Maintain
Build a new case
The time to automate one new case once the suite exists — usually the average build time, sometimes less because the scaffolding is in place.
- Unit
- minutes per case
- Where you enter it
- Maintain tab, per vendor.
What it means
Authoring time for a case added after the initial build. It defaults to the average build time per case, because writing the fortieth case is much like writing the fourth, but it can be lower where the framework, page objects and data set-up already exist.
It is per vendor, and it is multiplied by new cases added per year.
Why it matters to the cost
Because it recurs, a small per-case difference compounds: fifteen minutes against two hours on 40 new cases a year is 10 hours against 80, every year of the horizon. It carries the same category differences as the initial build time.
Typical values
The same as the average build time per case for the tool; lower once page objects and data are established.
Typical values describe a category of tool — AI-native, codeless, script-based, homegrown, manual — never a named product. Why we do not price named products.
Where it appears in the model
Maintain — continuously
- cases to repair
- Total test cases × Test breakage rate
- cases healed
- Total test cases × Self-healed cases per year
- Maintenance effort per year
- cases to repair × Repair time per case + cases healed × Review one heal + Platform upkeep per year + New cases added per year × Build a new case
Every name is a link to its definition. See the whole model.
Try it with your numbers
Build a new case is a row in the calculator. Change it and every total on the page moves with it — free, in your browser, nothing to install.
See how build a new case impacts the calculation of test automation costsLast reviewed 2026-09-15. All terms.