Microsoft Dynamics AX Interface Testing Case Study

The Client

The client is a global shipping company that serves the world’s leading oil and gas companies.

The client required interface testing services that ensured their applications were interacting correctly with other internal and external applications.

The Challenge

The client was implementing Microsoft Dynamics AX with a very complex series of two-way interfaces with several types of systems including financial, charting, operational, and banking. Some interfacing occurred immediately after a transaction while others occurred at regular intervals, such as once-per-month. The client wanted to ensure that applications were interacting correctly with one another.

The client needed a partner who could help plan, document, and execute interface testing. They also had a tight timeline, so they required a flexible partner who would work closely, full-time and onsite, with their implementation team in an agile environment.

The 3-month project required Optimus to quickly learn about the systems and become an efficient partner.

Key Challenges

– Interfaces were complex and being built in tandem with test planning.

– Some interfaces were between financial systems for a publicly traded company so everything had to be SOX compliant.

– Timelines were extremely tight.

– Lots of domain knowledge had to be acquired for several very different types of systems like financial,charting, banking, and more.

The Process

  1. Transferring domain knowledge.
  2. Planning test strategy.
  3. Creating test case templates and documents.
  4. Executing test cases, tracking bugs and following up.

How Optimus Helped

OptimusQA started by meeting with the implementation team to scope out the testing work required. This allowed both sides to work collaboratively on a project plan that would provide sufficient time for testing while aligning closely with the interface development.

The project began with system analysis, test planning, and test case template creation. Since the project covered a wide range of systems but required a standard template for testing, establishing templates was the first step.

Once the test strategy and plan was established, OptimusQA joined the development team on Microsoft Team Foundation Server (TFS) where development, testing, and deployment were tracked. This allowed Optimus to work closely with the development team and quickly follow-up on any bugs that were identified.

OptimusQA was able to plan and execute sufficient test coverage to satisfy the client’s requirements. OptimusQA provided the client with a pool of testers of varying experience to scale testing as needed.

With OptimusQA as a partner, the client gained a flexible pool of talented software testers which allowed for testing of sufficient scope to improve the quality of business-critical systems in a short period of time.