Testing Tools Offer Insurance Company More Security, Time, Resources

In the United States, Royal & SunAlliance offers a nonstandard auto insurance product marketed under the name OrionAuto, which covers high-risk drivers. The nonstandard operation is known for its quick claims-handling and competent customer service, which is reflected in its tagline, "Insurance. Easy to Start. Easy to Stay," and in the careful measures it takes to maintain customer loyalty.

Providing simple, reliable methods for transacting business is key to those efforts. That's why the QA team pays meticulous attention to testing applications that pertain to policyholder information.

Royal & SunAlliance found Compuware's QARun, QADirector and File-AID/CS to be the perfect solutions to its OrionAuto application testing and data management needs.

One of the company's main agent applications, EZLink, allows approximately 13,000 independent agents in 37 states to transmit business data to the home office, electronically. AutoLink, another important business application, is a web-based service that allows agents to perform online business transactions, such as submitting new business applications, and making online premium payments and account inquiries. Compuware's tools are used to perform unit and component testing of the EZLink application and the AutoLink web site. Quality assurance analysts check for valid and invalid entries in all fields, as well as for expected program flow.

More Consistency, Reusability and Flexibility in Less Time

Rate revisions drive Royal & SunAlliance's application testing, which previously required a considerable amount of time and resources. "Our testing consisted of sitting in front of the terminal and typing in all of the data that would allow us to get a rate out of our system," says Susan Donker, quality assurance analyst at Royal & SunAlliance. "Then we sorted the data into a spreadsheet and visually compared it to our baseline data. The process was extremely manual. Nothing was automated."

In late 1999, as workloads became increasingly heavy, the company's QA team realized it was time for a change. "We wanted a tool that would reduce the amount of time our staff required to perform manual testing," says Donker.

The company was also looking for a tool that would run tests consistently. "If I do a test in one state, I want to make sure I do that same test in every other state. Compuware tools give us that kind of consistency, across the board," says Donker.

In addition, it was important for Royal & SunAlliance to find a tool that was easily reusable, and that would interact with their mainframe, DOS, Delphi and Internet applications, and various Windows environments.

Seamless Integration

Royal & SunAlliance uses Compuware's products to create multiple fields of random data every day, based on business requirements. With QACenter, the IT team was able to automate the entry of this data into the mainframe and into a spreadsheet.

"File-AID/CS' Converter function provides us with translated insurance coverage cost data," says Zach Osterloo, technical support coordinator. The Compare function then lets the technical support team easily compare two sets of costs.

"The way all of the products tie together is very important to us," says Donker. "Everything integrated together is just a great fit for our company."

Ease of Use

Royal & SunAlliance uses QARun and QADirector to check application formatting. "QADirector helps us schedule tests," says Donker. "Rather than walking through the QARun step, then the Converter step, then the Compare step, QADirector handles the entire process with the touch of a button. And QADirector can automatically schedule these tests for a future time frame."

The company's technical support team is impressed with the ease of use of QACenter and File-AID/CS products. "We especially enjoy the functionality of the 'record' command in the QACenter products," says Osterloo. "It offers a great way for us to develop code quickly." Osterloo also commented that the language was very easy to learn. Employees with little formal training easily performed day-to-day development duties.

What is the overall benefit that Royal & SunAlliance has received from QACenter and File-AID/CS products? It's the company's ability to increase testing scenarios without increasing staff. "The products have allowed us to test thousands of scenarios in a relatively short amount of time," says Osterloo. "In some instances, we have been able to increase our testing thoroughness in addition to reducing some elapsed testing times."

"I'm continually amazed at the potential for using these tools," says Donker. "I had no idea a year ago that I would be able to do some of the programming things I'm now able to do. The tools helped me learn. We got more than we expected from these tools."

Royal & SunAlliance is convinced its implementation of Compuware products will greatly improve the future of its quality assurance testing.

Compuware makes it easy for organizations to start—with the development, integration, testing and management of their applications. And when the tools save them time and resources, it's easy for customers to stay with Compuware.