Frequently Asked Questions

What is QA2L?

QA2L is a data governance solution specializing in automated detection of website tracking defects.

How is QA2L different from other site monitoring services and browser automation tools?

We focus on making it easy to automate even the most complicated user journeys / flows and to QA all your KPI in a robust set of tests that is a breeze to maintain.

We also take a smart, targeted approach to page-level issue discovery via auto-selective site audits and scans.

Our philosophy is that QA automation should not require coding skills or site changes, should be highly cost-effective, and stellar at alerting you about the issues you care about. To that effect, all our features aim to make the platform intuitive, noise-free, and straightforward to grasp even for junior resources and non-programmers.

At the heart of QA2L is a unique online task design interface. It mirrors very closely the browser executing the automated tests and makes it easy to design as well as to adjust tasks. The resulting tests are not only functional on day one but also faithful to actual user behaviors and designed in a way that increases their longevity. They can be scheduled to run with a variety of options, producing clear alerts when something needs your attention.

In addition, our mature API makes it possible to control your whole test suite from another app or Google Sheets, and our integration options ensure that targeted alerts will reach your team in places where they already like to congregate.

I've tried other tools and they all have issues with dynamic sites using React / Angular / AJAX and complicated event tags. How does QA2L handle those?

The way QA2L is set up to handle interactions or forms with dynamic behavior is one of our strongest features. We built (and continuously improve) our tool on the premise that it should support the most dynamic websites and single-page applications. It should be able to do everything a normal user can do on a website.

Not only can you easily automate advanced interactions and form input, you also have intuitive ways to handle most common scenarios like changing elements in the same position, or form fields that require a unique username or email every time.

Some of the sites I need to QA have lots of authenticated user content or include content from multiple domains via iFrames. Can QA2L help with those?

We certainly can. While traditional tools have a hard time QA-ing sites with authenticated user content and iFrame content, QA2L is unequivocally better equipped to handle such tasks.

Getting to authenticated content is especially easy. All you need to do is configure one task with a login sequence. You can then use that task as a precursor to multiple other tasks. If the login flow changes, you just need to update that one task.

Crossing domains and QA'ing iFrame content is another area where we are much stronger than anyone else. Not only that, but you can test actual user flows that include other websites (such as Paid Search or Affiliate Campaigns), whereas other tools may artificially restrict you to your own domains.

Can I use QA2L to automate the audits of data layers?

Absolutely. In addition to the automated validation of GTM Data Layers, Tealium Data Layers, and Adobe DTM / Launch Rules, QA2L supports the discovery of any Event-Driven Data Layer (EDDL) or  W3C-compliant Digital Data Layer (DDL).

CAN QA2L HELP ME VALIDATE OUR WEBSITES FOR GDPR COMPLIANCE?

Indeed, we can. One of the key aspects covered by GDPR is the personal data your organization might be collecting about your customers, including data collected by clickstream analytics solutions. This includes email addresses, telephone numbers, IPs, names, Social Security Numbers, and others, commonly referred to as PII.

Unlike the spider-based solutions out there that often need significant customizations before they can automate the detection of PII, QA2L was built to specifically handle interactions such as the automation of complex user flows. Read more about executing GDPR compliance checks with QA2L.

OK, that all sounds great, but will it tax my website or create noise in my data?

Under the hood, an automated flow task uses a single browser session to access a site exactly like a single normal user would, and performs a natural-seeming sequence of user actions. It does not burden your website any more than a single user would. If you are running regular scans and audits, which involve crawling, we take extra care to maximize efficiency (and value) without overtaxing your website.

There are several ways to ensure that even this minimal footprint is not visible in your reporting. The easiest way is to turn on stealth mode, which prevents outgoing analytics tracking calls from reaching any reports. Other options for filtering out traffic generated by QA2L are also available (IP-based, UA-based, etc.).

Do you emulate different browsers, especially older versions of Internet Explorer? Are there any technical limitations we should be aware of?

QA2L does not support true browser emulation at this time. We hear this request often, and we're exploring ways to provide this in a robust and agile manner. As of today, we support modifying the custom User Agent string. This is enough to make any website think that a certain browser is on the other end, and to trigger special behavior such as responsive design for Mobile / Tablet devices, but it is not enough to test for rare client-side issues that may be specific to a certain browser or browser version.

My organization collects data using custom trackers/javascript libraries, can QA2L audit such tags?

QA2L allows you to define your very own custom tracking definitions making the verification of any client-side tag possible. Read our use case with verification of fully customized Snowplow implementations. 

I work with capable coders and QA testers. What can your service do that they can't?

We can save everyone a ton of time by automating tedious and repetitive QA tasks, freeing humans to do the things humans are good at. Your capable coders can stay focused on developing site features rather than writing tests. We can deliver the means to automate regression and user acceptance testing, as well as provide that extra layer of assurance that things are not going to break while no-one is looking. For medium to large size organizations, the tool yields a rapid return of investment in terms of hardware and human resources, data integrity, and governance standards.

My organization is security-minded and does not feel comfortable with services outside its firewalls. Is there a more secure option?

In general, QA2L does not need to store any highly-sensitive data in order to access and test a website / web app. Any paid tier can be configured to authenticate securely in order to access less crucial dev / staging environments and identify issues before they leak into production. A dedicated QA2L server (for OnPrem tiers) can be configured to VPN automatically to an organization's Intranet, or in some cases can be placed inside an organization's cloud-based Intranet.

Let's say I'm considering it. How much does it all cost?

The free trial tier is deal for self-service proof-of-concept evaluations, and it also comes with a limited number of automated runs to show you how that part of the system works.

Paid Enterprise tiers are available for organizations who need the full power of scheduled tasks and alerting, API access, and integration features. The exact pricing is based on the selected prodcuts and the number of scheduled / automated steps per month.

Our partner program is ideal for agencies and consultancies that are evaluating the solution on behalf of some of their customers. Contact us for more details.