Ta3s - Testing Banking and Finance Applications

What’s happening in Banking World?

The entire landscape is very competitive and banks today are evolving. Banks are relying more and more on technology to reach customers and deliver services in short span of time. It is becoming important for them to be consistent and deliver quality customer services using technology to reach, expand and deliver faster and better services.

Adding additional services and transactions via technology, integrating with legacy systems and delivering using new delivery methods are becoming a norm. The banking industry is embracing newer technology to grow their market share. With technology, banks today are global players and no more local.

Challenges

Challenges in the multiple industries are similar but in Banking, there are specific challenges, which makes it unique, which are

• Frequently changing market and regulatory requirements
• High data confidentiality requirements
• Complex system landscapes including legacy systems
• Newer technologies such as mobile and web services
• Enterprise banking integration – Core banking, Corporate Banking and Retail Banking
• Application performance – Internal and External

Approaches to meet the challenges

It is very important that banks and financial establishments conduct regression tests over the entire application lifecycle for every release and also maintain test suites for each release using effective version control system linked to requirements, test cases, test scenarios and realistic test data. Based on this, an effective testing approach can be taken individually or by combination of the following to achieve the desired results:

• Risk-based testing
• Automation - Legacy, Web, Mobile
• Test data management
• Compliance / Statutory testing
• Performance and Capacity engineering
• Off-shoring

1. ! !
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What’s!happening!in!Banking!World?!
The$entire$landscape$is$very$competitive$and$banks$today$are$evolving.$Banks$are$relying$more$
and$more$on$technology$to$reach$customers$and$deliver$services$in$short$span$of$time.$It$is$
becoming$important$for$them$to$be$consistent$and$deliver$quality$customer$services$using$
technology$to$reach,$expand$and$deliver$faster$and$better$services.$$
Adding$additional$services$and$transactions$via$technology,$integrating$with$legacy$systems$
and$delivering$using$new$delivery$methods$are$becoming$a$norm.$The$banking$industry$is$
embracing$newer$technology$to$grow$their$market$share.$With$technology,$banks$today$are$
global$players$and$no$more$local.$
Challenges!
Challenges$in$the$multiple$industries$are$similar$but$in$Banking,$there$are$specific$challenges,$
which$makes$it$unique,$which$are$
•Frequently$changing$market$and$regulatory$requirements$
•High$data$confidentiality$requirements$
•Complex$system$landscapes$including$legacy$systems$
•Newer$technologies$such$as$mobile$and$web$services$
•Enterprise$banking$integration$–$Core$banking,$Corporate$Banking$and$Retail$Banking$
•Application$performance$–$Internal$and$External$
$
TESTING$BANKING$AND$FINANCE$APPLICATIONS$

2. ! !
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$
!
Approaches!to!meet!the!challenges!
$
It$ is$ very$important$ that$ banks$and$ financial$
establishments$conduct$regression$tests$over$the$
entire$application$lifecycle$for$every$release$and$
also$maintain$test$suites$for$each$release$using$
effective$ version$ control$ system$ linked$ to$
requirements,$ test$ cases,$ test$ scenarios$ and$
realistic$test$data.$Based$on$this,$an$effective$
testing$approach$can$be$taken$individually$or$by$
combination$of$the$following$to$achieve$the$desired$
results:$
$
•RiskPbased$testing$$
•Automation$$
oLegacy$
oWeb$
oMobile$
•Test$data$management$
•Compliance$/$Statutory$testing$
•Performance$and$Capacity$engineering$
•OffPshoring$$
$
Risk!based!Testing!
To$deliver$quality$product$to$the$market$on$time,$it$is$
necessary$to$ensure$that$you$have$tested$it$effectively.$Risk$
based$testing$helps$you$to$prioritize$the$tests$/$features$and$
reduce$the$number$of$tests$to$be$executed$for$each$release$or$
upgrade$while$keeping$the$risks$within$an$acceptable$range$
thus$reduce$the$impact$of$any$failures.$

