Improving core banking implementation with a viable performance test approach

Core Banking

Banks and financial institutions are evolving to be more customer-friendly. They no longer need complicated applications & software, bulky systems, or multiple platforms to store customer and banks’ data, simply because it no longer serves the purpose. Hence, they opt for various core banking solutions, which help them bring all data onto a uniform platform and be more strategic and organized in maintaining the details.

Core banking implementation is a transformation journey for financial institutions. But 7 out of 10 banks go through many challenges during the different stages of the implementation project. These challenges include the non-functional aspects like stress, performance, or security penetration of the project. Let us look at the consequences of avoiding these mandatory checks. On a few specific days, banks may see a sudden spike in traffic; it can result in an extreme load on the system leading to performance failure.

In the past, several incidents were recorded where the customers were affected and disappointed with system performance failures. No banks can guarantee to function as usual with a massive surge in digital transaction volumes. Banks have realized the importance of testing the non-functional aspects of the systems, so today, it is an essential and integral part of any large-sized and mid-sized transformation project for banks.

We are a little far from realizing what performance testing means for a bank or financial institution. This article serves as a reference to improve core banking implementation with appropriate testing methodologies and a test automation approach. I will also explain why it is a critical exercise and cannot be cast aside until the last minute.

The important aspects of non-functional testing

A statistical report published in Gartner reveals that the average cost of IT downtime is around $5,600 per minute, which amounts to about $300,000 per hour on average. The calculation excludes regulatory penalties and reputational damage. This brings organizations to much deliberation about preventing downtime during production. The load testing helps an organization confirm that the systems are ready to take the usage load adequately to its capacity in the production stage.  

Knowing the objectives of performance testing

Performance testing measures the system behavior and response during peak activity hours. It ensures the consistency of the systems even with a high load. Performance testing also ensures that system performance does not deteriorate with time under average load and continuous usage. It determines the system sustainability, and if any performance bottleneck is detected or identified during testing, it must be reported and documented immediately. Performance testing also validates that the system and load is uniformly distributed across different product architectural layers. It also ensures that the system allows the access of multiple users at the same time and the system scalability to accommodate more users under the same sessions.

Performance testing scope

Performance testing becomes as essential process for a core banking implementation project and production lifecycle. It must cover all types of process activities including online transaction processing from systems interface and various channels, same day uploads, end of cycle batches, and data migration from legacy systems.

There are two methodologies for testing the core banking implementations, i.e., automated load testing and business simulation. In this article we will specifically talk about the first methodology.

Automated load testing

There are four phases of the automated load tests for performance testing.

  1. Designing phase

In the designing phase, the team gathers the requirements and studies them thoroughly to understand the scope and functionality of the application. They understand the performance requirements from a business viewpoint and analyze the matrix of business volume and historical data. The team finalizes the performance testing goals and objectives based on these requirements, finally measuring acceptable results. The automated load tests are designed, followed by an appropriate action plan.

  • Building phase

The channels and test scripts are prepared in batches for different business scenarios common to the user interface. The channels and batches test scripts are used to simulate load into the application tiers. An initial sanity check of the application is conducted after the data is migrated and uploaded onto the performance test platform. If there are remaining historical data to be created, they are injected into the system. During the build phase, the team configures the monitoring tools for gathering system performance metrics for the testing window.

  • Executing and diagnosing

The performance test is executed to validate environmental configurations and application performance behavior. Executing and diagnosing stage leads to an optimized environment for the final measurement run. Repeated performance testing is conducted to evaluate application performance behavior. There are three possible iterative stages which can be configured. And between each of these iterative stages, the team reinstates the performance testing, and the test is re-run again.

  1. Stage 1

The system behavior is recorded by executing the specific functions at the peak load. If any errors or flaws are noticed in environmental or application configurations, it is immediately reported to the respective stakeholders to upgrade and obtain maximum throughput.

  • Stage 2

In stage two, the system behavior is recorded along with the simulation of an integrated business scenario. Similar to stage one, if there are any errors or flaws in environmental or application configurations, they must be reported to respective stakeholders to upgrade and obtain maximum output.

  • Stage 3

The final round is a final round of simulation where all refinements / fine-tuning / fixes are updated from earlier test rounds and are validated. The load testing is executed at peak hours to ensure the resilience and stability of the system through volumes, endurance runs, and stress tests.

  • Measuring and evaluating

In the final measuring and evaluating phase the system metrics are captured and measured. The system testing is conducted to validate the metrics post-run. It is used to prepare the final performance test report.

