Product Engineering Archives

Lightweight Testing Automation Framework – A critical component of your digital journey

by Estuate | Aug 13, 2020 | Product Engineering, QA

Every organization runs its business using software, and such softwares should be thoroughly tested before it gets released into the market. At this stage, automation testing is essential for the rapid release of effective and secure software products. To achieve this, the testing team adopts automation frameworks as it helps them to manage complicated testing tasks within the PDCA (Plan-DO-Check-Act) cycle even with less experience.

Automation frameworks form an integral part of any automation testing process. It acts as a pillar in the successful completion of automation projects. The framework helps the QA team in their testing efforts, improves test speed and accuracy, and increases test efficiency by providing a high return on investments (ROI). Framework implementation reduces overall maintenance costs and optimizes the agile testing process. Ideally, lightweight test automation frameworks are considered as they are designed explicitly to automate the regression tests.

Let’s understand the Lightweight Testing Automation Framework

Lightweight Testing Automation Framework (LTAF) is a tool designed to perform integration and regression tests by enabling web browser scripting to perform subsequent actions against the application interface. LTAF simulates operations similar to an actual user action, such as texting, clicking links, scrolling the page, submitting buttons, and simultaneously verifying the expected results in the browser window. LTAF is termed as lightweight as it involves relatively simple programs or less code. The lightweight automation tool is predominantly associated with the agile software development method.

You can consider a variety of automation framework approaches for your industry. To list a few, we have open-source, commercial, and heavyweight test automation frameworks. Compared to all of these, Lightweight automation framework implementation is quicker, with significant benefits. Lightweight frameworks are used to ramp-up the regression test, which involves testing an application to ensure that the existing functionalities are not affected due to the introduction of new code updates or enhancements.

Test Automation Framework benefits:

The automation tools are essential to improve the efficiency of testing processes. Its implementation strengthens the testing process enormously, ensuring:

Code Reusability – Allows quick re-use of existing code or functions to create a new program without re-writing it again.

Cost-effectiveness – Cloud-based automation frameworks enable you to execute unlimited projects that are made available worldwide to unlimited users.

Customizable UI / Features /Reports – Customizable frameworks help in creating user-friendly reports.

Flexible to add new features – Integration of manual test case with the automation tool allows the QA team to make quick decisions about test cases requiring automation.

Fast and easier implementation – Simple architecture and design make it easier for tool implementation.

Maximum test coverage – Improves testing consistency by optimizing code coverage and providing test cases for all functionalities of the program.

Less maintenance and dependency– Frameworks aids with quick test script creation. Test scripts generated are independent of platform and test applications.

e-TAS – Web Automation Tool

Estuate has developed one such robust, in-house lightweight web automation tool called eTAS (Estuate Test Automation Solution). eTAS is a highly efficient and customizable tool with convenient features that delivers quick and precise results with minimal manual intervention. The tool uses a parameterized – keyword driven framework to automate regression tests for an application.

Some of the eTAS features include:

Script-less automation – Adopts scriptless automation approach for automating test cases. This approach helps the QA team to embrace automation without worrying too much about scripting.
Simple architecture – A simple design that requires limited human interaction for its operation. The tool helps in creating useful automation scripts that are independent of the test application.
User-friendly graphical results – Generates accurate and real-time test reports leading to improved software quality.
Smooth test execution at client systems.- Ensures faster, low-cost test execution and aims to achieve faster results.
Global and local object repository – Supports both the default and shared object repository.
Multi-browser compatibility – Compatible with other open-source software and applications, and also supports various browsers such as Google Chrome, Microsoft IE, Apple Safari, and Mozilla firefox.
Open-source selenium as a platform – The keyword-driven framework uses Selenium and Java as its base, which makes it easier for testers to build code with minimal coding skills.

It’s quite a challenging task to select an appropriate automation tool or framework for your project from a wide variety of unique featured tools. While choosing an automation tool, you need to evaluate if it meets your particular tool requirements and accordingly narrow down your search for a suitable tool that satisfies your needs. It is imperative to note that the tool vendors can provide continuous maintenance, upgrades, and support throughout the project completion.

Estuate’s eTAS favors testing teams to design and execute UI and functional tests through web and mobile applications, and it offers a robust framework and stable support for the development and maintenance of automated test projects.

