The Unit Testing Process

Unit testing must be done in a repeatable manner. A documented unit testing process, along with management-level facilitation of training and enforcement of that process's implementation, will ensure that the testing is done properly and in a timely manner. The purchase and implementation of a unit testing tool does not ensure a repeatable process—using the tool does. Automated testing tools support specific testing activities; thus they require specific circumstances in order to operate properly. Furthermore, there is always some extra nonautomated setup and cleanup associated with them. Thus, it is often difficult to coax developers to use them.