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PeerSpot user
QA Automation Lead at a tech services company
Consultant
The ability to scan the application and for it to have all of the attributes you need and put them into the test is the most valuable feature for us.

What is most valuable?

I wouldn't usually describe user automation as a key feature but it is a key feature. The ability to scan the application and for it to have all of the attributes and things you need and put them into the test is the most valuable feature for us.

How has it helped my organization?

We did a full-blown POC. It was super successful and we were able to automate a large number of our scripts and save a lot of time and also automate a lot of our testing. We're now able to to build and get tests resolved. It has totally automated our testing, which is great. Now we are extending it across all of our teams.

What needs improvement?

We haven’t really defined this yet. Some tools we are trying to use, like virtualization, haven't been used yet, but this is really something on our end. What we can’t do we have customizations available. We know there’s a feature in the next release which automates even more, and we are trying to find a stop time so we can upgrade and get that feature.

It may be different for other companies, but for us, establishing a set of procedures to get people trained was important. The tool is fairly easy to use, but it's important that you have consistency and standards in place when using it.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using it for seven months.

Buyer's Guide
Tricentis Tosca
January 2025
Learn what your peers think about Tricentis Tosca. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2025.
832,138 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

It's very easy to install and easy for people to use.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

There have been no bugs, and it's very stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We are rolling it out to five of our companies. We are trying to control things internally but the solution itself is 100% scalable.

How are customer service and support?

We have had them here on site nearly every week. If they aren't here they are just a phone call away. We have happily invested to get extra training. From our standpoint we have to control the roll-out speed.

How was the initial setup?

The initial set up is easy, not very complex at all. You can choose how you want to do it. Depending on the size of your company. You can choose how you want to do it.

What about the implementation team?

We had been a HP UFT user for a long time. We tried other tools, but this far and above exceeds this in terms of ease and flexibility with test scripts. For a lot of the tools you don’t need an automator.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Product Owner at Tricentis
Real User
It's an enterprise solution that approaches automated software testing from a business perspective, although it doesn't allow distribution of test cases to different machines for parallel execution.

Valuable Features:

For me there are three outstanding features:

The first one is the test case design feature. When using the feature in your project - I definitely recommend using it – it forces you to think about your test approach, and your overall test strategy. Using this feature you have to define valid and invalid states and conditions of your SUT from a business perspective (e.g. defining a valid age or a valid combination of two business properties). The tool helps you here by generating all necessary combinations automatically out of your prior definitions. You link them to a test case template and all the necessary combinations of your test cases are generated automatically. In most cases you need to adapt the generated test cases for the specific test case, but the fundamental work is done by the tool.

The second one is the simplicity of creating test cases and the underlying model based approach. The process of creating a test case is pretty straightforward. In case of a GUI application you “scan” the current screen of the SUT first. Afterwards all UI controls are displayed and you can choose the relevant one for your test. A representation of the screen – a module – is created and stored in a module folder. You can then simply drag and drop this module into your test case. In the test case, you select, for each UI control, an action e.g. “click” or a specific value. Afterwards, you can arrange the test cases in different execution lists, which are the representations of a test run from a business perspective (e.g. smoke test, regression test, etc.).

Overall, everything is reusable simply via drag and drop, and you will always have a single point of maintenance (e.g. in a future release of your SUT a button was added, you just need adapt the module. Linked test cases and execution lists are updated automatically).

The third one is the support of multiple UI technologies as well as non-UI technologies. In addition, there are (extra payable) features like mobile testing support and service virtualization capabilities.

Improvements to My Organization:

The tool is meant to be an enterprise solution for automating software tests. The vendor has its own test philosophy and wants you to follow it. It tries to hide all technical information of the SUT and forces you to always look at your SUT from a business perspective.

The target audience are business domain experts and software testers without technical knowledge. This can be confusing for testers with a technical background who are used to scripting their way through the SUT.

Introducing the Tricentis Tosca Testsuite in a company goes ideally along with changing the whole business process of software test. I would say the company needs to adapt to the tool, and not the other way round, which is not always bad.

Room for Improvement:

Though the tool claims to be an enterprise solution, it lacks some enterprise features. I would like to see a central management capability for admins, where you define initial workspaces, parametrize settings or update all clients centrally. Furthermore, the tool needs a real versioning functionality.

The out-of-the-box support for third party ALM tools must be improved. Embedding it in an existing application landscape often goes along with developing an adapter for third party components. In terms of extending the product from a technical viewpoint, the documentation for APIs is rare and incomplete. It definitely needs more code examples and a platform for developers.