Your Five Step GRC Implementation Roadmap

by Estuate | Apr 17, 2020 | Governance Risk and Compliance, Product Engineering

The concept of Governance, Risk and Compliance has been around for some time. Although there is no single, universally accepted definition for GRC, it is basically a comprehensive business strategy that aims at ensuring corporate governance and mitigating enterprise risk while staying in compliance with regulatory policies. It establishes clear guidelines for operations and a mechanism to prevent and fight business risks. It comprises of three main pillars.

Governance, ensuring business processes and corporate policies are practiced throughout the organization.

Risk, identifying the potential areas of risk and preparing the organization to minimize and prevent them.

Compliance, the ability to comply with legal and regulatory requirements and business policies.

For years, businesses have followed old school ways of implementing GRC programs using traditional methodologies such as spreadsheets and in-house tools. However, with emergence of breakthrough technologies like AI, Cloud and automation, the concept of GRC has evolved and modernized.

Although we have been slow in adopting technology-driven GRC practices, lately there has been a significant shift towards businesses leveraging automated GRC strategies at enterprise levels. So much so, that the global GRC market is expected to reach $64.61 billion by 2025.

Today, all modern enterprises need to let go of traditional GRC practices and modernize their approach. But how do you get there? How can you adopt a winning GRC strategy? Here is a five-step GRC implementation roadmap that can help you plan, strategize and implement modern GRC practices effectively in your organization.

Revisit your GRC framework

To start with, you need to review your existing GRC framework and identify the gaps that technology can fill. It would mean redefining what governance, compliance and risk means for your enterprise. A clear understanding of your key business objectives and important business processes will help you adopt the right GRC technology and develop appropriate policies, procedures and guidelines for your business.

Select a GRC Solution

In order to ensure effective functioning of a GRC initiative, it is important that you pick the right implementation partner and an ideal GRC solution for your enterprise. There are tons of GRC tools and hundreds of vendors in the market.Cloud based GRC solutions are most popular nowadays. MetricStream, BWise, SAP, Riskonnect, RSA Archer etc. are some market-leading GRC products available today. Go for a solution that comes with all the features you’re looking for. Also, do your research and select an experienced vendor that can implement GRC within a reasonable time-frame with maximum efficiency.

Project Planning

This step involves chalking out a well-defined GRC implementation plan. A business analyst or project manager appointed by the vendor visits your premises and spends time understanding your existing business processes and policies. He also conducts a risk assessment of your business and identifies areas that need to be protected.

He then develops an integrated GRC plan that best suits your organization, including a detailed demo of the selected GRC product, assigning roles and responsibilities and defining project timelines.

Implement GRC Practices

Once a detailed plan is developed, the next and the most crucial step is implementing GRC practices at your enterprise. Today, most GRC programs are Cloud driven and automated. Implementation involves policy and document management, operational risk management, IT risk management and corporate compliance management. It also includes spreading awareness about the new GRC policies and training people within the organization to practice them.

Monitor and Improvise

Implementing a GRC program is not a one-time activity. It is a continuous business practice and must be followed every day across all departments. It is therefore important to closely monitor and ensure that GRC practices are well followed within the enterprise. Also, since the business world is highly dynamic, you must modernize your GRC platform and revise your policies regularly to match business, industry and regulatory requirements.

GRC is essential because it brings about a stability in the way a business performs. It improves the quality of people, processes and information within an organization providing meaningful insights for better decision making. It is not just a good initiative anymore, it is an essential business requisite. Adopting a modern GRC program leads to a remarkable organizational change. However, the key to successful implementation is to have a clear strategy and take one step at a time.

Patient Centricity and the Digital Transformation in Healthcare

by Estuate | Mar 31, 2020 | Product Engineering

The initial move towards the Digital Health Revolution is that healthcare providers are now recognizing that the industry is shifting its focus to patient care, who is now the customer, and that they need to utilize the technology to improve the patient experience. HealthTech services, explicitly, set the standard for dynamic healthcare experience and conventional medical organizations are concentrating on the benefits of engaging with patients in new, technologically-enabled ways.

