IBM recently announced a comprehensive test automation solution that can reduce the costs of testing while assisting the development teams to come to a balance between quality and speed. How it works is by testing the bottleneck by virtualizing dependent services without having to reconfigure the original environment. Save time and avoid configuration errors that might affect the success of the testing procedure. Offering a comprehensive set of testing capabilities, the new Rational test automation solution:
• Simplifies by the creation of a virtualised test environment that can be easily deployed, shared, and updated.
• Provides for a comprehensive integration testing in a code-free solution that is easy to learn and enhances tester productivity.
• Integrates the new capabilities with Rational Quality Manager and the IBM Rational solution for Collaborative Lifecycle Management
Another day-to-day example, though not an industrial one would be of traffic control and monitor. The automation process of the traffic lights have made traffic congestion much lesser. Heavy traffic loads on highways often become bottleneck to journey. Traffic load of roads change very frequently and a static signaling system fails to meet the expectation of people. Traffic engineering uses automated techniques to achieve safe and efficient movement of people and goods on roadways. Bottlenecks here would mean road blocks that can make traffic come to a standstill.
Apart from identifying
and providing a
solution to
bottlenecks,
automation helps in
other key areas of
operations as well,
for example
Cost Reduction: Automation through software is a more intelligent approach to cost containment. Most modern servers have low operating costs and better efficiencies. Automation therefore results in higher productivity, reliability, availability, and increased performance which inevitably leads to better service for the end user, and reduced operating costs.
Productivity: Automating the production schedule can increases the overall batch throughput. In the early days, computer throughput was limited to and determined by how fast the operators could reset switches on the console. The automations solutions today do not allow the computer to remain idle while waiting for the operator to release the next job.
Reliability: We understand that productivity is an obvious benefit of automation. However, reliability is a gem that sparkles with automation. It is the cornerstone of good operations management and without it there would be complete chaos. Some of the more critical jobs such as releasing jobs, ensuring proper communication, performing backups etc. are performed by entry level individuals and this poses a threat to reliability as there is a high risk of human error which in turn leads to bottlenecks. Automated operations can handle these functions in a more reliable manner and thus relieve operations personnel of tedious and boring manual tasks.
Performance: Though advancements in computers have made enterprises faster and less expensive every year, the demands always catch up and eventually exceed the level of capability that a company’s computer system possesses. This leaves a lot of companies wanting to improve their performance and without up-to-date software and hardware that is able to meet the demands of production it is impossible to have an efficient workflow.
In the end, it’s not just about reducing costs, faster productivity or any of these factors individually, but the amalgamation of all these things working in tandem to improve overall quality and scope of the business, in order to satisfy the customer needs. Automation is merely one of the means to achieve this.
“About the time we can make the ends meet, somebody moves the ends” - Herbert Hoover