WingArc1st

With headquarters in Japan, WingArc1st empowers businesses to generate the maximum benefit out of their data. The company’s software and services help build environments where businesses can retrieve information assets to gain insights into business performance and accelerate business processes. Solutions the company offers include visual and cloud-based reporting systems as well as business intelligence tools that leverage enterprise-wide data. In addition to offices in Japan, WingArc1st operates several offices throughout Asia.

Business Need

To reduce software development and testing costs, Yuki Sakaguchi, a Test Engineer in Quality Assurance Group #5 at the WingArc1st Development Headquarters, needed to decrease the resource time required to conduct user interface (UI) testing on the company’s Dr.Sum EA software, a business intelligence tool. At the time, Dr.Sum EA was offered as a Web application using Adobe Flex.

To reduce UI testing resource hours while still fulfilling the requirements for fully testing the software’s functionality, Sakaguchi chose SmartBear TestComplete. The TestComplete Platform provides an open flexible architecture that makes creating, maintaining, and executing automated tests across desktop, website and mobile applications easy, speedy, and cost-effective.

Some of the powerful features of TestComplete Platform that demonstrate its flexibly and ease-of-use include support for multiple scripting languages and the ability to record automated tests without knowing how to script. The solution also allows WingArc1st to write regression tests that don’t fail when the UI changes. The testing team can also perform data-driven testing and create custom plugins and extensions.

Partnership with XLsoft Pays Off

To evaluate and deploy TestComplete, WingArc1st partnered with XLsoft Corporation, a leading software distribution and localization firm of developer software products for the Japanese and Asian markets. The partnership with XLsoft and the deployment of TestComplete paid off in a big way.

During the five-month evaluation period, Sakaguchi confirmed TestComplete would help his team achieve the required objective: regression testing automation shortened testing completion times to between 2-3 months.

Invaluable Testing Functions

WingArc1st releases a Dr.Sum EA product patch every one or two months. In cases where a function is modified, TestComplete automatically performs nightly regression tests.

Sakaguchi points to key features offered by TestComplete that are particularly helpful when his team conducts application regression testing. These include name mapping and checkpoint functions as well as the script editor using Jscript. TestComplete is also adept at accurately recognizing particular objects (inclusion set controls) and obtaining property data.

TestComplete also impresses Sakaguchi by identifying processing mistakes. In addition, he found the product support documentation on the SmartBear website to be very helpful for understanding the different regression testing functions that TestComplete offers.

Desktop Version Also Benefits from Automated Testing

After the initial successful test of TestComplete, WingArc1st switched the Dr.Sum EA software from a Web application to a desktop application using Delphi XE8. This switch presented a new testing challenge for which manual UI testing was implemented at first.

Because tests on the application’s functions previously uncovered many code issues, Sakaguchi thought manual testing would require three months of resource time. However, the cost of repetitive testing grew prohibitive, and product quality began to decrease.

To address these challenges, Sakaguchi’s group used TestComplete again, this time to automate testing of the Delphi-based application. Since the same tests are performed for each regression test, automating the process with TestComplete made sense.

The trial determined that TestComplete recognizes object controls and performs automated testing easily on application functions. Creating the test scenarios for the first time required approximately 45 days of resource time—with only minor adjustments necessary for a second round of testing. In subsequent tests, implementing automated test runs significantly reduced the required resource time: operational verification can now be completed in just a few days.

“In addition to the superior product features offered by TestComplete, SmartBear also provides an abundance of product support information,” Sakaguchi says. “The combination of a leading test automation tool backed by the expertise of SmartBear assists us greatly in keeping regression testing resource time to a minimum while also ensuring we uncover any functionality issues.”