With the latest developments in healthcare and technology, patients have access to information and services that allows them to make decisions and determine the type of medical treatment they want to receive. Many medical experts approve the patient-centered approach broadly as a very qualitative method with positive results.

What is patient centricity?

“Patient centricity” can be outlined as the process whereby a service or solution is designed around the patient. A patient-centric approach is a way of establishing partnerships among physicians, patients, and their families in the healthcare system to align decisions with patients’ desires, requirements, and preferences. It also involves providing detailed information and support patients’ needs to make these decisions and be active in their treatment.

Why is it necessary to have a patient-centric approach?

A patient-centered approach is evaluated as a gateway to effective healthcare.

Healthcare experts believe that patient-centric care can bring significant benefits to both the business and the medical sector.

On a business front, patients who report positive experiences have more trust in their providers and are less likely to switch physicians, allowing continuity of their health care and contributing to patient retention.
From the medical perspective, it shows that patients respond better to medications, have fewer symptoms, and often have reduced risk of relapse or hospital readmission.

Patient-centered health-care benefits include:

Continued interactions between patients, health care professionals, and other stakeholders make patients aware of their health conditions and treatment possibilities leading to improved care.
Engagement, coordination, and cooperation of health care experts with patients make the decision-making process more timely and effective.
Improved treatment efficiency and increased patient satisfaction with the health care services received.
Increased competitive edge among hospitals based on cost and quality of healthcare provision.

Challenges involved in implementing the patient-centric approach:

The evolution of a patient-centered approach demands both time and cost, but the main difficulty lies in changing the existing culture. The healthcare systems must ensure that doctors and their staff are well-prepared, adequately trained, and proper expectations are set across the organization. Patient-centric care may bring financial pressure to healthcare organizations.

How digital health leads to patient satisfaction?

As patients presume the role of a healthcare customer, focusing on the services they provide to their patients becomes very much essential for healthcare providers. Digital health simply involves enabling patients to connect to their physicians and personal data remotely by using a digital channel. When these digital health technologies are effectively implemented, it becomes a critical factor in ensuring patient satisfaction.

To meet the ultimate objective of patient centricity, organizations should incorporate innovative technology and resources to assist people and implement processes to deliver customer satisfaction goals. Healthcare systems must adequately utilize data and digital technologies to improve the patient experience.

Testing as a Service – a Booming trend with Benefits

by Estuate | Dec 24, 2019 | Product Engineering, QA

Need an enhanced product that is competent enough with no compromise on quality? Or do you want to deliver a software product with no in house testing team? All this requires technical expertise that experts can provide. However, what if the technical experts you need aren’t on your payroll?

Well, that’s why firms are embracing this Cloud model QA -TaaS. It brings a new dimension to the software community. The enterprises which implement this model enjoy on-demand and versatile access to services at the right time at a reasonable price.

What is TaaS?

Testing as a Service (TaaS) – is a model in which the testing process is outsourced to the service provider or a third party company, who specializes in creating test environments, perform testing, and deliver test results as per client requirements. TaaS has proved significant benefits over conventional testing environments in the past. The TaaS model comes with a lot of advantages.

Benefits of adopting the TaaS model into business:

Reduces cost – Requires fewer investments in setting up servers, tools, operating systems, and so on.
Offers a Pay-per-use service – Pay only for the services opted.
24X7 service availability – Services are accessible anytime, anywhere.
Customizable – Flexible enough to meet the constantly changing needs of cloud QA.
Highly scalable – Ensures rapid test results through rapid procurement, project setup and testing.
The entire infrastructure is hosted on the Cloud- Centralized test environment that eliminates hardware and software investments.

Avail various types of tests on your application with TaaS, for instance:

Functional – checks for feature functionality
Performance – checks for system speed and response time
Load/Stress – checks for system performance in unfavourable conditions
Regression – Iterate functional and non-functional tests.

So how important is testing in the software process?

Testing is imminent if your application involves the latest techniques and technology. Nowadays, customers have the flexibility to rate your application. So one bug reported will stand a chance to lose all your potential customers. To overcome this risk, you need to have a quality product that is bug-free released into the market. It requires a stable and dedicated test team whose main focus is to deliver High-quality product, which is very crucial for your company.

Is your company ready for TaaS?