3. ! !
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$
$
Test!Automation!
To$ensure$effective$regression$tests,$test$automation$
is$necessary.$Automating$tests$for$your$legacy,$web$
and$mobile$applications$and$conducting$effective$
integrated$tests$will$be$a$step$towards$achieving$the$
results$you$would$expect$and$accept.$
The$crucial$success$factor$is$reliability$&$sustainability,$
which$is$provided$by$automated$test$suites.$The$
automated$test$suites$can$be$run$in$new$releases$and$
upgrades$without$too$much$of$maintenance$effort.$$
Regression$tests$ensure$that$the$rate$of$defects$per$
executed$test$is$significantly$lower$than$for$the$new$
functionality.$ Majority$ of$ the$ defects$ found$ by$
automated$regression$tests$would$be$functionalities$
that$worked$fine$in$earlier$releases$but$not$working$in$
the$new$release,$integration$tests$issues,$effects$of$
changes$in$3rd$party$components,$integrated$systems$
or$external$features.$Effective$endPtoPend$testing$
using$automated$regression$tests$combined$with$risk$
based$testing$will$help$ensure$quality$and$also$time$to$
market$while$decreasing$costs.
Test!Data!Management!
Production$ data$ is$ very$ important$ for$ testing.$
However,$due$to$security$concerns,$testing$is$done$on$
test$data,$which$does$not$even$resemble$near$to$the$
production$data.$$
Data$masking$tools$and$techniques$are$used$to$
change$the$production$data$in$a$way$that$it$is$secure$
and$can$be$used$for$testing.$The$advantage$of$this$
approach$is$that$you$would$conduct$tests$on$realistic$
scenarios$to$get$realistic$results$and$good$coverage.$
Maintaining$test$data$is$also$important$as$it$may$
change$over$a$period$of$time.$Verifying$test$data$for$
every$execution$is$as$important$as$keeping$the$test$
scripts$maintained.$$
The$other$technique$of$test$data$management$is$to$
generate$synthetic$test$data,$which$is$excellent$to$
ensure$compliance,$sustainability$and$integrity.$The$
assumption$is$that$you$would$generate$the$synthetic$
test$data$as$you$produced$the$production$data.$
A$combination$of$masking$test$data$and$creating$
synthetic$test$data$for$tests$would$provide$you$the$
desired$results$to$ensure$coverage$and$conduct$a$
more$realistic$integrated$tests.$$
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4. ! !
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Compliance!Testing!
Compliance$and$Software$quality$assurance$goes$hand$in$
hand.$Organizations$are$faced$with$increasing$number$of$
regulations$and$changes$year$on$year$while$they$still$have$to$
ensure$the$IT$systems$are$compliant$to$the$frequent$changes.$$
In$the$financial$industry,$SOX$(SarbanesPOxley),$was$enacted$to$
protect$shareholders$from$fraudulent$practices.$In$the$EU,$
similar$legislation$called$Solvency$has$been$enacted$upon$the$
insurance$companies.$Penalties$for$nonPcompliance$quickly$
reach$into$thousands$of$dollars$and$the$negative$publicity$that$
can$damage$the$reputation.$In$many$cases,$organizations$are$
forced$to$go$back$to$paper$based$system$until$all$the$
exposures$are$mitigated.$
Each$system$has$to$be$validated$and$certified$to$be$compliant$
before$testing$and$production.$Compliance$testing$with$right$
test$data$and$test$automation$will$help$you$ensure$systems$are$
validated$before$shipped.$
$ Performance!Engineering!
Performance$of$your$product$on$web$and$on$
Mobile$defines$adoption$of$your$services$today.$
EndPuser$experience$matters$the$most.$$
Employing$ techniques,$ which$ help$ you$ in$
ensuring$ that$ code$ is$ executing$ correctly,$
network$ is$ behaving$ properly,$ Servers$ are$
performance$as$it$should$and$pinpointing$to$the$
problem$ area$ in$ the$ highly$ integrated$
environment$is$the$key.$$
As$you$add$additional$customers$online,$it$is$also$
important$to$ensure$that$your$application$is$able$
to$handle$the$extra$load$by$optimizing$the$
application,$adding$addition$resources$to$the$
network$or$the$server.$The$trick$is$to$add$more$
and$ more$ users$ while$ maintaining$ the$
performance$parameters$and$SLA’s.$$
You$will$need$to$conduct$accurate$affordable$
scalable$load$test.$You$will$need$to$the$do$the$
following$to$ensure$performance$and$scalability:$
•Performance$Engineering$
•Bottleneck$analysis$$
•Capacity$Planning$
•Load$Testing$
•Stress$Testing$
•Scalability$Analysis$
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Testing!Services!by:!
Ta3s$Solutions$Private$Limited$
401,$Shravanthi$Gardens$
17th$Cross,$JP$Nagar$5th$Phase$
Bangalore$–$560078$
India$
$
Tel:$+91$80$41666003$
US:$+1$(415)$992$8550$
Mob:$+91$9880195129$
Email:[email protected]$