SIEM Test Automation for a Software and Hardware Supplier

Summary

A global software and hardware supplier acquired a SIEM product (originally developed with significant contribution from INNERLUXES specialists) and wanted to fold its functionality into the complex solution it offers clients. Moving the product to new middleware brought multi-platform and multi-browser support and significant architecture redesign — and a major regression-testing challenge across all supported platforms. INNERLUXES introduced smoke-test automation that improved coverage and build quality while keeping the test team lean.

About the Client

The Client is a global software and hardware supplier that has provided solutions to its clients for over 50 years.

The Challenge

The Client had recently purchased a software product (originally developed with significant contribution from INNERLUXES specialists) and wanted to include its functionality in the complex solution it offers clients. The product had to be moved to new middleware already used for existing solutions, which caused many changes to the application — including multiple platform and web browser support and a significant architecture redesign. The migrated application still had to meet very high quality criteria to be shipped and supported worldwide. At the same time, the Client was very selective about who it hired, and given the complicated product structure, the project team couldn't easily be expanded. This created a big testing challenge: the test team would have had to grow dramatically to cover regression tests on all supported platforms and browsers.

The Solution

The decision was made to use smoke-test automation covering all supported platforms and browsers. The smoke test was designed to verify vital system components and commonly used user scenarios. This approach allowed tracking product quality from build to build and helped identify the exact moment when faulty code was committed to the repository — providing information unavailable with manual testing alone. The daily performance of the automated test system surpassed that of a team of 15 manual test engineers.

The Results

• By introducing test automation on such a complex project, INNERLUXES improved product test coverage, freeing the manual test team's time for additional test scenarios.
• The automated test system's productivity and stability provided a strong testing foundation — build quality is evaluated before manual tests, so no time is wasted on faulty builds.
• Overall, product quality improved through automation, and that quality was achievable with a smaller software test team.

Technologies and Tools

DB2, IBM Rational Manual Tester, IBM Rational Functional Tester, third-party Java libraries. Languages: Java, Perl, Windows and Unix shell scripts, VBScript.