Almac Group Leverages Scriptless Test Automation to Improve Application Quality and DeliveryNovember 18, 2015

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Hosted By:

Becky Karch

Vice President of Customer Success

TurnKey Solutions

Today’s Speakers

Shauna Quinn

Software Test Manager

Almac

Becky Karch

Vice President of Customer Success

TurnKey Solutions

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Questions

Almac Group Leverages Scriptless Test Automation to Improve Application Quality and Delivery

Shauna Quinn – Almac Group

Becky Karch – TurnKey Solutions

How to build a better alternative to manual testing methods

How to streamline operations and shrink testing cycles from

weeks to days

How to quickly and easily validate core business systems w/

a comprehensive regression suite

Best practices in developing a solid testing strategy moving

forward

Key Learning Points8

Founded 1989, HP/Mercury technology partner since 1995, HP OEM Partner since 2012

Privately held, HQ in Denver, CO with offshore operations in India

Global presence – growing customer presence across all continents

Our scriptless automated testing solutions are built exclusively on the industry leading HP ALM technology stack*

Scriptless automated testing enables broad use for hundreds of application types using a common set of tools, by business users, TCOE’s and QA experts

About TurnKey Solutions9

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11/18/2015

• Award-winning global contract development and manufacturing

organization for the pharmaceutical and biotech industries

• Privately owned with headquarters in Craigavon, Northern Ireland;

operations in the UK, across the US (Pennsylvania, North Carolina and

California) and in Asia (Singapore and Tokyo).

• Company has grown organically over 30 years and now employs in

excess of 3,900 highly skilled personnel.

• Almac services include Diagnostics & Biomarker Development, API

Services & Chemical Development, Pharmaceutical Development,

Analytical Services, Clinical Services, Clinical Technologies and

Commercial Services

About Almac

www.almacgroup.com

Need for Automation

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11/18/2015

• Almac uses Oracle EBS to run

core business critical functions

• 100% manual testing

• Although the knowledge and

skills are within the test team,

we rely heavily on the business

to provide resources

Almac Business Environment

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11/18/2015

• 9 month project

• 7 manual test cycles (4729 manual tests executed)

• Team 20 (comprised of Business Users & BA’s)

• 12 week end-to-end UAT cycle

March 2014: ERP system upgrade

Conclusion - Automation was required

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Automation Software Evaluation

11/18/2015

• A lot of research was carried out -

decided to do a POC on 3 test

automation solutions

• POC Process

– Screens are analysed and components

are created

– End users evaluated tools on list of

key criteria

– Also needed extensive support for

the Oracle ERP (eBusiness Suite) –

coverage and maintenance

• The decision was made to go with

TurnKey’s cFactory

Support for Oracle EBS

Integration with QC

Separate data from test

Ease of use

Component reusability

End-to-end flow building

Out of box content

Ease of maintenance

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www.almacgroup.com

Building the Test

Framework

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Approach – The Team

• QA Manager – Oracle EBS

• Project Manager / Oracle SME

• 2 Test Leads

• 1 Test Automation Engineer

• Business Analysts

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• A core automation team of 2 Almac testers was created

– Ring fenced to ensure 100% dedication to the implementation

• During the implementation stage the Almac automation team worked

alongside Turnkey Customer Success Team (CST) personnel

• Training was conducted for the entire team

• Test creation began

– Created new components

– Amended existing components

– Mentoring through any issues which arose

Approach

Assess Current TestsWhat do your current tests do?How are they written and do they cover what they should cover?How stable is your application?

Training & Mentorship

Staffing The Necessary Testing ResourcesWhat skills does your team have?Can you hire more resources?Can you share/integrate roles & responsibilities?

Assess Test ToolsHow and where do you organize your tests?Do you have an automated test tool? Do you use it? How often?

Getting FeedbackDo you have enhancement request tracking?What services do your customers ask for?What Support issues come in?

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• The 2 end-to-end business scenarios used during the upgrade UAT

were identified as being the starting point for this work stream

– Full data flows through the system, e.g. creating customer to invoicing

– Targeted for completion Dec 2015

– Manual tests that fulfilled the scenarios were identified and planned in

conjunction with Turnkey Customer Success Team (CST) personnel

• The newly created components were linked together with prebuilt

components to create test scripts

• Test scripts were linked to create test sets for the end-to-end flow

and the datasheets were created and populated

Approach

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11/18/2015

• 1st Scenario consisted of 273 test scripts linked end-to-end

– Each test script contains an average of 20/30 components

• 1 master datasheet to allow the data to be created and consumed

within the flow

• Reusability of components for future scenarios; therefore reducing

time in future test development

Building the Framework

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How it works

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Manual Order Entry Form in ERP system

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cFactory analyses the screen and creates test components.

How it works

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Components are then combined together to make a test script

in the test plan section of QC/ALM.

How it works

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The test script is added to the Test lab in QC/ALM and a datasheet is created.

How it works

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The datasheet details all the components of the test. Data is

added and multiple scenarios specified.

How it works

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273 test scripts linked to create complex end-to-end flow

throughout the entire ERP system.

How it works

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Master datasheet – allows data to flow throughout the tests.

How it works

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Current Uses of Scenario #1

11/18/2015

• 3 Optimisation projects running in parallel in 3 environments

Project 1

– It is being executed repeatedly on 1 environment to identify issues with

a large number of patches and code

Project 2

– It is being executed on a separate environment as part of the formal ST

cycle for regression testing

Project 3

– A subset of test scripts are being used to create data in a separate

environment

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Current Results

11/18/2015

End-to-end testing initially took 12 weeks to complete;

with TurnKey, this is now done in 3-4 days

Testing required 20 people to assist in the process; this has

been reduced to minimal effort by business resources and 1

person checking and carrying out manual steps

Coverage has allowed us to find issues that were missed in

manual testing as well as defects found earlier in the

development process

www.almacgroup.com

Adding Value Across the

Business

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Next steps

11/18/2015

• Monthly Support Release

– Will run each month once the support releases have been completed

manual testing; end-to-end validation prior to going Live.

• Project Work

– To test patch impact

– To reduce regression timelines in formal ST

– To create test data

– To run the end-to-end to a point and then create multiple iterations to

challenge specific areas

• The 2nd scenario is in progress - complete Dec 2015

– Able to re-use approx. 50% of components from scenario #1

– Once complete we will have automated the UAT test cycle

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Next steps

11/18/2015

• Create smaller regression packs for extensions with a high volume of

change

– Use in projects or in support releases

• Use automation to create data within the system – less reliance on

production data

• Automating opening the finance periods in DEV and ST environments

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Supporting Automation

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• Minimal BA support for on-going automation adoption

• Automation Team consists of 2 testers

• New Team involvement in Agile projects

– Part of the Agile team

– Aiding dedicated ‘manual’ tester

– Identify maintenance required based on changes

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Current Results

11/18/2015

• Preparation is key

– Know what you want to automate and why

– Have the manual steps and flows documented prior to

commencing any automation

– Design the test flow to create and consume its own data

• Get the right people involved

– Dedicated team to participate fully in the implementation

– Ring fence the resources

– Team should be keen to learn and enthusiastic

– No automation experience is required

• Track progress

– Initial scope nailed down

– Targets tracked

– Key milestones identified

Questions

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