Abstract: A system and methods for providing an extensible automation framework for testing computer software are provided. Features include a framework application, a framework engine with multiple organizational levels, a subsumption engine, library modules, and global environment data. Functionality is subsumed directly from library modules into class objects allowing users to integrate new functionality directly into the automation framework without the need to create new classes. A subsumption engine extends a software language's native reference resolution mechanism with the ability to resolve references to static functions, static data, and other software entities as references to objects in the multiple organizational levels, both in the application module and in library modules.