Testing Needs: Centralized platform covering test automation, management, and impact analysis.
- Codeless Test Automation: Intuitive interface that allows users to create and execute tests without coding knowledge.
- AI-Driven Testing: Advanced AI features like predictive analysis and self-healing scripts enhance accuracy and reduce maintenance.
- Transitioning from Manual to Automated Testing with Panaya: Simple, user-friendly setup for moving from manual to automated testing, leveraging existing test cases for faster and more reliable results.
With Panaya, Salesforce teams can achieve a streamlined, high-quality deployment process that supports agile development cycles and reliable, consistent performance.