Quick Take

Saving Test Time and Effort for a Large Commercial Bank

A large commercial bank in the U.S. sought
to automate its trade order management and
settlement systems.
The upstream applications book and manage
trades throughout the lifecycle. The trades are
then routed using RESTful Web services to an
application server, and then to a Temenos banking
application. In addition to existing UI-based
automation with HP Unified Functional Testing, we
recommended using service-based automation
for faster feedback and setup of a continuous
feedback mechanism using a continuous integration methodology (see Figure 2).

A Java-based solution was used in the services

layer to inject trades into the booking application and further verify the state of the trade
throughout the lifecycle and its final status in
the trade database. Approximately 100 tests
are run in roughly 45 minutes and provide quick
feedback for different trade types. The entire
test cycle span was reduced to one day for both
service and UI tests. The automated test could be
readily integrated with TeamCity for continuous
integration.

Beyond UI: Continuous Testing Across the Lifecycle

API/SERVICES/MESSAGES

DOWNSTREAM APPLICATIONS
Trade Settlement
System

Trade Order
Management System

Upstream
Communication

Upstream
Communication

Downstream
Communication

Downstream
Communication
Validation of Transactions &
Message Communication

Database

Service-based automation introduced early in lifecycle

USER INTERFACE

UI-based automation
using HP Unified
Functional Testing

Automation introduced
late in lifecycle

CYCLE TIME

Figure 2

Potential benefits of our approach include:

Greater requirement stability and traceability: Tests break less frequently as interfaces
are well-defined and business process inputs
and outputs undergo less change and deliver
stable responses, hence bringing stability to
the automation bed. These characteristics
make the automation robust and ready to shift
left6 (test execution) from the testing phase to
the development phase of the SDLC.

yond the UI. This is because UI-level validation

prevents the code coverage from being exercised on edge conditions.

Early and faster automation via parallel

and multiple testing: Techniques such as orthogonal array and combinatorial testing can
be achieved only if tests can be performed be-

cognizant 20-20 insights

Rapid development support: The feedback

obtained from the API or service tests can be
used to fine-tune the functional behavior at
the UI layer, ensuring a better customer experience. These tests are well-suited for Agile/
DevOps orchestration because each test runs
in a few seconds, and is not susceptible to UI
changes. Hence, it works well in continuous
integration execution mode and can be made
ready for DevOps.