# Infosys Whitepaper 
Title: Scaling continuous testing across the enterprise 
Author: Infosys Limited 
Format: PDF 1.6 

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 WHITE PAPER SCALING CONTINUOUS TESTING  ACROSS THE ENTERPRISE Abstract Over the years, organizations have invested significantly in optimizing  their testing processes to ensure continuous release of high-quality  software. Today, this has become even more important owing to digital  transformation. This paper examines some of the critical features of setting  up a robust continuous testing practice across the enterprise. It considers  the technology and process standpoints and provides guidelines to ensure  a successful implementation from inception to delivery of high-quality  software.<|endoftext|>

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 External Document © 2020 Infosys Limited Establishing a continuous testing (CT)  practice is an organization-level change  that cannot be executed with a ‘big bang’  approach. It should be conceptualized,  implemented and allowed to mature at a  program level. Once continuous testing  gains inroads into various programs across  the enterprise, it can then become the  new norm for enterprise software delivery.  To enable a seamless journey towards  organization-wide continuous testing, the  gradual change must be sponsored and  supported by senior IT leadership.  To begin with, enterprises must set up a  program-level center of excellence (CoE)  and staff it with people who have a deep  understanding of automation. This team  should be responsible for: •   Identifying the right set of tools for CT  •   Building the right solutions and  practices that can be adopted by the  program •   Integrating automated tests with  the DevOps pipeline for continuous  testing These action points lay the foundation for  establishing CT at a program level. They  can subsequently be improved and aligned  depending on the enterprise’s needs.  Introduction External Document © 2020 Infosys Limited 

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 External Document © 2020 Infosys Limited The journey Once the CoE has been set up, enterprises must focus on expanding the practice of continuous testing within all program-level agile  teams across the organization. This can be done by promoting the existing program-level CoE into an enterprise-level CoE with broader  responsibilities.  The primary goal of the enterprise-level CoE should be: •   To ensure CT adoption by all scrum teams •   To establish real-time reporting, metrics and measurement for faster adoption •   To identify areas with zero/low automation and provide support Enterprises can also accelerate CT adoption by extensively showcasing the benefits realized from programs.<|endoftext|>Fig 1: Continuous testing journey of an enterprise External Document © 2020 Infosys Limited Transform  from   Program COE – Org COE Branding at Org  Level –solutions,  metrics Matured CT at  Program level Help Program  Scrums to adopt  CT Establish Program  Level CT COE Challenges during enterprise adoption   Extending continuous testing operations across the enterprise can be daunting. Enterprises should be prepared to face resistance to change  arising from higher operational costs and limited technical knowledge. Some of the key challenges of CT adoption and the ways to address  them are listed below: Challenges during enterprise adoption The way forward Multiple automation solutions – Teams often devise their own ways  to implement frameworks, leading to redundant code, confusion  and wastage During the initial assessment phase, enterprises can invest in  developing a solution that is capable of porting with existing  enterprise code Low technical knowledge for automation – QA organizations often  don’t have the necessary skills to build and maintain automation  scripts Focus on talent enablement through brown-bag meetings, training  workshops and support. Enterprises can also use script-less and  model-based automation tools Pushback from certain lines of business (LOBs) – Most enterprises  use disparate technology stacks and execution methodologies. It is  more challenging to adopt CT in some domains on legacy such as  mainframe systems, PowerBuilder environments and batch jobs Build a robust automation framework that supports different  technology stacks for an improved usability experience. Define  different goals for different technology stacks (like lower automation  goals for legacy and higher automation targets for APIs) to ensure  parity across teams during adoption Limited funding – Many customers view continuous testing as an  expense rather than an investment since it includes automation  development as well as integration costs Enable individual QA teams to adopt in-sprint automation, thereby  transferring the high initial cost to individual projects. This reduces  the overall enterprise CT cost to the expense of integrating  automation with the DevOps pipeline 

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 External Document © 2020 Infosys Limited Federated Operating Model Tool Standardization Enterprise Solutions & Process  Automation Enterprise  Continuous  Testing CT Practices & Processes & Enterprise adoption Assess and Identify the  Best Tool sets Build The right Solution  for Automation Training, Docs & Videos,  Org Level CT metrics Centralized COE, with  Distributed Automation  teams Infosys approach on establishing CT 1. Establish a federated operating model    Based on our past experience across several engagements, Infosys has identified four main dimensions that are essential to establishing and  operating a successful continuous testing practice across any enterprise. These dimensions are described below.<|endoftext|>A robust operating model is vital for  any practice. Earlier models comprising  functional testing teams and shared  automation teams failed because these  hamper functional teams from achieving  in-sprint/progressive automation within  2-3-week sprint windows. Thus, the way  forward is to embrace automation as a  culture and consider it as a business-as- usual process for anything that a tester  does.<|endoftext|>Care must be taken to ensure that generic  and complex solutions are built and  maintained by a centralized CT CoE team.  In their daily tasks, regular QA teams must  adapt to artifacts developed by the CoE  team. Through this federated method of  operations, enterprises can simply deploy a  few people with specialized skills to create  CT artifacts, thereby supporting regular  testers with relative ease.<|endoftext|>Fig 2: Key dimensions for establishing a successful CT practice Fig 3: Structure, roles and interactions in a federated operating model with centralized CoE • Liaise with CI-CD to integrate CT with pipeline • Develop generic automation artifacts – Frameworks / processes /  solutions • Provide support, handholding • Metrics & reporting • Build automation tests for supported apps • Leverage artifacts created by CT COE • Request for enhancements and provide suggestions • Request for help and support for CT adoption Enterprise QA teams Org Level CT COE Team External Document © 2020 Infosys Limited 

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 External Document © 2020 Infosys Limited 2. Standardize tools  3. Build enterprise and process automation solutions The process of standardizing tools should  be objective. It should first assess the  existing enterprise tools, identify those  that can be reused and procure new  tools for CT. Here are some important  considerations when evaluating any tool: •   Tool fitment – Ensure the tools are the  right ones for the task they have to  service •   Tool license and operational cost – This  should fall within the client’s budget •   Tool scalability – It should be  capable of scaling to meet future  organizational needs •   Tool integration – In a DevOps world,  tools should be easily compatible with  other tools and pipelines •   Tool support – There should be  adequate online and professional  support services for the tool Currently, there are many tools available in  the market that support the various stages  of the software development lifecycle  (SDLC). Enterprises must be careful to  onboard the right set of tools that will aid  software development and QA.<|endoftext|>The automation solutions built to aid  and enable CT are at the heart of any  robust continuous testing practice. These  solutions should encompass every phase  of the software testing lifecycle. Some  critical automation artifacts that must be  developed to sustain a robust CT practice  are: a) Automation frameworks – This is the  basic building block that aids automation  and enables CT across an enterprise, as  shown below in Fig 4.<|endoftext|>b) Distributed and parallel test execution  approaches – Speedy test execution is  critical to accelerate software delivery. As  the volume of automated tests increases,  enterprises should adopt distributed and  parallel execution either by onboarding  off-the-shelf tools or by building custom  solutions as per enterprise requirements  c) Test data automation – Testers spend a  significant amount of time setting up test  data. Solutions should be built to automate  the manufacturing, cloning/masking,  mining, and management of test data from  requisition to provisioning d) Process and environment automation  – This involves automating all test and  defect management-related processes.  Environment provisioning automation  is essential to make the entire CT  practice cost effective and manageable  at an enterprise scale and some viable  options are cloud-based or infrastructure  virtualization solutions.<|endoftext|>It is important to note that automation  solutions are simply a critical