NEXTA2024: 7th IEEE Workshop on NEXt level of Test Automation Toronto, Canada, May 27-31, 2024 |
Conference website | https://conf.researchr.org/home/icst-2024/nexta-2024 |
Submission link | https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=nexta2024 |
7th International Workshop on the Next Level of Test Automation (NEXTA2024)
Submission Guidelines
Test automation has been an acknowledged software engineering best practice for years. However, the topic involves more than the repeated execution of test cases that often comes first to mind. Simply running test cases using a unit testing framework is no longer enough for test automation to keep up with the ever-shorter release cycles driven by continuous deployment and technological innovations such as microservices and DevOps pipelines. Now test automation needs to rise to the next level by going beyond mere test execution. The NEXTA workshop will explore how to advance test automation to further contribute to software quality in the context of tomorrow's rapid release cycles. Takeaways for industry practitioners and academic researchers will encompass test case generation, automated test result analysis, test suite assessment and maintenance, and infrastructure for the future of test automation.
Workshop theme, goals, and relevance
Partly driven by agile development, partly driven by technological innovations, the software is being deployed in shorter release cycles. With the rise of agile development, software teams all over the world embrace faster release cycles as a way to incorporate customer feedback into product development processes. A much faster release cycle implies rethinking the typical view of software quality.
High-quality software has long been synonymous with software “without bugs”. Today, however, quality software has come to mean “easy to adapt” because of the constant pressure to change. Consequently, modern software teams seek a delicate balance between two opposing forces: striving for reliability and striving for agility. The old view does not match well with the challenges trusted on today's software testing teams. The traditional quality assurance was based on strict processes, comprehensive documentation, and rigorous planning; valuable assets yet corresponding to a development process optimized for perfection. Agile software development, on the other hand, forwards a series of other values: customer value, iterative and incremental development, and continuous integration, hence optimizing for ease of change.
The next level of test automation must facilitate future software teams striving to increase development agility without sacrificing quality. To achieve this, test automation tools and frameworks must seamlessly integrate with the rapid delivery pipelines of the future - test automation must advance to the next level to keep up.
As the topic is highly relevant for members of the ICST community, the aim of the workshop is to attract academic researchers and industry practitioners. Test automation has been a hot topic in the industry for years, and after the initial hype, many organizations have realized the limitations. We believe the time is right for a workshop on how to bring test automation to the next level. Thus, we particularly want to attract industry participants at ICST by focusing discussions on problems and solutions relevant to industry practice.
NEXTA solicits contributions targeting all aspects of test automation, from initial test design to automated verdict analysis. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Test execution automation
- Test case generation
- Automatic test design generation
- Analytics, learning, and big data in relation to test automation.
- Automatic aspects management in test, progress, reporting, planning, etc.
- Visualization of test
- Evolution of test automation
- Test suite architecture and infrastructure
- Test environment, simulation, and other contextual issues for automated testing
- Test tools, frameworks, and general support for test automation
- Testing in an agile and continuous integration context, and testing within DevOps
- Orchestration of test
- Metrics, benchmarks, and estimations on any type of test automation
- Any type of test technology relying on the automation of test
- Process improvements and assessments related to test automation.
- Test automation maturity and experience reports on test automation.
- Automatic retrieval of test data and test preparation aspect
- Maintainability, monitoring, and refactoring of automated test suites.
- Training and education on automated testing
- Automated test for product lines and high-variability systems
- Test automation patterns
- Automated test oracles
Workshop format
The workshop is planned for a half day and has the following format:
- Paper Presentations in a flipped conference mode. Videos are sent in advance to get discussants on the paper - and presenters as well as chairs prepare questions. Accepted papers are clustered according to their topic and presented summarily in sessions accordingly. Each paper will be discussed, and also have ample time for questions - in line with our goal of organizing a dynamic workshop.
- Tool Demonstrations. Authors of accepted tool papers will present exciting if not fully polished research prototypes, that also can be followed up with a video. The demonstrations provide good opportunities to showcase the latest ideas for future test automation pipelines.
Workshop Scheduling
NEXTA is planned for a full day in a flipped conference scheduling. meaning that videos of presentations will be pre-recorded - so people can prepare ahead of time. This allows only a few summary slides to be shown in the actual workshop, to allow discussions in a true workshop manner providing a fast and interesting interaction despite being virtual. However, we would appreciate, if possible, not to be scheduled head-to-head with e.g., TAIC-Part or mutation workshop.
Paper selection procedure
We especially invite submissions of the following types: empirical studies, problem statements, experience reports, and open challenges in the industry. In addition, we will also make a call for tool demonstrations - test automation is a practical topic, i.e., tool demonstrations fit well at the workshop.
NEXTA solicits the following types of original papers:
- Technical Papers (max. 8 pages in IEEE format). Full papers presenting research results or industrial practices related to the next generation of test automation.
- Position and Experience Papers (max. 4 pages in IEEE format). Short papers introducing challenges, visions, positions or preliminary results within the scope of the workshop. Experience reports and papers on open challenges in the industry are especially welcome.
- Tool Papers (max. 4 pages in IEEE format). Tool papers introduce tools that implement an approach to support the transition to the next generation of test automation. A tool paper submission must include either 1) a URL to a screencast of the tool in action, or 2) a runnable version of the tool for evaluation by the program committee.
Submissions will be received through EasyChair and reviewed by at least three members of the program committee for quality and relevance. Submissions that are not in compliance with the required submission format or that are out of the scope of the workshop will be rejected without being reviewed. Every submission will be reviewed by at least one PC member from the industry. We plan to invite a mix of academic researchers and practitioners from the industry to the NEXTA program committee.
Committees
Organizing Committee
- Sahar Tahvili, Ericsson AB, Sweden, sahar.tahvili@ericsson.com
- Jeremy Bradbury, Ontario Tech University, Jeremy.Bradbury@ontariotechu.ca
- Vahid Garousi, Queens University of Belfast, UK, v.garousi@qub.ac.uk
- Kristian Sandahl, Linköpings University, Sweden, kristian.sandahl@liu.se
- Leo Hatvani, Mälardalen University, Sweden, leo.hatvani@mdu.se
Venue
Mon 27 - Fri 31 May 2024 Toronto, Canada
Contact
All questions about submissions should be emailed to Leo Hatvani, leo.hatvani@mdu.se