The tool always gives the user one specific view where you create your test cases. This works perfectly for GUI applications, but not always for non-GUI applications. For instance, when defining test cases for web services, you have exactly the same layout as creating a test case for a Java application. Technology specific characteristics are somehow mapped into the existing view, which increases the complexity. Furthermore, the abstraction at non-GUI tests is not given as in GUI tests. You really need to have the technical understanding of web services or XML to create test cases, this runs counter to the target audience.

The test case design functionality is really complex, and tends to be rocket science, so this needs to be simplified. It goes along with the reporting functionality, when you want to create your own layout and customize the report. I didn’t really get it to work.

It would be nice to distribute test cases to different machines for parallel execution. Especially when it comes to mobile test or multi-browser test where the test case keeps the same but the underlying technical base changes.

Use of Solution:

I ‘ve been working with the Tricentis Tosca Testsuite for more than four years in the context of software test consultancy. I have a decent overview how the tool is used in different companies over several projects. I have gained experience in all functional areas of the tool. Furthermore, I have developed a lot of technical extensions to enhance the tools capabilities.

Customer Service:

Overall I would rate the customer service as excellent. The support is available via email and phone 24/5 and is located in the headquarters of Tricentis. This means that the support staff is sitting next to the technical experts which, nowadays, is rare. You get a quick response that is often the solution for your problem. In case it is a more difficult inquiry, and is not solvable with first level support, you’ll be informed that your inquiry will be passed to an expert. Depending on the complexity, you can count on having a solution within one or two working days, which is pretty fair.

Furthermore the support team offers remote sessions, together with technical experts, to find a solution directly on your machine. The support is available in German and English.

On the downside, the community outside the Tosca support portal seems to be pretty small, or is nearly nonexistent. You hardly find solutions, or best practices, for a specific problem on the web. Other vendors have a more active community, and you can often simply Google a solution to the problem. In most cases with Tricentis, you need the support team or you have to contract on-site consultancy.

Initial Setup:

It depends on your environment and your company policy. Basically, you have three components: a license server, a database and the desktop application which needs to be installed on the same machine where the SUTis located. If you want to use the mobile and/or service virtualization feature you need additional components and preparations.

Cost and Licensing Advice:

You will not find an official pricing list. You have to contact the local sales team.

Other Advice:

The tool is a desktop application and comes with all advantages and disadvantages of a desktop application in terms of deployment and scalability.

There is a cloud version (TaaS), but this version is only suitable for manual tests and web tests. Web applications need to be publicly accessible within the cloud environment (so it is not suitable for internal testing environments). It would be a nice feature if the cloud version of Tricentis Tosca Testsuite is able to drive your locally installed application.

Do not buy this tool if you simply need a driver for your automation, as open source solutions (e.g. Selenium), or technology specific solutions are more suitable here. Also, if you are looking for a complete ALM solution, there are more capable tools out there. If you have a testing department full of techies, they will feel too restricted with the tool. It’s also not suitable for manual testing only, as there are better solutions for this purpose out there. But, if you have the plan to test multiple technologies, and your testing departments consists mainly of business domain experts or software tester with few technical background, and you are planning to introduce this tool as an enterprise solution and/or want to replace existing fragmented solutions, then it is worth evaluating it.

You definitely want to have a product training first prior to implementation, and you definitely want to have on-site consultancy while making your first steps with the tool. In most cases, you also need technical consultancy in cases the tool does not recognize UI controls.
Focus on a small prototype project first together with on-site consultancy. Take the learnings from that project, and do the next one on your own.

The company is a lot smaller than the top dogs, but they are compensating it with passion and a lot of new features in every release.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: I wrote this review in Sept. 2015 before I began working at Tricentis.
PeerSpot user
it_user390288 - PeerSpot reviewer
it_user390288Product Owner at Tricentis
Real User

Hi Stefan! Thanks for the hint. This is really a cool feature, which was on my wishlist. Great job!

See all 3 comments
Buyer's Guide
Tricentis Tosca
January 2025
Learn what your peers think about Tricentis Tosca. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2025.
832,138 professionals have used our research since 2012.
it_user346803 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Consultant at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Consultant
It helps us to create very accurate test cases, those that cover the most critical parts of our applications. However, it must recognize more controls than it does currently with only C# and Java.

What is most valuable?

I think the most valuable features are:

  • Scriptless testing
  • Modules (object repository)
  • Test data management
  • It can be used by non-technical users, such as business analysts

How has it helped my organization?

The product helps us to create very accurate test cases. The goal was not to create plenty of test cases, but only those that cover the most critical parts of our applications.

What needs improvement?

