When to start doing automation?

[basanth27]

The standard is to start automation once the build has reached regression phase. Well, does the industry have standards to follow? No, It is not possible. A lot depends on what kind of situation you are currently in. For eg: If you have a automation resource who is assigned to a particular project, then he should start building the Proof Of Concept on the application from the time development begins. A close work with the dev manager would have you install weekly builds on a test server and then you could design the framework and a part of the larger scripts while development is still going on. This way, you can have smoke test through automation and allow manual team to test exhaustively.
If you are out of resources its going to be a waterfall. Step by Step, wait till the build is stable and then begin automation.
The point I am trying to emphasis is, there is actually no harm in trying automation wherever the possibility exists. However, before an Investment it is very important to assess the Returns and the Risks involved. You cannot have a group of people trying to automate and then after 6 months call it quits. That would be suicidal.

Ground work for automation would be,

-> Build a Automation Test Plan
-> Start with a POC
-> Qualify the Tool
-> Build your framework

Once you have the Investment go-ahead on automation,

-> Demo your POC to every stakeholder involved.
-> Explain clearly what is going to be automated and what not
-> Specify Timelines
-> Begun Automation

I know, this is more than what the question is asked for, but for the ones who want to know more, this should be a good approach.