Month: February 2021

The GDPR Effect on Big Data!

Posted on by Abhimanyu Sundar

A study by Deloitte found that 61% of businesses found GDPR and its implementation has major benefits such as competitive advantage, business enhancement and improve reputation.

GDPR, a single set of rules created in order to govern as to how personal data is used is done regardless of the source and across all uses. It protects the personal privacy laws pertaining to the data rights of the EU citizens.

GDPR is not restricted to organizations inside the EU alone, on the contrary, any organization with customers in the EU will be affected.

The way companies handle personal data will change forever with the introduction of GDPR. Europe’s data protection rules have undergone a huge change with GDPR being introduced.

GDPR replaced the 1995 Data Protection Directive. The internet is growing at a rapid pace.

Digital content has increased at an unimaginable rate. This has led to loads of personal data being held digitally.

With so much personal data out there, the need for an enhanced data protection regulation arose and hence, GDPR.

What GPR does is, it empowers individuals to gain access and control over the information held on them.

While empowering individuals, GDPR also holds organizations accountable for the way thy handle and store personal data.

Profiling is described by the GDPR as the collection of personal data and its subsequent use to extract information about the data subject.

Processing personal data to assess and predict information about individuals, such as socioeconomic status, demographics, country, digital and physical movement, and more, is known as profiling.

Companies will be required to have the latest documentation and communication when it comes to data protection.

  • In order to meet the GDPR demands, companies will ensure that they build trust and maintain a high level of service.
  • Consent must be received from the customers before the companies can use their data.
  • In the event of a security breach that affects user data, the users must be notified immediately.
  • Users should be allowed to delete personal records that the company has on them.
  • The users should have access to the data collected on them. At the same time, they also have the right to give the data that you have collected to another company.
  • Legal arrangements must be made when data is moved to regions outside the EU.
  • In order to meet the GDPR demands, companies will ensure that they build trust and maintain a high level of service.
  • Consent must be received from the customers before the companies can use their data.
  • In the event of a security breach that affects user data, the users must be notified immediately.

How Advanced Analytics is Shaping Businesses Today:

Irrespective of the size of the business, data is always generated. If a website, a social media presence and a payment gateway exist, data definitely exists. This data can be collected on their customer, webpage navigations, user experience and lot more.

However big or small a company is, the need for big data analytics to analyze its data is a must.

The use of advanced analytics gives you better insights. When the analytics provide you with custom market and business intelligence, the resulting insights will help make informed and better decisions.

Machine performance and human performance can be tracked. Deliver routes can be optimized.

Recruitment can be made simpler. All of this can be done with advanced analytics. Be it any department of any business, operational efficiency is bound to become better with Big Data Analytics.

These are just a few ways as to how analytics is changing the way businesses function.

GDPR has a huge impact on advanced analytics because of the nature of how advanced analytics functions and the data which is collected and analyzed.

When we talk about ‘Big Data’, a large chunk of it comprises of personal data. The use of personal data has a huge impact on data protection, data privacy, individual privacy rights and more so.

These rights are further empowered by GDPR. Does this mean that the end is near for Big Data Analytics? Not really!

GDPR and its related regulations do not aim at confining Big Data Analytics but rather, offer a structure for effective regulation. Big Data Analytics and data protection are objects that can enhance each other rather than stop each other from flourishing.

Not all of big data is personal data and only the personal data part of it is covered by GDPR. Big data analytics like weather data and so on are examples of non-personal data.

For the purpose of analytics, personal data can be anonymized, rendering the data to not come under the data protection regulations.

Keeping that in mind, a lot of big data is personal data. This data can be used individuals directly or with a combination of datasets.

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Therefore, data protection is a must in this space. There are 3 different areas to consider here:

Does the use of the personal data prove to be intrusive to the individual?

The use of people’s data for big data analytics – is it within the scope of what they reasonably anticipate?

The transparency of the organization about how it is processing personal data – how transparent can the organization be?

When we talk about personal data being used for big data analytics, there are a few types of personal data.

