Thinking of automating your mortgage platform? You need to read this.

No one wants to do the same repetitive task over and over again, and so it makes sense that automation takes on this work leaving testers doing the fun bit of finding issues on new pieces of code. Additionally, due to the strains caused by Covid-19 on IT programmes and processes, many companies are looking into automation as a way to alleviate the workload and work more intelligently. 

Looking at the work and additional cost to payroll needed to achieve a fully automated testing system (and not just Happy Path), will create doubts in some business owners. However, leveraging the tools and skillset brought in by an external supplier such as Cinq Amis will mean businesses are able to not only maintain their service offering but also enhance it. 

Delivering a mortgage platform

When one of our banking clients brought us in to test their mortgage platform system we were faced with many challenges. One of these was that the system had around fifteen thousand data points. Just one single case being keyed in and then all the outputs tested was taking a great deal of time. 

Test automation would make this a lot quicker. However, the company was also going through a reorganisation exercise so any tool we decided to use for automation could have been scrapped later down the line. So we turned our attention to an open source tool called Katalon. Katalon is a selenium based tool which allowed us to start working on devising a framework, automating the full suite of tests to expedite the overall testing timeline.

Katalon was a great tool but unfortunately had limitations when it came to the complexities of the mortgage platform. The goal was to have one tool which would be suitable across the whole system and would also suit our client after the project was completed, without having to recruit externally.  

The right tool had to be one which would automate a windows based, complex, DPR mortgage platform, end to end. 

How we discovered Leapwork and why we chose it

There were 5 tools chosen for this project to start with: Ranorex, Katalon, Leapwork, QTP (Quick Test Professional) and Selenium. After a lot of research this was boiled down to 3. Katalon had served us well but we could never automate a full system using just that. Selenium  required a lot of coding and time to maintain the code, which could also lead to error, meaning we would not be able to give our client a fully automated system. Leapwork removes the need for coding and enables end-to-end, cross-application testing whilst minimising maintenance load, which was the ideal fit. Our experts were then able to build-in strict validation steps to meet the needs of the project.

Once chosen, we concentrated resources on transferring the framework of scripts from Katalon over to Leapwork and then developed the automation cases further. Once up and running we could set up  end to end UAT cases with ease (automation had cut down the keying in of entries from circa 80 minutes to just 30 minutes), process large amounts of real life data quickly into our databases, and produce targeted and full regression packs tailored to the functionality being delivered.

The result

We can now guarantee an 80-90% coverage of testing for your banking platform in just 6 months. With ample knowledge in the mortgage and banking industry, and close links to Leapwork, we can take on the initial implementation of automating a system so that your BAU resources can continue delivering ongoing change. 

We understand the complexities involved, the time spent choosing the right test tool, even identifying your internal skillset to be able to maintain it going forward. We had to go through this ourselves and have learnt a great deal from this experience. 

If you’re looking at fully automating your mortgage platform in the next 6 months, we have distilled all this knowledge and experience into our 5 step automation plan, and this comes at a fixed price. To start your automation journey with Cinq Amis, book in a virtual coffee by emailing: info@cinqamis.com.