How Indium’s iSAFE Framework helped devise a 100% automation strategy for testing a workforce management software?

CUSTOMER PROFILE & BACKGROUND

A leading global firm based in the US was developing a software tool for workforce management, employee attendance marking, collecting labour data and generating attendance summary of a large workforce.

The software was developed using .NET technologies and AJAX and Oracle 10G was the database used.

The customer was scouting around for the right testing partner, one who has the capability to manage the testing process at rapid speed, without sacrificing quality.

Importantly, the QA team at the customer site wanted a 100% automation-driven testing process, to reduce time-to-release, for every build.  Also, the project needed handling of multiple data sets for a highly data intensive application.

KNOWN CHALLENGES

The customer had prior experience with the test process, and they wanted to fix several known challenges during this project.

Specifically, the customer wanted to:

• Have skills to handle multiple data sets for a highly data intensive application
• Minimize manual testing, since it was slowing down time-to-release for every version
• Avoid unproductive time, rewriting and managing test scripts for different test browsers and environments

• Work with a team with prior expertise, rather than one that picked up new skills on the fly
• Partner with a vendor with expertise in preparing test data for a data-driven approach
• Build a robust framework that can optimize test execution and has reusable components

CUSTOMER HAPPINESS

The success of the project was best captured in this customer testimonial:

“Your framework is definitely the best, robust and highly maintainable in comparison to other frameworks that I have seen. The other vendors were not able to answer our questions and you guys certainly know what you do. This is the exact framework that I am looking to implement within our organization.” – QA manager

ADVANTAGE INDIUM

After evaluating several prospective partners, the customer had decided to go with Indium, we believe, for the following reasons:

• The iSAFE test automation framework has a flexible and robust architecture
• A high degree of integration with already invested and existing test automation services and test management tool

 OUR APPROACH

We devised the following approach using iSAFE framework, over the 12-month duration of the project. The project was staffed with two automation engineers, who were tasked with automating and maintaining over 750 test cases.

We adopted the following process for automation

PLANNING

• Defining the scope of Test Automation
• Understanding of Application/Test cases
• Identification of Reusable Components
• Sharing the observations/gaps in test cases

IMPLEMENTATION

• Customization of Framework & integration
• Implementation of data driven approach
• Development of Test scripts
• Checkpoint meetings

DESIGN

• Creation of Reusable Components, Objects Repository (OR) Designs
• Creation of Test Case & Test Data Designs
• Maintenance of clarification tracker
• Checkpoint meetings

EXECUTION

• Execution of Test Scripts Unit/Batch
• Stabilization of Test Scripts
• Exception handling/Recovery scenarios
• Capture failures and real-time reporting

IN NUMBERS

750

No of test cases automated, using the iSAFE framework

3 months

Time taken to script over 200 test cases with only 1 automation engineer

3x

Reduction in manual regression cycles

BENEFITS OF USING iSAFE

• The iSAFE framework was core to our ability to automate over 750 test cases
• Reporting at the end of every test is, of course, critical to any testing process. iSAFE triggers an automated email after each test to all stakeholders, helped developers modify code on the fly
• iSAFE helped test scripts run seamlessly on the staging site, thus helping save valuable time, enabling the customer to test code, right before production
• Overall, the customer was extremely happy to work with Indium on this project – thanks to its expertise in managing multiple data sets for a highly data intensive application and also the effectiveness of the iSAFE framework.