It may be ‘new types’ for the analysis which may include ‘observed data’, derived or inferred data’.

New types of data are consciously provided by the user. This type of data can be produced using analytics

In an organization which is big, you may have to trace the path that the data has taken through various systems.

Once the data is acquired by you, what happens to it? How is this data being used and for what purpose? How is the data transformation happening? What processes does this data undergo?

During the time of data collection, you need to know if any consent was asked for and granted. As stated above, under GDPR regulations, consent can be revoked at any point in time.

You must keep track of whether consent has been revoked after being granted. Another key area is to make sure that the analytics model in use can filter out the data for which consent has not been given.

The model at the same time should be adaptive to account changes in consent.

The analytics platform in use should definitely be integrated with the security system of the organization.

Five Data Integration Use Cases in 2021

Posted on by Abhay Das

Improving customer delight while keeping costs low and maintaining a competitive edge has become possible by leveraging the latest Industry 4.0 technologies, especially cloud, data analytics, IoT and the like.

There is an increasing move towards storing data in a hybrid or multi-cloud environment to keep infrastructure costs low while enjoying the benefits cloud offers of flexibility and scalability.

While this has its benefits, such a hybrid environment also brings with it certain limitations. Data is stored in multiple locations and multiple formats and to leverage the data and draw insights for informed decision making, businesses need a unified view.

Data integration is the process by which data from different locations is unified and made usable. With the number of data sources increasing, the need for effective data integration tools is also gaining importance.

With data integration businesses gain:

  • Access to a single and reliable version of truth, synchronized and accessible from anywhere
  • Access to accurate data that enables effective analysis, forecasting, and decision making

5 Applications of Striim-based Data Integration

A platform such as Striim enables data integration of on-premise and cloud data from Databases, Messaging Systems, Files, Data Lakes, and IoT in real-time and without disrupting operations.

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It provides users access to the latest and reliable data from varied sources such as log files, databases, sensors, and messaging systems. Pre-built integration and wizards-based development enables an accelerated building of streaming data pipelines and provides timely insights for improved and data-backed decision making.

The various scenarios where Striim-based data integration can be applied include:

1. Integration Between On-premise and Cloud Data

Businesses migrating data from legacy systems to the cloud can benefit from Striim’s Change Data Capture (CDC). CDC reduces downtime, prevents the locking of the legacy database, and enables real-time data integration (DI) to track and capture modifications to the legacy system, applying the changes to the cloud after the migration is complete.

It also facilitates the continuous synchronization of the two databases. It also allows for data to be moved bi-directionally, with some stored in the cloud and some in the legacy database. For mission-critical systems, the migration can be staggered to minimize risks and business interruptions.

2. Real-time Integration in the Cloud

Businesses opting for cloud data warehouses require real-time integration platforms for real-time data analysis. The data is sourced from both on-prem and cloud-based sources such as logs, transactional databases, and IoT sensors and moved to cloud warehouses. CDC enables ingesting data from these different sources without disrupting data production systems, delivers it to the cloud warehouses with sub-second latency and in a usable form.

Techniques such as denormalization, enrichment, filtering, and masking are used for in-flight processing, which imparts benefits including minimized ETL workload, reduced architecture complexity, and improved regulatory compliance. As synchronizing cloud data warehouses with on-premises relational databases is possible, data is moved to the cloud in a phased migration to reduce disruption to the legacy environment.

3. Cloud Integration for Multi-cloud Environments

Real-time data integration in multiple cloud environments connecting data, infrastructure, and applications improves agility and flexibility to move your data to different data warehouses on different clouds.

4. Enabling Real-time Applications and Operations

With data integration, businesses can run real-time applications (RTA) using on-premise or cloud databases. The functioning of RTAs can seem immediate and current to users because of real-time integration solutions moving data with sub-second latency.

Further, data integration also transforms data, cleans it, and runs analytics, helping RTA further. It can be of use for several applications such as videoconferencing, VoIP, instant messaging, online games, and e-commerce.

