Testing & Test Automation

FINARCH provides comprehensive testing and test automation services that help improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your testing efforts.

As investment management platforms continue to evolve, Quality Assurance (QA) has become an essential aspect of digital transformation for Asset and Wealth Managers. Software vendors have invested heavily in internal and automatic testing to ensure the release of high-quality software. However, these tests are primarily focused on code changes, and may not address unique data, configuration, and business processes required by each client. In addition, any client-specific customizations are deemed out-of-scope and need to be addressed by the client.

With the increasing release frequency of software companies, Asset and Wealth Managers require efficient testing procedures to ensure the seamless integration and operation of these platforms.

FINARCH provides comprehensive testing and test automation services that help improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your testing efforts.

At a high level, our guiding principles on testing activities include the following:

Have clear guidelines on defect management and fixing
Focus on areas we know are more prone to defects/bugs
Time box the testing effort required
Clearly evaluate the risk of not testing a certain workflow or process
Have a clear defect triage process by having a system in place to track defects and have a disciplined way of categorizing defects by priority and severity

Define clear, objective rules for the urgency of defects so it is clear to the testers when a defect is in fact critical
Suggest temporary workarounds not to hold back the overall testing effort
Help clearly identify defect error as testing errors vs true bugs
Create reproducible test steps for re-use

Enter automated testing – where the goal is to automate as much as the (previously manual) testing required as part of rolling out enhancements, upgrades, hotfixes and other testing elements.

At FINARCH, we have developed capabilities to help our clients transition from manual testing to a fully or partially automated testing suite for their entire ecosystem. We have experience working with some of the leading software suite(s) used for automated testing which include Tricentis Tosca, AccelQ and building customized solutions using Python or other programming languages.

Our team has experience working with clients that have invested in automated testing and reaped the huge benefits across their organization. The upfront costs of building a test suite can be justified by the benefits, such as a single automated test being able to find and fix multiple defects, and running regression tests can be accelerated with automated testing. In addition, automated testing can just as easily cover complicated (end-to-end) flows when most teams/organization structures are silo’d.

Our experience has shown, as time progresses, the value proposition of automated tests increases significantly the efficiency, agility and scalability of organizations that implement it successfully. Without automated testing – even small changes that might seem isolated in particular areas can introduce problems in the production environment or end-to-end workflows. Automated testing can completely revamp your entire testing process, and significantly improve your time to market while improving build reliability.

At FINARCH, we will work closely with your organization to understand your unique needs and requirements and provide customized solutions that meet your business objectives. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help improve your testing efforts.

Evaluating the Total Cost of Ownership of Cloud-based Solutions

April 8, 2023

Within the capital markets and specifically buy-side firms, there are only a handful of systems used across the industry globally. Within these vendors, most claim to offer Cloud-based technology and solutions, but how true is it?

In this article, we will discuss the differences between Cloud-enabled and Cloud-native solutions and how Cloud-washed solutions will impact your implementation timelines, on-going (BAU) costs, and support model.

Guiding Principles for Digital Transformation of Investment Systems

February 25, 2023

Digital transformation within the capital markets is typically a multi-year journey that requires tenacity, commitment, and agility from all stakeholders. At their core, most investment management transformation projects include the implementation of one or more applications that will replace the legacy systems and processes, which may have been used within the organization for years.