The MACH AG is an expert in efficient public administration. Over the course of more than three decades, the software company from Lübeck has built a strong reputation within the German public sector as a true specialist. Its software solutions for finance, HR, workflow, and document management are used throughout Germany — by federal and state authorities, churches, NGOs, universities and colleges, as well as institutes and foundations. The platform MACH meinERP, with a focus on accessibility, forms the centerpiece of the portfolio of this roughly 350‑person “hidden champion” from northern Germany.

Dr. Janine Olesch is one of them. She joined MACH AG nearly four years ago, bringing her background as a trained computer science specialist. What she found in the testing landscape at that time was dominated above all by one thing: manual testing. Before each new release, consultants from all over Germany were gathered in Lübeck to provide feedback on hundreds of test cases.

It was clear to Olesch — now responsible for test management and software quality as a Software Quality Engineer at MACH — that things had to change. Not only because the complexity of the meinERP platform increased with each of the twice‑yearly releases, but also because the company prides itself on innovation. The ambitious goal: to introduce automated end‑to‑end testing.

Industry: Technology
Location: Lübeck, Germany
Products:
- Tricentis Tosca
- Tricentis Neoload

Test automation paves the way for a new testing era

Although MACH AG had previously made several attempts to introduce test automation using QF‑Test or Selenium, these approaches proved insufficient and too maintenance‑heavy. For Olesch, the reason why modernizing MACH’s testing environment became a successful project this time comes down to two key factors: Tricentis Tosca, and consistent ownership of test management and quality assurance.

These were the challenges:

Manual testing was cumbersome and time‑consuming.
Manual testing could not guarantee the expected software quality.
Testing requirements continued to grow as the platform became increasingly complex.
Customers were requesting end‑to‑end tests with each release.

“Testing is not something developers can simply do on the side. It requires dedicated responsibility for test management and quality assurance. It requires someone who can drive the topic forward independently of day‑to‑day development while maintaining the balance between development and consulting.”

Dr. Janine Olesch, Software Quality Engineer for Test Management and Software Quality at MACH AG

In May 2020, the time finally came. After a detailed proof of concept, Tricentis Tosca was introduced into software development at MACH AG, creating a comprehensive hybrid environment for end‑to‑end testing — consisting of systematized regression tests seamlessly integrated into the Scrum development cycles of MACH meinERP. “With Tricentis Tosca and the shift‑left approach, we introduced a completely new way of testing and ushered in a new testing era,” Olesch summarizes.

The numbers speak for themselves: today, MACH AG runs 122 regression tests fully automatically every day within just two hours. In the past, manual testing would have required 20 hours at best. The false‑positive rate has also dropped from 5 percent to 1 percent. And with Tricentis, specific tests against the core software have become possible for the first time — the manual effort of at least six hours per day has been reduced to just one hour.

“We can now test much earlier than before thanks to automated processes, which means we identify issues earlier and can fix them during development. At the same time, we reduce effort and increase efficiency, shortening our time‑to‑market. And of course, this also increases the quality of our releases, which our customers appreciate.”

Dr. Janine Olesch, Software Quality Engineer for Test Management and Software Quality at MACH AG

Ready for the future

With Tricentis Tosca, MACH AG has laid the foundation for many things still to come. The potential is clear. For example, one goal is to shorten the release cycles of MACH meinERP so customers can receive new functions and features even faster. In addition, MACH has recently integrated Tricentis NeoLoad into Tosca to run functional tests as corresponding load tests as well.

But Olesch expects the greatest leap forward to come when MACH meinERP and related products are offered not only as on‑premise solutions, but also as software‑as‑a‑service. “As the backbone and digital enabler of public administration,” she concludes, “we have an obligation to drive digital transformation forward. And the way forward is the cloud. Whatever requirements may be placed on us tomorrow — thanks to Tricentis and automated end‑to‑end testing, we are ready to meet them fully and help make Germany a little better every day with our software solutions, true to our mission.”

Tricentis Tosca in use at MACH

These are the results MACH AG has achieved with Tricentis Tosca so far:

Introduced a shift‑left approach
Replaced most manual tests with automated tests
90% faster regression tests (2 hours instead of 20 hours)
1% false‑positive rate (down from 5%)
Greater confidence in software quality

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