4th IEEE Workshop on NEXt level of Test Automation 2021
NEXTA 2021

Workshop Summary

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. Take-aways 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.

Practical

The NEXTA workshop will be organised in a fully virtual setting. Nevertheless, we want to stay as close as possible to the spirit of the workshop (i.e. encourage discussions, active on social media). But what implications does this have for you?

(1) Live but virtual.
We ask authors to give a real virtual presentation, instead of playing a pre-recorded video. However, if you feel uncomfortable about giving a virtual presentation, contact the organizers and we will gladly accommodate.

(2) Full time slots.
We will keep the time-slots as originally planned. (Full presentation = 20 minute + 10 minutes questions; Short presentation = 15 minutes + 5 minutes questions).

(3) Date and Time zone.
As we assume the conference is on Brazil time which will impact the schedule

(4) Platform.
The platform for the virtual event is currently unclear.

(5) Active Q&A.
Despite the virtual nature we will do our best to emulate the spirit of a live workshop. Each presenter will be asked to serve as a discussant for another paper in the same session. A discussant will read the paper beforehand and prepare a series of questions to initiate the discussion. If you are uncomfortable about serving as a discussant, contact the organisers.

(6) Awards.
NEXTA has a tradition of handing out awards to encourage interaction.
 - Most Viral Tweet Award [#nexta2021]
 - Best Questions Award (New format this year)
 - Best Presentation Award
Participants will be asked to participate in voting for these awards.

Program

All times in (UCT-3): Brazil

    The Program needs to be filled with your papers - Please submit

Registration

Registration for the workshop should be done via link found at ICST2021 homepage ICST2021.

Travel information

Due to the Corona pandemic, NEXTA 2021 will be organised as a fully virtual event.

Important Dates

  • 10th of January, 2021 (hard deadline)

    Full-Paper Submission

  • 31st of January, 2021

    Notification

  • 20th of February, 2021

    Camera Ready

  • 12th of April, 2021

    Workshop

Call for Papers

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 estimation on any type of test automation
  • Any type of test technologies relying on 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


NEXTA accepts 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.

  • 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.

  • 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 industry are especially welcome.


Authors should submit a PDF version of their paper through the NEXTA 2021 paper submission site: easychair.
All accepted papers will be part of the ICST joint workshop proceedings published in the IEEE Digital Library.

Call for Papers can be downloaded as text or as a PDF document.

Organisation

Sigrid Eldh

Ericsson AB, Sweden
General Chair

Kristian Sandahl

Linköping University, Sweden
Program Co-Chair

Sahar Tahvili

Ericsson AB, Sweden
Program Co-Chair

Vahid Garousi

Queens University of Belfast, UK
Program Co-Chair

Michael Felderer

University of Innsbruck, Austria
Program Co-Chair

Program Committee (tentative)

  • Sigrid Eldh, Ericsson AB, Sweden
  • Sahar Tahvili, Ericsson AB, Sweden
  • Kristian Sandahl, Linköping Unviersty, Sweden
  • Vahid Garousi, The Queens University of Belfast, UK
  • Michael Felderer, University of Innsbruck, Austria
  • Serge Demeyer, University of Antwerp, Belgium
  • Pasqualina Potena, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden AB, Sweden
  • Kristian Wiklund, Ericsson AB, Sweden
  • Markus Borg, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden AB, Sweden
  • Tanja Vos, Universidad Politecnica Valencia, Spain and Open University Netherlands
  • Marc-Florian Wendland, Fraunhofer Fokus, Germany
  • Machiel van der Bijl, Axini, Netherlands
  • Francisco Gomez, Göteborgs and Chalmers University, Sweden
  • Karl Meinke, The Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden
  • Mika Mäntylä, University of Oulu, Finland
  • Magnus C Ohlsson, System Verification, Sweden
  • Pekka Aho, The Open University of the Netherlands
  • Rix Groenboom, Parasoft, Germany
  • Eduardo Paul Enuio, Mälardalen University, Sweden
  • Magnus C Ohlsson, System Verification, Sweden


Sponsored by TESTOMAT PROJECT