Some areas have already been improved such as loops and conditions, but there is still one major issues. If you need to improve one of the Tosca engines, you have to develop it in the same language, such as C# and Java. So you need more technical experts to help you. QTP is more flexible on that point. Tosca must recognize more controls than it does currently.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used it for two years, and I spent only a few months in a project for a large insurance company.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

No issues encountered.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No issues encountered.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No issues encountered.

How are customer service and technical support?

10/10 - it's one of the most efficient support teams I use.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Tosca was chosen by the customer before we started the project.

How was the initial setup?

Everything was already done before we started the project.

What about the implementation team?

It was done through a in-house team, but they worked very closely with the vendor.

What other advice do I have?

You should be very careful if you have to customize Tosca because it could be very expensive, so take your time to evaluate it. Test it with many applications, many objects, and many controls.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
gagneet - PeerSpot reviewer
gagneetContinuous Delivery Lead at SAI Global
Top 5LeaderboardReal User

TOSCA was not meant for resolving any scenario out of the box, hence the introduction of the extensible engines for it, which you have to write code for the Customizations that are done for the required application. That said, nowadays there are a lot of plug-ins which are available with Tricentis (due to them working on a lot of technologies and organizations using customized controls), which can be requested via the ever helpful Support Teams. Anything which is not standard is not easy to provide in an out of the box experience. TOSCA does deliver a lot of modules (Siebel, Oracle, SAP) out of the box, but if the user has made any customizations, then it is natural for the tool used to test those customizations also to have custom controls :-)
QTP similarly does not have out of the box capabilities, and these have to be developed.

reviewer1095432 - PeerSpot reviewer
Conductor with 11-50 employees
Real User
Good online support, and has a reusable model
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature is being able to create a test case by recording some scenarios and then leasing that task case to other scenarios."
  • "The document object model or some aspects of it has a bit of a learning curve."

What is our primary use case?

Tricentis Tosca is used to test our in-house products. We have developers for Google and other web applications for our internal use, but that product is developed by outsourced developers, that needs to be tested.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is being able to create a test case by recording some scenarios and then leasing that task case to other scenarios.

We only use the UI for testing purposes, so all other features are unusable to us.

What needs improvement?

The document object model or some aspects of it has a bit of a learning curve.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Tricentis Tosca for one year.

We use the latest version.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I don't have any issues with the stability of Tricentis Tosca.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Because my organization or team only has one or two testers, we don't need to think about scalability. As a result, that product does not need to be scalable in my environment.

How are customer service and support?

My experience with the Tricentis website support was good.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have experience with Selenium HQ and Parasoft.

We conducted a SOAtest using Parasoft. Tricentis Tosca is different and better, because it has a reusable model, whereas the others do not.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup requires some learning time. In my experience, we have testers who have no development experience, so we need to educate them on the development side. I'm referring to the ID in the document object model or some aspects of it. After that, we'll be able to use it. In my experience, the learning curve was the most difficult obstacle.

It took approximately three months to complete the deployment.

This solution is maintained by two people, the same two who use it.

What about the implementation team?

I was able to learn the installation process myself.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution to others, but in our country, I believe the importance of testing is currently ignored or underestimated. It is not popular in our country at this moment but I will recommend this tool.

We are partners with Tricentis.

I would rate Tricentis Tosca an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
DevOps lead at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Stable, good technical support, but customization could improve
Pros and Cons
  • "The technical support is good, we were satisfied."
  • "The user management could improve in Tricentis Tosca because it is confusing. It would be better to have it in one place. Having to add it to the cloud and to a specific project can be a mess."

What is our primary use case?

We use Tricentis Tosca for testing.

What needs improvement?

The user management could improve in Tricentis Tosca because it is confusing. It would be better to have it in one place. Having to add it to the cloud and to a specific project can be a mess. 

In the future, they could improve overall mobile functionality.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution within the past 12 months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable. However, we had a situation with an application we wanted to test some reset passwords. We have the two-factor authentication enabled on sending an SMS to a number and in this case, we did not find anything to solve it. There was not anything to automate me getting the number, and proceed with it automatically without going and testing it manually.

How are customer service and technical support?

The technical support is good, we were satisfied.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have previously used Selenium in the company I used to work for and it was perfect. The solution was very good at testing web applications, but not Windows, or desktop applications. Tricentis Tosca does not have customized reporting tools ready but Selenium you can build and customize whatever you want.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Tricentis Tosca is an expensive solution and there is an annual license required. The whole licensing process is confusing and it could be made easier.

What other advice do I have?

My advice is if companies have developers, or the potential to teach developers, or QA teams, I would suggest they use Selenium because the price of Tricentis Tosca is expensive.

