1. HomeArrow Icon
  2. Case StudiesArrow Icon
  3. Experian converts 9-week testing cycles to continuous testing by replacing UFTArrow Icon

Experian

Experian converts 9-week testing cycles to continuous testing by replacing UFT

Company overview

“Experian has successfully implemented more than seven UI and API test automation projects with Tricentis Tosca in three different geographical regions. This felt like magic to team members who used to do all this work manually.”

Braulio Obando, QA COE Lead at Experian

Quality has always been top-of-mind at Experian, a world-leading data company that addresses the credit, automotive, and healthcare markets. Several years ago, it became clear that the pace (and scope) of application releases would increase as a new CIO committed to transforming Experian’s digital infrastructure. Their QA leaders knew that their largely manual testing process couldn’t provide the fast feedback required for the desired future state, so they immediately launched a test automation initiative to stay ahead of the curve.

  • Arrow Icon
    Industry: Financial Services
  • Arrow Icon
    Organization size: 20,000+
  • Arrow Icon
    Location: United States
  • Arrow IconProducts:

Background

Experian’s goal was to establish an automated regression test suite for their core applications (including automating tests for Oracle E-Business Suite, Salesforce, and many custom applications). Experian purchased OpenText UFT (formerly Micro Focus/HP) and hired a global system integrator to help them build an automated test suite with it. However, the initiative fell short. They accumulated 3500 UFT tests over 1.5 years, but the scripted tests constantly failed (reporting false positives and overlooking critical problems). Even though the initial test suite covered only a fraction of their requirements, test maintenance consumed a significant investment of time, money, and specialized resources. They not only needed more automation; they needed resilient automation that could be created by both their technical teams and business process experts.

Challenges

  • Completing a full regression test cycle took 9 weeks with a team of 4
  • Tests weren’t sufficiently validating the application updates
  • Test automation rates were below 15%
  • 3500+ scripted UFT test cases built by a 3rd party added little value
  • Automated tests were extremely brittle and required constant maintenance
  • The technical resources required to fix and extend tests were limited and costly
  • Strict security and data protection requirements had to be met
  • Very complex data structures were required to populate realistic tests

Solution

“I have to be very honest. When I first heard about model-based test automation, I was skeptical. Then, the Tricentis team showed it to us… and they proved me wrong.”

Tatiana Salazar – ‎DevSecOps and QA & Automation CoE Manager at Experian

Experian’s QA leaders recognized that a fresh start was required to deliver the fast feedback that developers expected. They identified Tricentis Tosca’s scriptless model-based test automation approach as a solution to the challenges they faced with their previous test automation attempt, and decided to roll it out across the organization. The first step was replacing the UFT tests with model-based tests that could be created and extended by business experts as well as technical team members. In just 3 months, they analyzed the existing test suite, identified significant redundancy (as well as some critical test gaps), and implemented a new, more effective test suite in Tricentis Tosca. The business users and technical experts created a library of test automation assets that could be mixed and matched to cover their most critical business processes. From this foundation, they rapidly created 750 test cases that provide near-instant quality feedback on the risks associated with a given update.

Experian has successfully expanded this test automation approach across additional projects throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia. As part of their commitment to continuous improvement, Experian’s quality leaders recently engaged with the Tricentis Customer Success team for a “Continuous Testing Maturity Assessment.” They learned how their testing processes stacked up to those of their peers, and identified the most impactful opportunities for improvement to focus on over the next 3-6 months.

Results

  • 750 Tosca tests replaced 3500 UFT test cases
  • Continuous testing replaced 9-week test cycles
  • 85% test automation with minimal maintenance and few false positives
  • 95% of requirements covered by automated tests
  • Automated test data generation (synthetic) and management (real + synthetic)
  • CI/CD pipeline integration via Jenkins + distributed test execution
  • Traceability between defects to tests
  • Complex test data provisioning is automated, secure, and private
  • Testing center of excellence for designing, optimizing, and scaling quality best practices
  • Clear “definition of done” mandating Tosca-driven test automation within CI/CD