5. Anomaly Detection and Forecasting

With real-time data integration, companies can manipulate the IoT data generated by different types of sensor sources, clean it and unify it for further analysis. Among the various types of analytics one can run on a real-time data pipeline, anomaly detection and prediction are important as they enable timely decisions.

These can be of use in many scenarios: for checking the health of machinery and robots in the factories; health of planes, cars, and trucks; cybersecurity to detect and prevent fraudulent transactions, among others.

The use cases are not restricted to the above five. Data integration can support machine learning solutions by reducing the time for cleaning, enriching, and labeling data and ensuring the availability of real and current data. It can help synchronize records across departments, functions and systems and provide access to the latest information.

It can improve an understanding of customers as well as decide the course of marketing strategies. It can also help with faster scaling up and can be a game-changer.

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Indium is a Striim implementation partner with more than 20 years of experience in consulting and implementation in leading-edge technologies.

Our team of data scientists and engineers have vast experience in data technologies, integration, and Striim and work with domain experts to create bespoke solutions catering to the specific needs of the customers across industries.

If you have a multi-cloud or hybrid environment and would like to leverage your data stored in different locations more effectively with data integration, contact us now:

Mendix Hybrid Offline

Posted on by Abhay Das

Most of the applications support through internet connection. Mobile users expect an ability to interact with/without connection. For example, shopping cart applications might take a while to load a single page since it needs to obtain content from the server via network. In some scenarios, low bandwidth results to time taken process. To overcome these issues, we are following an Offline-first approach. 

‘Offline-first’ is a development approach that ensures an app works in offline as it does in online. Creating an offline-first app can ensure faster, reliable, retaining users and providing better user experience.  

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Many businesses have already developed offline-first mobile apps and Google is one of them. Google offers offline capability. For example, let’s consider Google Maps provides an ability to use downloaded routings in offline mode. 

Offline Architecture

We cannot show remote data when there is no internet. Hence, we will sync the remote data to device storage when network connection is established. When internet is not available, it will manifest data from mobile’s internal storage to user, which is an offline mechanism. 

Architecture of offline functionality in Mobile application: 

Synchronization

Mendix development solutions provides an ability to synch data based on the configured objects in the ‘Sync Configuration’ of Hybrid phone app offline navigation profile. 

Domain model changes automatically synchronize during Initial Start-up of mobile device, in online mode. 

Manual Synchronization can be configured in the following ways: 

  1. As Synchronize action button 
  2. As an action on a Button (OnClick Nanoflow) 

Automatic Synchronization can also be done during on-load of page when user is in online mode. For this we need to write logic in nanoflow to check whether internet connection is established or not, based on the returned value to map the Synch logics. 

Basically there are two phases of synchronization, such as upload & download phase. During the upload phase, your application updates the server`s database with the new or changed objects in mobile app.

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In the download phase, the app updates the local database (Mobile internal storage) using the data from the server database. For this, Synchronize to device option must be used in order to synch one or more objects or lists to client database. 

Error Handling during Synchronization 

1. Network related errors : 

In offline application, in order to synchronize the data network connection is required. By default, the timeout for synchronization is 30 seconds per network request.  

During Upload phase if any network issues are found, then the synch is aborted and the changes will be made in the device and no changes will commit to server database. 

During the Download phase if any network issues occur, then no data will be updated to device and the changes cannot be rolled back on the server. 

If the synchronization is called as Nanoflows on click action on a button, then errors can be handled using Error handler mechanism, so that error message will be displayed accordingly to the user. 

2. Data related errors : 

When an object commit is skipped then the changes are ignored and the references from other objects to it will become invalid. So an error will be communicated to the user as ‘Synchronization failed due to uncommitted objects’ of respected reference objects. 

3. Prevent synchronization issue : 

  • Do not delete objects which can be synched to offline app. 
  • Try to avoid domain level validations for offline objects, instead use Nanoflows  
  • When committing objects that are being referenced by other objects, make sure to commit other objects as well. 

4. Data Conflict Resolution : 

In Offline application, if multiple users synchronize the same state of an object on their device, it follows the last win`s approach for data synch. 