I rate Tricentis Tosca an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer2178498 - PeerSpot reviewer
AVP at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
MSP
Top 20
Helps with web and API automation but needs to improve the infrastructure and pricing
Pros and Cons
  • "I am impressed with the product's script test."
  • "The product needs to improve its pricing. It also needs to improve the infrastructure and DEX agent setup."

What is our primary use case?

We use the product for web and API automation. 

What is most valuable?

I am impressed with the product's script test. 

What needs improvement?

The product needs to improve its pricing. It also needs to improve the infrastructure and DEX agent setup. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I am using the product for two years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The product is stable so far. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is stable. We had to scale up since our team size had grown. My company has 20 users for the product. 

How are customer service and support?

Support takes time sometimes. At times, we have been able to figure out answers ourselves. Else, we have to rely on the support to create custom modules which takes time. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

How was the initial setup?

The product's setup is easy if you have someone experienced on your team. You have to build the infrastructure, database, and a lot of other things. 

What other advice do I have?

I would rate the overall product a seven out of ten. The tool is easy if you are able to find the right set of people. 

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
PeerSpot user
QA at proalpha business solutions gmbh
Real User
Good performance and easy to use for designing and maintaining test cases
Pros and Cons
  • "This solution is easy to use for everybody, including those who are not IT-educated."
  • "I would like to be able to manage different projects in one repository or have better data exchange between repositories."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use case is UI-based regression tests on Microsoft Windows.

How has it helped my organization?

Compared to the old tools, WinRunner and TestDirector by Mercury Interactive, it accelerated building, performing, and maintaining regression tests by a factor of approximately ten times.

What is most valuable?

This solution is easy to use for everybody, including those who are not IT-educated.

It allows for effective test management and an effective test case design.

The most valuable features are:

  • Non-scripting test case building
  • Test cases are easy to maintain
  • Very good test case design module
  • All of the features are well integrated into the suite

What needs improvement?

I would like to be able to manage different projects in one repository or have better data exchange between repositories.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Tricentis Tosca for ten years.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Prior to this solution, we used WinRunner and TestDirector by Mercury Interactive.

The performance with Tricentis Tosca is better.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Head of Test Automation at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Consultant
It allows us to scale up test automation teams without the need for scripting/coding skills, though we'd recommend a POC to ensure the solution works for a particular system.

What is most valuable?

  • Test cases design
  • Model based test automation

How has it helped my organization?

From a services perspective, it allows us to scale up test automation teams very quickly, because test analysts can contribute to the test automation effort without the need for scripting/coding skills.

From our clients perspective (e.g. large banks, government organisations etc.), it has allowed them to decrease their total execution effort, improve their time to market, and increase their total risk coverage.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used it for three years.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

Customer service is very good. The online chat has extremely quick response times (average of 10s wait), and the staff are knowledgeable.

Technical Support:

Technical support, is very good. The online chat has extremely quick response times (average of 10s wait), and the staff are knowledgeable.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

The Test Automation team at TTC use many other test automation tools/solutions, and have chosen Tosca as our preferred tool because of it's unique model based approach to test automation. We have found this approach to have many benefits including; ease of use, extendability, robustness, maintainability and scalability.

How was the initial setup?

The initial set up and install for Tosca is very straightforward. The client install takes less than an hour, and the only other components required are a license server, and a database. If the right people are available (e.g. System Administrator and DataBase Administrator) then the full infrastructure can be set up on day one.

What was our ROI?

Generally we see our clients achieve positive ROI within one to three years. This is along with other non-financial benefits which can be achieved immediately e.g. decreased execution time.

What other advice do I have?

We would always advise customers to have experts involved during a test automation implementation. Generally, we recommend conducting a POC to prove that the solution works technically for your systems, then we recommend a pilot project, to prove that the business benefits can be realized, and to provide experience about the product. Along with the POC and the pilot, a portfolio analysis should also be conducted to determine which test suites should be automated.

Expert consultants, like our test automation specialists, should conduct the POC and be heavily involved in the pilot. With an ongoing involvement during subsequent projects, and can also be brought in to supplement the team.

Try the Tosca Udemy course and download a trial to get a feel for Tosca as a product. Then, reach out to the local Tricentis Partner or the Tricentis Services Team for help with a POC and ongoing Tosca implementation. Ask for case studies and reference sites from any consultancy company when implementing any test automation tool. These case studies/references should ideally be local and tool specific. Expertise in other tools doesn't always translate to successful implementation in another.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: We're partners.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Tricentis Tosca Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: January 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Tricentis Tosca Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.