Challenge

As SeABank views the application of advanced technology as its key success factor, it has taken a great step forward by implementing the use of the Temenos T24 Core Banking, a Swiss-developed application which is one of the most advanced pieces of banking software currently available. The latest version of Temenos T24 offers a multi-server function that allows many servers to operate simultaneously. This improves access time and transaction performance. T24 can operate 1,000 transactions/sec. and allow 110,000 simultaneous users. At the same time, SeABank continues to broaden and widen its banking network, reaching out to dynamic economic areas as well as big trade centers across the country. It was an early adopter for Internet and Mobile banking offering functions such as fund transfers, balance queries and bill payments to its customer base of over 100,000 in Vietnam.

Application testing was a manual effort, and as the IT landscape within SeABank grew, this became a bottleneck. Minor product releases were issued every month, with major releases issued annually. The team of eight testers would work on approximately 40 test scripts for each application (one script for every business function they performed) before they could be issued to the user base and with the volume of test data to be covered an automated solution was sought.

Solution

Mr Tr` ân Anh Tuâ´n, Software Testing Manager at SeABank, explains: “Our market research led us to Micro Focus who introduced us to the Silk testing tools. A proof-of-concept was used to compare the Silk solutions with IBM and HP testing solutions. This showed us that Silk Test™ could provide the most cost effective solution and we liked the visual capability, making it a very user-friendly solution.”

Silk Test offers automated functional and regression testing for enterprise software applications. It enables SeABank to create highly portable and reusable test scripts that can be applied across platforms. As mobile is an important part of SeABank’s IT strategy, it also opted for Silk Mobile™, which enables it to test real devices and mobile emulators in a way which replicates the real end user experience. Mr Tr` ân Anh Tuâ´n comments: “We use Silk Mobile to test for iOS, Android, and Windows phone for native apps. It used to take around eight months for us to complete a mobile testing cycle, but with Silk Mobile this effort has been reduced to just two months.”

Results

With the Silk tools in use, SeABank has experienced a number of benefits as Mr Tr` ân Anh Tuâ´n comments: “Whether we release a new version of an application, or are just going through a maintenance or upgrade cycle, we find that inhouse testing, UAT (user acceptance testing), and ongoing testing can be done up to three times faster compared to the previous, manual, effort. All the relevant test cases are already recorded in the tools and it is easy for us to find the correct test cases and set the parameter test data. Scripts are all designed and reused and a new test script is designed very easily. Because Silk Test and Silk Mobile are so easy to use we also found we save a lot of time in training as it used to be time-intensive to bring new testers on board. As a result our products are released twice as fast and to a higher quality as any potential issues are highlighted and fixed during the testing phase.”

SeABank is so confident in the Silk tools that it will soon introduce a Cloud testing service, enabling a move to virtualized machines. Devices can be registered once and used anywhere, which will create a model where testers can test applications from any location.

Mr Tr` ân Anh Tuâ´n concludes: “Micro Focus and the Silk tools have given us full visibility into the testing cycle which is a great management and collaboration asset.”