Swiss Life

Case study | Swiss Life
3
The development of automated regression
tests with HP Business Process Testing
software was carried out gradually over
18 months. During this time, the personnel
resources required for the regression tests
continued to fall as a result of the growing
proportion of automated tests. Today the
regression tests are 90 per cent automated -
the highest percentage possible.
“We did not know that we could automate
so many test cases,” explains Zimmermann.
“But we gradually came up with more ideas
as to how we could automate as we realised
automation was saving us a great deal
of time.”
Benet
Personnel resources reduced by
90 per cent
“Now, we only need a team of 10 people to
perform both the system and functional
tests,” explains Zimmermann. “Thanks to
test automation, we’re now able to perform
all regression tests over the course of three
consecutive days.
“We’ve found a number of errors in the rst
run-through that we would not have found
previously. This means that the IT team can
start to x these errors the day after the
regression tests have been completed.”
Zimmermann believes the eciency is
primarily achieved because HP Business
Process Testing software oers a high
degree of modularity when creating the
test cases and allows for keyword-driven
testing. Today Swiss Life develops highly
specic modules for software objects which
can be reused for dierent applications, for
example, entering customer addresses or
risk assessment questions required for all
quotations. If the module changes, it does
not have to be adjusted and tested in all of
the applications in which it is used but rather
just once. Moreover, for keyword-driven
testing, once the data has been entered by
an IT specialist, technical keywords are then
added in order to control the data processing.
No in-depth IT knowledge is required to
create test cases at a later stage; this can be
carried out by specialist testers.
Consistent automation brings
huge benets
Zimmermann is clear about one thing: “We’d
never have been able to take advantage of
the automation if we had not implemented
everything so consistently. Today, we’re able
to continuously assemble all modules for
test cases which cover a range of dierent
congurations. This generates huge
time-savings.”