How Financial Institutions Benefit by Outsourcing Software QA

There are numerous reasons why financial industry players choose to outsource quality assurance of their software solutions. Their development and QA teams might get tunnel vision after working on a piece of software for too long, their QA team might need extra hands, or there might be no QA team in place at all.

Whether you plan to build an internal team of QA specialists from scratch or simply want to include best practices in your development cycle, a good QA outsourcer will help you select tools and plugins and develop methodologies and workflows that will guide the achievement of your goals.

What happens when a company seeks to outsource QA?

With a solid foothold in the fintech business since 2002, Devexperts has honed its best practices for handling new projects. We follow a well-established workflow when a new client requests quality assurance services.

Attuned to a client’s needs, we conduct a comprehensive analysis of their existing quality assurance process.

1. We examine where it starts, how it supports development, and where it effectively ends. 
2. We investigate all bottlenecks within the entire development cycle relating to QA effectiveness. 
3. We decompose systems communication, workflows, and production pipelines to see where room for improvement exists. 
4. We highlight identified issues with extensive reporting, including suggestions and best practices a client can implement immediately. 

Every system harbors the potential for enhancement. The data we gather enables us to gauge the maturity of a company’s processes. The more mature the process, the simpler it becomes to control, measure, improve, and utilize. Whether you’re taking your first steps or seeking to transition from a highly predictable and easily managed process to a more innovative one, an external viewpoint can be invaluable.

Finding the right approach for your case

Depending on your needs, you might need one or several of the following testing services:

• Testing automation
• Functional testing
• Performance testing
• End-to-end testing
• Custom services.

Easing workflow burdens with automation

QA automation means using tools to maintain test data, execute tests, and analyze test results to improve software quality. There are numerous subtypes of testing automation, such as unit, system, frontend, component, integration, and backend testing.

When deciding to introduce testing automation, the process goes the following way:

1. We set up a basis for testing automation to reduce repetitive manual work.
2. We provide a client with a set of choices based on their needs for a more objective assessment.
3. We help the client design and implement automation technology that works best with their product.

To support proper management and control:

1. We equip the client with tools for precise management and control of all implemented processes.
2. We propose expert-based strategies for efficient operation and teamwork.
3. We focus on review and evaluation combined with innovation to strengthen the client’s product market position.

Functional testing to ensure a system works as intended

Functional testing is performed to ensure that software products do precisely what a client wants according to the specifications of business analysts.

Functional testing is the key to a smooth business flow. It verifies that the financial logic of your business applications works flawlessly on various trading instruments and complex derivatives. This testing enhances risk management by identifying potential failures, making it easier to manage everything from web application features to server-side calculations with the help of QA analytics.

Functional testing helps with service integration.

Are you considering developing a high-load system deployed on AWS hosts for 24/7 highly volatile market trading? You may also have an internal CRM system that needs to be integrated into your latest application for agile client management. Perhaps you already have a powerful engine for trading calculations that needs that extra oomph for an attractive web interface.

With the help of functional testing, you can ensure that the services required for your comfortable work are integrated without a single fault and work in sync.

Be ready for volatile markets with performance testing

Never miss a quote because your software hasn’t been probed for bottlenecks and works slowly while too many users try to make profits simultaneously. Performance testing includes:

• Load testing to check the system’s operational properties for the expected workload
• Stress testing that pushes the system to its limits for balancing prioritization
• Capacity testing that measures the limits of a system for safe operation without rescaling
• Volume testing to determine the system’s productivity under an increased volume of stored and processed data.

Ensure that all integrated pieces work together with end-to-end testing

Any trading system is a complex and interconnected entity consisting of multiple subsystems and services. Any failing parts may result in a crash of the entire system. End-to-end testing implies that a system is complete and ready for integration with other services. It stresses verifying system readiness against real-world use cases with the support of various external integrations, like a company’s CRM. 

No trading application exists in a bubble. A web terminal cannot operate when an integrated database, proper network connectivity, non-conflicting hardware, etc, do not support it. An E2E solution aims to create a QA process for your specific case that supports the application, not as an individual node but as a unified entity of various subsystems.

End-to-end testing ensures that the application you’re releasing into production is compatible with your other services for the best user experience. Consider E2E as a general solution for your QA process that allows you to test the application through and through.

Custom services that make you excel in fintech development

We strive to recreate practical scenarios that reflect actual market conditions to do testing right. We’ve never been satisfied with simple, hard-coded mock data. Instead, we’ve taken it further and developed several custom tools. Here are a couple of examples from our practice.

1. Matching Engine. It’s neat to have a system that perfectly simulates trading logic with hundreds of orders matched simultaneously using FIFO algorithms with implemented price-time priority. It’s even better when a simple testing tool also supports direct and implied matching types that are used in everyday trading with extensive execution reports and support of various order types (limit, market, stop-limit, stop, etc.) with adjustable time-in-force properties, trading session settings, self-matching prevention strategies, and so on.

Our engineers have built a solution maintained by more than 2,500 automated tests that are kept up to date to ensure the best performance. With our matching engine, you could create your market to test it to perfection.

2. Market Simulation. Testing will never be successful as long as manually published quotes create the market. Thankfully, here at Devexperts, we’ve dedicated an entire branch full of brilliant engineers to create a tool that can be used for market simulation both as inner and outer integration, where actual liquidity providers streamline quotes. dxFeed is a product that can be integrated into your development to create an actual market filled with relevant, up-to-date data generated for a huge list of supported instruments.

What you get as a result of outsourcing the QA of your software

Summing up all the benefits of QA outsourcing, here’s what your business gets as a result of collaborating with a QA service vendor with relevant expertise:

• Straightforward and measurable QA processes.
• Reviewed and enhanced project infrastructure.
• Optimized development cycle.
• Alternatives to development models that reinforce your product’s design.
• Automation support based on a proven stack of technologies.
• Strengthened market positions and extensive control over your product’s results.

If you’d like to leverage similar results, we’re here to help.