Improving core banking implementation with Yethi’s testing services

At Yethi, we follow a strategic test objective. We capture non-functional requirements, set up a testing environment, script used cases, build scenarios, execute the test, and prepare PT documents based on reporting and analysis. We gather & analyze NFR, perform a feasibility study, and identify performance test tools. We set up server tier deployment, populate target database, populate target DB, external systems & licenses, and plan performance test strategy. We develop load test scripts, design load test scenarios, create test data, identify & build volume, soak, and stress scenarios. We determine and define the injector profile for injector deployment and timelines. We execute sanity, volume, isolation, stress, soak and load balancing tests.

When it comes to reporting and analyzing, we collect data samples, determine test outcomes by comparing expected performance, and maintain result reports and dashboards for all types of tests. We focus on the following,

  • Baseline Test – Measures the current performance metrics
  • Load Test – Create demand on a system and measure its response
  • Stress Test – Determine the stability of the system by testing beyond normal operational capacity
  • Soak Test – Run at high levels of load for prolonged periods.

Our performance test management is based on test execution and analysis and transaction capture and analysis. We capture and analyze transactions from applications under test (AUT) by pulling data from a web server, app server, and database server. And execute tests and analyses across various server systems through load injection and KPI monitoring. Our test management module focuses on creating and executing performance test scenarios and creating scenarios for different end-user activities against AUT.

We offer load injector and KPI monitoring as dedicated services to generate requests against AUT simulating concurrent virtual users, executing the specified use-cases. Through load injector and KPI monitoring, we collect performance metrics from all metrics collection agents and store them in the performance metrics repository. We collect load test results by Controller are stored in the result repository database. We execute performance testing for the application under test (AUT) and its components.

All you want to know about testing Finacle Wealth Management Systems

Finacle wealth management systems

Wealth management is a support advisory service offered to the customer in effectively creating a long-term/lifetime investment plan. The advent of financial technology has been noticed in the Wealth Management also, as a result it has left an immense impact on the service. For the last several years, financial organizations are using multiple technologies like chatbots, artificial intelligence, blockchain, cryptocurrency, neo banks, Robo-advisors, and other digital solutions, to streamline the front-to-back-office operations and enhance the productivity of the advisors to offer outstanding services to the customers. 

Understanding the customer need of the hour, the financial services and solutions providers build a multi-module CRM platform that will not just provide the finest investment advice to the clients but will manage the end-to-end wealth management process. Finacle, being an industry leader, offers a comprehensive financial solution. Finacle’s Wealth Management Systems allows banks to provide new services and products in a time-bound manner besides the traditional banking services. Thus, many banks and financial institutions have opted for Finacle Wealth Management System as their trusted CRM platform to offer efficient services and strengthen their customer portfolios.

The Wealth Management Systems handle a series of workflows like defining financial goals, planning investment, creating & reviewing the portfolio, planning for estate & tax, planning assets strategically, family philanthropy, managing cash, managing & analyzing diversified investment plans, reporting, and more. As the systems are created to streamline all the processes, it requires end-to-end testing with a massive focus on handling risk and compliance and helps in reporting. As stakes are high in managing the portfolios of high-net-worth individuals and retail customers, any inaccuracy can lead to huge losses. Hence, testing the wealth management system becomes an inevitable step to ensuring system performance and protection against massive loss. This article serves as a guide to test wealth management systems.

Reasons for testing Wealth Management Systems

Following are the major reasons why wealth management systems must be tested:

  • Optimization of Customer Experience: Wealth management systems are the backbone of customer wealth creation. Therefore, their accuracy and timely service are important to optimize the customer experience. Acceptance testing can be helpful to ensure that the software meets the expectations of the users.
  • Obtain Understanding of Workflows: Testing helps in obtaining a thorough understanding of the workflows of the organization and assessing whether all the important workflows are operating independently. As banking systems handle innumerable transactions and, therefore, possess multi-layered workflows and are highly complex, understanding the workflow and testing the systems become a necessity. It also assures their security and transparency.
  • Detection and Correction of Performance Issues: Testing will allow the organization to determine major issues and loopholes in performance. This can create major obstacles in the performance of the systems and overall customer experience. After detection, the anomalies can be corrected to obtain desired results.
  • Improves User Retention: System testing helps to know how many users the system can accommodate, and the time taken to perform various functions. This will give a thorough idea of the performance of the system and the user-specific changes that shall be undertaken. This makes the system more user-friendly and helps in overall user retention.