Publishing Hybrid Mobile Apps

Mendix leverages Phone Gap Build to build for mobile applications development and also provides an ability to download the source of mobile application. The Source contains configuration files which allow you to define different versions of your mobile app with specific settings like Mendix environments in order to easily test multiple versions of your application. This is because, MX mobile applications are based on standard Cordova stacks, Cordova settings and plugins that can easily be integrated. 

  • Mendix provides an ability to publish app for mobile appstore, by selecting respected platforms (Android, IOS) in Mendix developer portal. 
  • By default, the Mendix hybrid applications require device permissions like Calendar, Camera, Photo library, contacts, Push notifications, Splash screens (To modify the app icon) etc. Make sure to select the ‘Enable offline capabilities’ checkbox under Profile settings. When users install the application or open the application for the first time, they will be asked to grant these permissions. 
  • Now click on ‘Publish for Mobile App Stores’, then select respected environment to publish mobile app and click on ‘Start PhoneGap Build job’. 
  • So once after downloading the PhoneGap build, extract and goto the following path : phonegap\dist , now create an account in ‘Adobe PhoneGap Build’ in order to build an APK file. After creating an account, upload the phonegap zipped file inside the dist folder and click on ‘Ready to build’ button. After a successful build, scan the QR code using AI Scanner from mobile device, then download apk and install it or else download the apk file in the desktop and share it to mobile device. 
  • Install the apk in mobile device.  Once the code is deployed, changes will automatically load. Once the user switches to online mode, there is no need to go through the appstore process, making updating apps effective. 

Test Case

How to achieve delete operation in Offline Profiles? 

Let’s consider a scenario- a user want to claim their Mobile bill. The first thing to do, is to add multiple requests and displaying the ones on the listview. Before submitting this, if I want to delete the added claim, then the following approach must be taken aboard.

Firstly, we need to create a flag attribute in entity. For example, I have Test entity object and adding flag attribute which is IsDeleted (Boolean). The default value of this variable is set to False.  

I have one list view of Test entity with data source as Nanoflows which returns the Test entity list and Delete button in a page. In the delete button, I am calling one nanoflow with one change object activity by setting the ‘IsDeleted’ attribute value as True and committing it.

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In data source nanoflows, I am retrieving the Test entity list from the database. Then we need to filter this data based on the IsDeleted attribute with true value. But actually, it does not remove from the client database. In the next step, we need to do that operation. 

SUB_DeleteRequests

Synchronization process only works in online which mean mobile device should be in online mode. In order to synchronize manually, we need to create one action button. In this button, call nanoflow. In this nanoflow, call one sub microflow to delete the test objects whatever Test entity has IsDeleted attribute value as True.

In this sub microflow, retrieve the entire test list from the database. Then filter the list with IsDeleted attribute value as True. Then delete respected filtered list and then call Synchronize everything activity to Sync client db with server db.  

SUB_GetRequestList 

SUB_GetRequestList

After that we are calling one Sub microflow in order to fetch the latest Server db data to mobile device with the help of Sync to device activity. Now the test list will change in mobile device. 

Advantages

  • No need of internet connection to use Offline applications.  
  • AutoNumber will be generated during Synchronization process. 
  • App performance is faster in hybrid offline, as we implement logics in nanoflows.  
  • Page refreshing and validation checks will be faster as data interaction happens with mobile device internal storage. 
  • Possible to use microflows inside nanoflows, to achieve server side logics. 
  • Ability to customize the synch configurations as per the mobile device’s internal storage capacity. So that it will increase the reliability and performance of the Synchronization process. 

Disadvantages

  • It does not support System members (CreatedDate, ChangedDate, Owner, ChangedBy) in offline profiles. 
  • Cannot use all the server side logic actions like delete, retrieving data using XPath constraints directly in nanoflows. 
  • Not possible to pass persistable entity objects, lists as input parameter to microflows instead passing non-persistable objects. 
  • Auto numbers, calculated attributes and many to many associations are not supported in offline profiles. 
  • Uncommitted objects should not store in local database unless we do commit operation. 
  • Debugging in nanoflow is not possible till Mendix 8 version.  
  • In offline app, data is not up to date till sync is happened. 

