Positioned at the hub of the UK’s interbank transfer system, Voca runs, services and maintains the infrastructure network that processes all automated BACS payments. Over 70% of the UK workforce and nearly 25 million salaries are paid through its Direct Credit system – and through its Direct Debit system, each year BACS processes 2.7 billion transactions.

The Project

• The five-year 'Pentathlon' programme: replace, renew and rationalise software infrastructure in response to increased demand and the development of new payment channels.

StarBase Contribution

• By working as an integrated part of the Voca in-house volume and performance testing team, supply extra testing resources required in order to keep the project on-schedule.

Benefits Achieved

• Successful release of phased application releases.
• Adoption of StarBase scripting methodology throughout the Voca V&P function.

Voca isn’t a place where management can afford to make mistakes. In the words of Teresa Hehir, Test Manager at Voca, “We are core to UK plc. If we don’t do our job properly, people don’t get paid. Put simply, it’s not allowed not to work.” 

Faced in 2004 with a forecasted dramatic increase in demand for BACS services – including BACSTEL-IP, a new online delivery channel - VOCA undertook an in-depth appraisal of existing software resources. The system in place at the time was the classic legacy mix, combining old and new hardware, obsolete code and a miscellany of upgrades – and an army of support staff to operate it.

The size of the project and the timescales involved meant that expanding the in-house function was not feasible. Given that a single Voca transaction can move between as many as forty screens, Voca needed a V&P partner with sufficient technical ability to handle its exceptionally complex business flows.

Gerry Connolly, Voca Senior Test Analyst, had been impressed by StarBase when he attended one of the firm’s Advanced LoadRunner courses. Through the course, he experienced the StarBase scripting methodology at first hand.

“I was impressed by the StarBase Advanced LoadRunner course”, says Gerry. “By using the techniques that I learned there, I found it much easier to make full use of LoadRunner deployment during V&P testing.”

It was this meticulous approach that made StarBase stand out as the natural choice in the search for a V&P partner. Gerry explains:

“When we realised that we needed to outsource some of our V&P function, we turned to StarBase first and we felt confident with what we saw.”

Results have borne out Gerry’s expectations. “Since StarBase has been on-site, their approach has shown itself to be very helpful – applying their stable, transparent and thorough methodology, we’re achieving consistent, repeatable results.”

Gerry adds:

Generating accurate tests within a fast-moving project schedule was at the heart of Voca’s needs. To function effectively in a project on the scale of Pentathlon, though, StarBase also needed to show that it could understand the wider operating environment, respond to management priorities, and focus resources accordingly.

Teresa explains:

“The number of potential permutations for each transaction is huge. Using click-paths to give a flavour of the business flow through application-specific transactions, we capture information in the field from live users. From this we prioritise commonly-used business flows. Effectively, we’re doing a kind of mini user-acceptance testing.”

Working alongside the Voca team, StarBase testers quickly grasped the scale and the demands of the live environment. The result? Tests that directly addressed areas of highest need – without any compromise on accuracy or thoroughness.

Teresa goes on:

Delivering testing as an integrated project stakeholder was essential to StarBase’s successful involvement in the Pentathlon project. It is this approach that has always characterised the StarBase philosophy. In the words of Stephen Davis, StarBase Managing Director:

It’s an approach that has paid off. By working with StarBase as an integrated part of the V&P team, Voca has been able to adopt the StarBase testing approach as a permanent feature of its own testing methodology – without using up any project time for conducting a formal knowledge transfer. Gerry sums up the benefits:

“It’s a methodology that is right for us. We have seen it successfully used on Pentathlon, we have learned how to deploy it, and we will use it in future programs. It is tried, tested and it works.”

Project statistics:

• Tools used: LoadRunner 8.0
• Duration of involvement: 18 Months
  
• Volume of transactions tested: 1600 users and 94 scripts

Further information