What is End to End Testing?

End-to-end testing is a technique used to validate whether the flow of application/software from the starting point to the end point is working perfectly or not. It is performed from start to finish under real world scenarios like the interaction of the application with the network, database, interfaces and other applications.
Nowadays, applications become complex because it contains a lot of components for functioning. All components are dependent on each other. The purpose of performing end-to-end testing is to identify system dependencies and to ensure that the data integrity is maintained. End-to-end testing is also known as Chain Testing.

Benefits of end-to-end testing

End-to-end testing is a fundamental process to ensure the reliability of the application or website. It is essential testing to improve efficiency and productivity. Let’s go through some of the benefits of the end-to-end testing given below:

Ensures complete correctness of the Application

In end-to-end testing, the application is tested and validated at all the layers including data layer, business layer, transaction layer, integration layer, and presentation layer. The testing ensures the working from the front-end to all the way through the back-end. This ensures complete correctness of the application.

Reduces failure risks

In the end-to-end testing, the application is tested rigorously after every iteration. A new version of the application always goes through the end-to-end testing process. Hence there are lesser chances of failure and risks in the future.

Boosts confidence in the Application

End-to-end testing increases confidence in the functioning and performance of your application because the application is tested at all the layers and also across different platforms. It helps detect issues with other components and increases confidence in the overall software product.

Methods of End to End testing

White box testing, as well as Black box testing both, are associated with end-to-end testing. In other words, it is gray box testing which provides benefits of both black box and white box testing. Basically, there is two methods os end-to-end testing.

1. Horizontal End to End testing: This method occurs horizontally and across context of multiple applications. This method is generally used in an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) application. The horizontal end-to-end test consists of verifying and evaluating transactions through each web order application and right from the start to finish.

2. Vertical End to End testing: In this method, all the transactions and layers of the application are verified and evaluated right from the top to bottom. This testing method is much more complex because it includes API and SQL interfaces and also there is a lack of user interface.

Conclusion

In conclusion, End to end testing is an essential test that organizations will need to conduct to improve their efficiency and productivity. Today, software systems are so complex and are interconnected with multiple sub-systems. If any one of the subsystems fails, the whole software system could fail. We recommend you to use automated end-to -end testing for your application. Automated end-to-end testing is always better than manual testing. Ultimately, the testing is worth if you use it in the right way.