Alfa-Bank

Test management
Alfa-Bank knew it was impossible to control the
quality of such a complicated project without using
specialised software. The business had been using
HP Quality Center products for over ve years, for
testing both its in-house software and custom
systems developed by third-party providers. The
IT sta were also well acquainted with HP Quality
Center’s functionality and understood it to be
comprehensive and easy-to-use.
“When you’re preparing for a large-scale project,
what matters most is the eciency with which you
build end-to-end processes,” says Sergey Karikov,
head of software production, Alfa-Bank.
“Every step, every task must be done by the right
person at the right moment. You need tools for
centralised planning, control and analysis so all
parties have access to trustworthy, real-time
information. We tried using HP Quality Center and
it proved to have all the necessary functionality,”
says Karikov.
Since they knew the system well, IT sta in the
Bank’s Software Production Process Department
developed their own task-specic training courses
for dierent groups of users. Each course was
adapted for specic tasks.
Three-stage project
The preparatory stage of the project took around
half a year. Another six months was spent on the ABS
modernisation, testing, removal of faults and nal
testing of productivity and the system’s robustness.
The testing of the new banking system was divided
into three stages:
• Component testing, including testing of separate
modules and functionalities
• Integration testing of the combined operation of
all ABS modules, its set-up and trial interaction
with other integrated applications
• Business testing, during which users performed
their usual tasks from their work places
The project contained 10 sub-projects which
corresponded to the main functional areas of the
banking system such as retail, corporate customer
service and investment activities. In turn, these
were made up of 60 sub-systems, ABS modules
and external systems.
Initially, all requirements were uploaded to HP Quality
Center and a number of test cases were developed
for each. All failures were registered in the defect
module. Third-party providers, who had access to
HP Quality Center from their remote workplaces,
also participated.
“The automated reporting was a big help,” says Ivan
Shtepa, head of foreign exchange and money market
product analysis and design, Alfa-Bank. “In the past,
we used to ask employees to prepare information on
the testing process. With the Dashboard module, all
we had to do was to set up a report package once and
then any user could generate reports on whatever
subject in seconds. We could see defects in real-
time, how critical they were and how they were being
corrected. This saved us from the labour-intensive
routine of data collection.”
Project results
Sergey Karikov adds: “The main advantages of
HP Quality Center are manageability, transparency
and centralisation. We used all the software’s
functionality in a rather exhaustive way, gathered a
huge amount of comprehensive information about
the testing process, quickly analysed that data
and used it for decision making. HP Quality Center
became the real core of the quality control process.
By managing work this way, we could complete
all testing stages and correct all high and medium
severity defects on time.
“As a result, since the banking system was updated,
no critical aws have been detected. This means
that we didn’t miss any major problem during the
testing process.”
The ABS testing dened 4,000 requirements, carrying
out over 25,000 test cases, and the detection and
correction of 800 defects. Around 500 users accessed
information in HP Quality Center, 100 of those used
the product on a regular basis.
2
Customer
solution at
a glance
Software
IT Performance Suite:
Application Lifecycle
Management
• HP Quality Center