Challenges associated with testing Wealth Management Systems

Following are the major challenges associated with testing wealth management systems:

  • Security Loopholes: Financial data is sensitive and vulnerable. Therefore, security is paramount. There might arise variations in networks and operating systems that can lead to a lapse in security features. Therefore, software testing becomes important to ensure that it adheres to the set security standards across all the networks, operating systems, and platforms.
  • Multiple Devices: Another important challenge that arises in the testing of wealth management systems is their operations on multiple devices. Each device may have separate configurations and installations that directly affect its security levels. For instance, a device operating in one OS may be more secure than the one operating in a different OS. Also, certain devices may have different functionalities and software support that can lead to reduced efficiency.
  • Lack of Knowledge: Testing experts are not necessarily finance experts. While they specialize in software, they may lack knowledge of the finance domain. This can create obstacles during the testing process that should be taken care of. Appropriate coordination between the testing and finance teams can help mitigate this challenge.

Testing Finacle Wealth Management System

Following are the major tests associated with Finacle Wealth Management Systems:

  • UI/UX Testing: A proper UI/UX is essential to ensure that the customers have a smooth experience. UI/UX testing optimizes the overall customer experience and helps organizations adopt a user-friendly approach to designing and maintaining systems.
  • Functional Testing: Here, the systems are tested for their functional designs and specifications. This is to ensure that the specifications as required by the users are satisfied by the systems.
  • Performance Testing: Performance testing is key to ensuring that the system delivers performance up to the benchmark when it comes to responsiveness, sustainability, and stability.
  • Security Testing: Security testing helps identify loopholes in security breaches and mitigate the associated risks. Data handled by wealth management systems are susceptible to manipulation, hence it is essential to ensure the security of the systems and data.
  • Integration Testing: Integration testing is essential to check whether different units and functionalities of the software interact properly. While the units and functionalities are tested separately as well, it is essential to test them in sets to ensure that they work properly when operated together.
  • Data Migration Testing: Technology keeps on evolving, and therefore, it becomes important to optimize the existing systems or create new ones. This involves the migration of data from one system to another which can make data vulnerable to security breaches and inaccuracy. It, thus, becomes important to conduct data migration testing to ensure that the migrated data matches the original data.
  • Regression Testing: Certain changes might be carried out in the existing codes and backend of the software. In such cases, it is important to conduct regression testing to ensure that it does not impact software functionality and that an application still functions as it was expected.

Important aspects of Finacle Wealth Management Systems

Following are the important aspects of Finacle Wealth Management Systems:

  • A Complete Solution: The Finacle Wealth Management Systems offer a complete wealth management solution offering a wide range of investment products and services. It allows transacting across multiple different asset classes including, but not limited to Equity, Mutual Funds, Insurance, Bonds, Futures & Options, Exchange Traded Funds, etc.
  • Client-Focused Approach: Finacle Wealth Management System ensures a holistic understanding of the client requirements and empowers experts to make better decisions. It facilitates the evaluation of clients’ risk scores and builds an ideal and personalized portfolio and visualization of the same. It also alerts whenever there is a deviation from the portfolio.
  • Low Cost to Income Ratio: Finacle Wealth Management Systems ensures automation and better operational efficiency. While the front office becomes smarter, the back-office operations witness efficient operations.
  • Use of Advanced Technology: Finacle Wealth Management Systems use advanced technology that is open for collaboration and works on the principle of interoperability. The systems are cloud-ready and can support multi-entity, multi-lingual, multi-currency, multi-national, and multi-time zone operations.

Therefore, it is important to ensure that the Finacle Wealth Management Systems are tested for their performance, accuracy, and functionalities for running the operations in an orderly manner.

At Yethi, we have undertaken various transformational projects, project upgrades and Business-as-usual. We have tested Finacle Wealth Management Systems for some of the major banks and financial institutions. Our end-to-end testing services include functional (Data Migration Audit, System Integration Testing, User Acceptance Testing, Regression Testing, and Automated Testing and non-functional testing (Performance Testing, Security Testing, and UI/UX Testing). Our Test Centre of Excellence is equipped to offer extensive advisory services and reengineer the process.

Yethi’s 5th generation codeless test automation solution, Tenjin a plug-and-play banking aware solution, which minimizes the manual effort and speed up the test execution regardless of the complexity and number of updates. Tenjin’s intuitive features and robotic capabilities enable learning and adapting to application updates with ease.