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Dispatching the Demanding Dozen:
Preparing Your Testers to Face The Financial Industry’s Top 12 Challenges
Table 1 The Top 12 Challenges Increasing the Test Burden of Your QA, Regression, and Load Testing Staff (cont.)
| Current or Anticipated Changes |
Ramifications |
Testing Considerations |
| Disaster recovery
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Recent natural disasters (such as earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis) and catastrophic events (such as terrorist attacks) have proven the necessity of regularly scheduled validation of all disaster recovery procedures. The combination of rising transaction volumes and new delivery channels has exponentially increased the potential loss of revenue that can occur when disaster recovery plans fail and FIs are unable to return to service.
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Must properly test databases, physical connections, communication infrastructures, and device operations—every endpoint and system path—not only for “fail over” processing through your alternate test site but for “switch back” to your primary processing site. Though this seems a daunting task, it is a viable option with a testing application that enables you to mirror your production system on a standalone test platform, such as a laptop PC, for disaster recovery testing.
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| Multi-platform ATMs
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As FIs replace OS2-based ATMs with Windows-based systems (such as Aptra Edge from NCR, Agilis from Diebold, Procash from Wincor, and VISTAatm from Phoenix), they want to create more robust ATM offerings. Switching to multi-platform ATMs enables the FI to become a solutions integrator that architects an ATM using any vendor’s hardware in combination with any number of ATM applications. In this environment, messages between the host and terminal may not change, but the application running within the ATM may be entirely new.
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Must test the ATM solutions stack (the ATM application, operating system, device drivers, etc.) including the XFS layer that controls communication with the hardware components (card readers, dispensers, receipt printers, etc.). Combining many products from many vendors means the FI has no central point of contact for problem resolution. FIs must be able to test each individual element to isolate and unequivocally identify the source of any problems encountered, or possibly face being routed from one vendor’s support department to another’s during problem resolution.
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