EuroSTAR Software Testing Conference 2011 presentation on Agile on Huge Banking Mainframe Legacy Systems by Christian Bk Hansen. See more at: http://conference.eurostarsoftwaretesting.com/past-presentations/

1. EuroSTAR 2011
Agile on huge banking mainframe legacy
systems. Is it possible?
Christian Bendix Kjær Hansen
Test Manager
November 22, 2011

2. What is this presentation about?
Goal
• Inspire others working with mainframe to go agile
Provide insight on
• Our challenges when going Agile
• How we face these challenges
• Our key experiences
• How far are we on our Agile journey?

3. Agenda
• Introduction
• Getting started with Agile
• Challenge 1 – Huge batch programs
• Challenge 2 – Legacy system
• Challenge 3 – Test automation
– Automated unit test
– System test in India
• Conclusion

4. Christian B.K. Hansen
• Working experience
– Test practitioner for 7 years
– Test Manager in Danske Bank
– Test analyst/designer in IBM
• Test Certifications
– ISEB foundation and ISEB Practitioner (with distinction)
• Education
– MSc in Mathematics from Aarhus University
– Computer Science as Minor subject

5. “One group, One core system, Multiple channels”
Branches Channel
Contact
Centre
Securities
Trade
Finance
Internet
Homepages
Finance
Centres
ATMs
Product
Forex
Treasury
Cash
Management
Cards
Currency
Custody
Fees
Payments
Customer
output
Interests
Group
Finance
Core
Customer
Accounts Organisation
Data
Warehouse
Brand
Teller
Cheque
CRM
Bookkeeping
Corporate
e-Banking
Retail
e-Banking
Loan
Markets
Online
Telephone
Banking
Workflow
Asset
Management
Customer
Packages
Business
procedures
IT Group
Security
Customer
Advisory Tools
Customer
Portal
Asset
Finance
Intranet
Portal
Business Controlling
e.g. Credit, Risk, GMI
& ERP/Axapta
Insurance
& Pension

6. About the project
• Card Group Invoice Stabilize and Consolidate
– Credit card invoices
– Mainframe, legacy and batch
– Costly to maintain and extend
• Stabilize and Consolidate
– Solving known issues
– Consolidate functionality

7. Agenda
• Introduction
• Getting started with Agile
• Challenge 1 – Huge batch programs
• Challenge 2 – Legacy system
• Challenge 3 – Test automation
– Automated unit test
– System test in India
• Conclusion

8. Getting started with Agile
• Scrum
– One month sprints – root causes and consolidation tasks
• Iterative
– Small corrections released
• Challenges
– Testing too time consuming
– Code corrections too time consuming
– No test automation tool support
• Team
– Dedicated and committed team

9. Agile practices (from agilemanifesto.org)
• Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to
a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale
• Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the
environment and support they need, and trust them to get the
job done
• The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from
self-organizing teams
• The most efficient and effective method of conveying
information to and within a development team is face-to-face
conversation
• At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more
effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly

10. Agenda
• Introduction
• Getting started with Agile
• Challenge 1 – Huge batch programs
• Challenge 2 – Legacy system
• Challenge 3 – Test automation
– Automated unit test
– System test in India
• Conclusion

11. Challenge 1 – Huge batch programs
• Challenge
– Testing is extremely time consuming
• Causes
– All functionality in one program
– Complex test data needed
– Shared test environment across projects

12. Challenge 1 – Huge batch programs
• Solution
– Requirement to new system design with high testability

13. Challenge 1 – Huge batch programs
• Agile principle
– Continuous attention to technical excellence and good
design enhances agility
• Status
– Now: Any change tested in 1-2 days
– Future: Any change tested the same day

14. Agenda
• Introduction
• Getting started with Agile
• Challenge 1 – Huge batch programs
• Challenge 2 – Legacy system
• Challenge 3 – Test automation
– Automated unit test
– System test in India
• Conclusion

15. Challenge 2 – Legacy system
• Challenge:
– Code corrections difficult and time consuming
• Causes
– Lacking maintainability and extendibility
– Undocumented functionality
• Solution
– Requirement to system maintainability
– Refactoring
– System documentation

16. Challenge 2 – Legacy system
• Agile principle
– Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount of work not
done--is essential
• Status
– Now: Main batch program completed
– Future: All functionality in the invoice flow

17. Agenda
• Introduction
• Getting started with Agile
• Challenge 1 – Huge batch programs
• Challenge 2 – Legacy system
• Challenge 3 – Test automation
– Automated unit test
– System test in India
• Conclusion

18. Challenge 3 – Test automation
• Challenge
– Status of the system not visible
• Causes
– Automated test not possible
• Solution
– Build our own unit test tool

19. Automated unit test
• Unit test process - demo
Unit Test
Demo

20. Service tester (in Eclipse™)

21. Create test cases (in Microsoft Excel)

22. Create unit test script

23. Create unit test script

24. Create unit test script

25. Create unit test script

26. Create unit test script

27. Create unit test suite

28. Execute unit test suite

29. View unit test execution report

30. Automated unit test
• Unit test process - demo
• Experiences
Unit Test
Demo
– Pilot, dedicated resource, resistance
– Improved test process, status on modules, beneficial

31. Challenge 3 – Test automation
• Challenge
– Status of the system not visible
• Causes
– Automated test not possible
• Solution
– Build our own unit test tool
– Utilize internal offshore test center for system test

32. System test in India
• Test Centre of Excellence
– Dedicated test specialist
– Follow sprints (not in team)
• System test process
– Automation in QTP of manual test cases
– Existing version = Test Oracle for expected results
• Experiences
– Daily status on the system can be obtained
– Frequent regression test on system level is possible

33. Challenge 3 – Test automation
• Challenge
– Status of the system not visible
• Causes
– Automated test not possible
• Solution
– Build our own unit test tool
– Utilize internal offshore test center for system test

34. Challenge 3 – Test automation
• Agile principle
– Working software is the primary measure of progress
• Status
– Now: Status on modules on request
– Now: Status on main batch program on request (daily)
– Future: Daily status on the entire invoice flow

35. Agenda
• Introduction
• Getting started with Agile
• Challenge 1 – Huge batch programs
• Challenge 2 – Legacy system
• Challenge 3 – Test automation
– Automated unit test
– System test in India
• Discussion and conclusion

36. Lessons learned
• Scrum supports a good start on agile
• Key learning
– Requirement to Testability
– Requirement to Maintainability
– Build own tool
– Benefits from design before implementing it
• It can be difficult – but it is not impossible!

37. Agile or not?
• What does it take to be agile?
– Compliance with the Agile principles supporting the Agile
manifesto

38. Principles behind the Agile Manifesto
• Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of
valuable software
• Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness
change for the customer's competitive advantage
• Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months,
with a preference to the shorter timescale
• Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project
• Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support
they need, and trust them to get the job done
• The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a
development team is face-to-face conversation
• Working software is the primary measure of progress
• Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users
should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely
• Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility
• Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount of work not done--is essential
• The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams
• At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and
adjusts its behavior accordingly

39. Agile or not?
• What does it take to be agile?
– Compliance with the Agile principles supporting the Agile
manifesto
We are agile!

40. Questions

41. Conclusion
• “Did we managed to become agile or did we just
made a huge improvement in our development
process and in our test process in particular?”
• I think, we did both!
– Huge process improvements
– Started the agile journey