#shiftlefttesting

Shift-Left Testing: Why It Matters for BFSI

In the fast-changing BFSI landscape, delivering secure and reliable digital solutions is critical. Shift-left testing plays a crucial role by moving testing earlier into the software development lifecycle.

Key Benefits of Shift-Left Testing in BFSI:

Early Defect Detection: Identifies issues at the requirements and design stage.

Reduced Costs: Fixing defects early is less expensive than post-production fixes.

Improved Compliance: Ensures adherence to strict financial regulations.

Faster Go-to-Market: Enhances agility for launching new products and services.

Customer Trust: Delivers reliable, secure, and seamless digital banking experiences.

Performance testing is a non-functional testing to identify performance bottlenecks and to find any possible conditions that may lead to potential crashes when the software is subjected to extreme testing conditions in a production-like environment.

There is a misconception that it is good to test the software as a whole for performance. This leads to placing performance testing at the end of the development cycle. What if the application’s performance is not up to the mark? In that case, tracing back the origin of the issue adds to the debugging time and efforts, thus reducing the overall development velocity, and increasing the cost.

It is high time to include performance testing from the very onset of the project, and not as an afterthought. Tracing and fixing performance issues just before deployment is an expensive exercise. With shorter delivery cycles, it is prudent to check every deliverable, however small, for performance. Integrating performance tests in the continuous testing process is a great way of ensuring that every deliverable is tested thoroughly for functionality as well as performance.

Shift left testing has been gaining importance recently. As a norm, including performance testing early in the development cycle proves beneficial for everyone, i.e. developers, testers, and business. Read further to understand how we can achieve it.

Process Explanation Introduce cultural shift in the work process Make developers responsible for testing their code for performance along with the unit tests. This will not only help in maintaining the sanctity of agile philosophy but also add value to the whole development process.

Shifting left of performance testing means increased collaboration between the testers and the developers. With both teams working together, it will be easy to identify what all needs to be tested for the performance earlier in the development cycle. Defining clear communication protocols will reduce the time needed in the overall testing, debugging, and re-testing cycle.

Identify KPI’s at module/submodule level Usually, KPI’s for performance are defined at the application level. But, defining them for modules and sub-modules will aid in improving the efficiency and performance of the smaller units. Thus, rendering better performance for the application as a whole. Initial time investment is done to identify these KPI’s will reap benefits in the long run.

Mandatory for business-critical changes

Business-critical changes call for thorough scrutiny and testing at a functional level as well as non-functional level. It will be a costly affair to make changes at such unit level for performance and then test them, but it is worth it if we look at the larger picture.

Automate performance tests

Shifting left the performance test means testing the same code numerous times, thus it will be a good idea to automate the tests to avoid errors associated with human fatigue and monotony.

Introduce performance test at build check-in level Smoke testing the builds for performance, with moderate loads in the testing environment, at the time of check-in, can serve as indicators in case of any performance-related issues.

Centralized test result sharing to enable quick feedback

Sharing the test results across the board is the quickest way of solving any problem. It not only saves a lot of time but also the cumulative efforts, resulting in reduced costs.

Selecting the right tool What good will it serve by chalking out a process, and not having the right tool at your disposal to implement it? Having the right testing and reporting tool can be a game changer. That is where Webomates CQ can help you.

Shifting Left: Using quality cost as a force to overcome resistance

QA leaders are aware of practices such as Shift Left Testing and their ability to create a highly productive development lifecycle that helps achieve faster time-to-market. However, they are often faced with organizational resistance when it comes to adoption.

Shift Left Testing Approach | Software Quality Assurance

The Goal of Shift Left Testing

Have you ever experienced a project running into budget issues, schedule slippages and getting delayed due to some last moment defects? These issues are so common so the answer is, probably yes!

The need to implement large, business and customer critical systems in an environment driven by short timelines and tight budgets has led to a change in methods that deliver business value quickly. One such method is Shift-Left Testing.

It is 15 times costlier to fix defects in the test phase of a waterfall project because testing occurs later in the project development lifecycle.

IBM SYSTEM SCIENCE INSTITUTE REPORT

Relegating the entire testing to the last stage just before deployment is no longer feasible. So, how do we fix this? The answer is simple — Shift Left your entire Testing!

According to Larry Smith — who coined the term Shift Left Testing — “Bugs are cheaper when caught young!” The Shift Left testing approach uses the ‘test early and often’ mantra to perform testing earlier in the life cycle (thereby moving left on the project timeline). The goal is to prevent defects and mitigate risks rather than deal with a whole load of bugs and critical issues post-development. Shift Left testing avoids cost overruns and project delays.

Do you really need to Shift-left your testing?

If you answer ‘Yes’ to all these questions, Shift left is the key!

Do you want to automate different testing types like Unit Testing, Functional Testing, API Testing, Security Testing?

Do you want to start feature testing at an early stage to ensure quality releases?

Do you want to detect defects early in the development lifecycle?

Do you want a smaller and quicker feedback loop between the development and testing teams?

Do you want to have maximum test coverage of your functionalities?

How can you Get Started With Shift Left Testing

Shift left does more than just help teams find defects early. To shift left means a change in organizations culture.

Now let’s find out what your teams need to do to get started with shift left testing.

Identify & Plan the Testing Lifecycle :Planning is an integral part of the shift left approach. Shift left works best when the Test analysts identify and plan the entire testing lifecycle before the start of the actual development process. This provides a strong starting point for all activities in the test lifecycle, and will help all business and operational stakeholders, developers and testers understand the tasks, objectives and expected outcome from the project.