Identify a software solution that shortens the application development and testing cycles via virtualization and simulation of dependent application components and services.
This scenario was exacerbated by short testing windows, unstable downstream applications as well as production and integration testing issues. Additional complications were unavailable third-party legacy systems, a lack of third-party support, ill-defined test environments and time-consuming data creation for end-to-end environments.
Developing new high-quality applications quickly to satisfy the rapidly changing demands of the communications, media and entertainment market frequently dictates whether an organization succeeds or flounders. Major impediments to the software release lifecycle are a prolonged development and testing period and a lack of realistic simulations of the application’s service behavior, especially when dependent systems are unavailable.
To address the concerns with the application development process, the company approached several IT solution providers for advice including application specialists and business consultants from Micro Focus. The business selected Service Virtualization as the organization had an established relationship and the software would integrate well with the existing software product suite.
The team adopted a collaborative approach with the business and carefully described the proposed journey to maximize business value. The journey involved understanding the business challenges, assessing the anticipated benefits and delivery of a proof of concept to highlight key business value.
“The original benefits relating to reduced test days, lower testing costs, access to third-party systems and time to market efficiencies made a sound business case for deploying Service Virtualization,” comments the company spokesman.
The company implemented Service Virtualization software to virtualize over 70 functional and performance testing services where they did not have end-to-end test/performance environments for third-party components. Testers virtualized internal and external-facing applications such as third-party credit checking, which were previously not available or had restricted availability and often required access costs. They were usually able to virtualize each service within three days.
Continuing the collaborative engagement, the team assisted with a ‘Prove Realized Value’ assessment to validate the original business case and assess the actual benefits achieved over the initial 38 months. The company declared “we have found the exercise extremely valuable…through this process, we have demonstrated that the return on investment has significantly exceeded our original assumptions.”
Service Virtualization software allows application development teams to create virtual services easily, replacing targeted services in a composite application or multi-step business process. The solution accurately simulates the behavior of the service components, allowing developers and testers to start performing functional and performance testing immediately even when the real services are unavailable.
Moreover, restricted data access, data gathering problems and poorly matched services and tests do not impede the development process. Service Virtualization therefore eliminates dependencies, accelerates application delivery and improves software quality.
COMPANY SPOKESMAN
UK communications, media and entertainment company