Unlike booming social networking sites like Facebook, Whatsapp, Google, and all software companies do not have enough privilege to test their products with real-time customers. They must invest time and money on resources and infrastructure, which is not feasible.

So what do you bring home when you engage in an Estuate’s cloud QA?

Get an end product that fulfils your requirements.
A high-quality product that is reliable and error-free.
Customer appreciations leading to business optimization.
End to end testing service management to reduce costs with software maintenance.

With the increasing demand for testing, it is challenging for smaller enterprises and software companies to have a full-fledged team and environment deployed for the testing process. No matter how big or small is the company size, TaaS can be tailored to any size.

How much control do you have when you outsource IT?

by Estuate | Oct 16, 2019 | Product Engineering

Outsourcing can have a lot of advantages, such as giving a company access to expertise outside of their system and reducing expenses. Some companies worry that outsourcing can mean losing control over certain operations and the probable effect it could have on internal processes, communication, productivity and/or responsiveness, or customer satisfaction.

If working with a reliable partner, IT outsourcing can reduce financial or staffing strain on a company, move the business forward, and team leaders can still maintain control over projects.

Why and what do companies outsource?

Large-scale software development and upgrade projects can seem intimidating, particularly with all the tasks internal IT teams must accomplish on a regular basis. Moving from legacy systems to new infrastructure, for example, presents challenges due to a large number of different programming languages used across the enterprise. However, even seemingly simple IT project implementation can become complex and costly without the appropriate expertise.

A recent example of this problem comes from a study that found cloud migrations are more expensive than many businesses first realize. This is largely due to vendor hype, as cloud providers under exaggerate the number of architecture and infrastructure changes required to orchestrate a cloud migration. Furthermore, the issue of surprising complexity can cause problems in many other areas of IT. This has led many companies to utilize software outsourcing services to ensure their projects can be completed efficiently.

Software services: Choosing the right partner

There are many advantages to working with a software services provider such as Estuate. For instance, IT partners typically have a wide breadth of experience in implementing software for numerous businesses. This not only gives these teams a more robust understanding of leading development languages and coding best practices but how to apply them in different business scenarios.

While outsourcing lifts much of the burden off internal IT teams, it’s important for businesses to maintain control over their IT projects. There is a high cost associated with choosing the wrong software services partner. Projects may be delayed, software functionality may be missing and the project could still go over budget if businesses are not careful in the vetting process. It is also essential for customers to maintain visibility over their projects to ensure the final deliverable meets expectations across the board. The news source listed several key elements to keeping control of IT project implementation when outsourcing:

Create a list of precise requirements

Ensure the vendor tracks and documents all software changes
Validate progress with data
Test the software before a large-scale release
Acquire access to the source code

Companies should work closely with software services providers from beginning to end. In the early planning stages, the organization’s own IT team can play a crucial role in understanding the vendor’s approach and whether that is the best option for the business. During the development phase, business stakeholders can be involved by identifying core features they need to complete their tasks to ensure that the final product meets their needs.

Estuate’s extreme service approach

Estuate’s team understands the importance of working closely with customers – not only to ensure client confidence but to deliver service that precisely meets each company’s unique needs. Whether they’re looking for a complete overhaul of their legacy software or an E-Business Suite implementation, Estuate’s clients will maintain control and visibility over their projects.

Estuate begins with a thorough analysis of existing IT systems and the creation of a project roadmap that clearly outlines the team’s planned approach. This allows clients to offer feedback or simply approve the method that has been outlined. Once an appropriate plan has been created, Estuate follows a multi-faceted process that ensures the final product will deliver the expected value:

Execution of a proof of concept to show clients tangible results
Incorporation of continuous feedback as per agile development philosophy to meet user needs
Creation of detail design documentation that identifies business process and technical specifications
Coding and testing of all applications and features
Robust documentation of the application design and source code

A large-scale IT project does not have to be an overwhelming task, as selecting a reliable software services partner can effectively expand a company’s competence without introducing new risks.

Infographic: Four Tips to Embrace Digital Technology in your Business

by Estuate | Sep 23, 2019 | Product Engineering

Digital Adoption helps your business in many ways and also can make you a better business leader. Here are the top four tips to embrace digital transformation in your business.