It is worth noting that the decision to move to automatic testing affects the entire testing strategy. We are going to consider some of popular testing tools. The most basic test automation strategy applies not only to software products. This strategy should build the case for a global strategic approach by extending to lots of projects and, at that, be closely integrated with the testing process.
Thus, the test plan for a particular software product determines which part of the overall automation strategy will be implemented in the current project. It may be necessary to add automated load tests to verify how the software product can handle the expected load, or to automate the testing process of software app with GUI interface. Perhaps, you will want to use the automated report generator, which sends the test results and the metrics of the software product to a Web page. After determining the time and cost associated with evaluating and acquiring (or building) the tools that are needed to complete the automation, and then assessing the labor costs for learning a new tool, it is likely that a decision will be made to use only one or two tools in the course of such a project. Inclusion of more new tools in project does not only adversely affect the productivity of project processes, but also requires significant investments at high cost. Automated application testing services contribute to speeding up testing, increasing coverage, reducing costs, etcetera.
There is a wide variety of tools available to support testing activities. Some of these tools are listed in the table. This table displays the tools for the development life cycle stages where they can be used.
| Testing tool | Benefits | Life cycle stage |
| Bug / issue / defect tracking system | Allows the tester to record and save error messages, generate software product metrics and final reports | All stages |
| Test management tools | Used to store test plans, test cases (manual or automated), test results;
notify of test pass state |
All stages |
| Requirement management tools | Involved in organizing and keeping track of product requirements. Trace tests back to the requirements from which they are derived | The adequate data are initially introduced at the analysis and validation phases, but can be used throughout the life cycle |
| Memory leak detection tools applied in runtime environment | Execution of tests to detect memory leaks and errors during run time | Usually used during code testing, unit testing and integration testing |
