CertainTeed's Story
A Revolutionary Approach to Regression Testing
A high rate of change overwhelming the users
In addition to SAP there are numerous integrated applications including Salesforce, Manhattan Associates and Hybris. Changes come thick and fast from multiple sources while overlapping projects from different business units compete for scarce analysis and testing resources.
Business users were being asked to abandon their day jobs and repeatedly assist in the verification of the changes. Some teams were scattered across a range of time zones exacerbating communication and collaboration.
The solution would need to check every item on every screen and report all differences
Marc knew they needed to test the areas that had changed, but as importantly, they needed to test that defects had not been unwittingly introduced as a result. Marc likened the process to an airport luggage carousel, where every difference found in a regression test is automatically captured and tracked in the same way that all the baggage from an aircraft arrives on the carousel. Business analysts (just like passengers) would ‘collect’ the differences they expected and anything still on the carousel would be an unexpected change needing investigation
CertainTeed is a North American manufacturer of sustainable exterior and interior building products. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Saint-Gobain, the world’s largest building products company. www.certainteed.com
Marc Croquette, an IT Director at CertainTeed is responsible for multiple, heavily customized SAP implementations across 5 divisions. Read how his team ensures that every change is entirely fit for purpose
The Challenge
Users were overwhelmed by a high rate of change. Necessary checks didn’t always happen, were very costly and inefficient to run, leaving room for defects to reach production
The Baggage Carousel
In the same way that all the baggage from aircraft arrives on a carousel, Marc envisaged every difference found in a regression test being automatically reported the same way
The Solution: Original Software’s quality suite
Qualify Documenter
Qualify Documenter was used to capture every business process across multiple applications. The result was easy to follow documentation and animations that provided the small automation team with the information they needed.
TestDrive
TestDrive delivered two vital capabilities. First it captures every item on every screen automatically, without any coding. Secondly, TestDrive allows the results of a regression test to be compared to any selected baseline, highlighting every difference: No undetected changes.
Equally Qualify AQM has enabled Marc to implement his weekly ‘carousel’ vision. Expected differences are claimed by his business analysts while the abandoned bags, the unexpected changes, are examined to determine if they are defects which must be addressed or pulled before release to the production environment.
The Results
250 automated scenarios
Zero defects reaching production
Hundreds of man hours saved
Fast
First scenarios up and running within 6 weeks, now over 250 fully automated
Zero defects in production
Several significant defects, which would previously have been missed, have been caught before production
Efficiency increased
Especially for super users. No user fatigue associated with conference room pilots.
Documentation
Test results are also being used as the basis for training and on-boarding new staff.
Faster delivery schedule
More is now achieved with the same resources, including the automatic creation of a complete audit trail
The Future
Marc reports that he now has a happier user base who have regained confidence that IT can deliver the evolution needed, together with the stable platform, for business success.