Why Data Fabric is the key to next-gen Data Management?

Posted on by Suhith Kumar

We live in an era when the speed of business and innovation is unprecedented. Innovation, however, cannot be realized without a solid data management strategy.

Data is a platform through which businesses gain a competitive advantage and succeed and thrive, but to meet customer and business needs, it is imperative that data is delivered quickly (in near-real-time). With the prevalence of Internet of Things (IoT), smartphones and cloud, the volume of data is incredibly high and continues to rise; types and sources of data are aplenty too, making data management more challenging than ever.

Companies today have their data in multiple on-premise sites and public/private clouds as they move into a hybrid environment. Data is structured and unstructured and is held in different formats (relational databases, SaaS applications, file systems, data lakes, data stores, to name a few). Further, myriad technologies—changed data capture (CDC), real-time streaming, batch ETL or ELT processing, to name a few—are required to process the data. With more than 70 percent of companies leveraging data integration tools, they find it challenging to quickly ingest, integrate, analyze, and share the data.

As a consequence, data professionals, an IDC study finds, spend 75% of the time on tasks other than data analysis, hampering companies from gaining maximum value from their data in timely fashion.

What is the Solution?

Data fabric is one way for organizations to manage the collection, integration, governance and sharing of data.

A common question is: What is a data fabric?

It is a distributed data management platform with the main objective of combining data access, storage, preparation, security, and analytics tools in a compliant way to ensure data management tasks are easier and efficient. The data fabric stack includes the data collection and storage layer, data services layer, transformation layer and analytics layer.

Following are some of the key benefits of data fabric:

  • Provides greater scalability to adapt to rising data volumes, data sources, et cetera
  • Offers built-in data quality, data governance and data preparation capabilities
  • Offers data ingestion and data integration
  • Supports Big Data use cases
  • Enables data sharing with internal and external stakeholders through API support

It used to be that organizations wanted all their data in a single data warehouse, but data has become increasingly distributed. Data fabric is purposely created to address the siloed data, enabling easy access and integration of data.

The Capabilities of a Data Fabric Solution

It is essential that a data fabric has the following attributes for enterprises to gain the maximum value from their data.

Full visibility: Companies must be able to measure the responsiveness of data, data availability, data reliability and the risks associated with it in a unified workspace

Data semantics: Data fabric should enable consumers of data to define business value and identify the single source of truth irrespective of structure, deployment platform and database technology for consistent analytics experience

Zero data movement: Intelligent data virtualization provides a logical data layer for representation of data from multiple, varied sources without the need to copy or transfer data

Platform and application-agnostic: Data fabric must be able to quickly integrate with a data platform or business intelligence (BI)/machine learning application as per the choice of data consumers and managers alike

Data engineering: Data fabric should be able to identify scenarios and have the speed of thought to anticipate and adapt to a data consumer’s needs, while reducing the complexities associated with data management

Data Fabric – the key to next-gen Data Management

Data fabrics have emerged as the need of the hour as the support for operational data management and integration becomes complex for databases.

In fact, data fabric is the layer which supports key business applications, particularly those running artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) workloads. It means, for organizations that aim to reap the benefits of implementing AI, leveraging a data fabric will help accelerate the ability to adopt AI products.

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Digital transformation leads the strategic agenda for most companies and IT leaders. Data is a critical part of a successful digital transformation journey as it helps create new business propositions, enable new customer touchpoints, optimize operates and more. Data fabric is the enabler for organizations to achieve these with its advanced data integration and analytical capabilities, and by providing connectors for hybrid systems.

As organizations aim to stay updated on emerging technologies and trends to gain a competitive edge, the demand for data fabric will only get stronger.

Why Selenium is more popular than other test automation tools?

Posted on by Pradeep Parthiban

The global Test Automation Market is projected to reach US$ 109.69 bn by 2025. It is clear that there is an increasing demand for test automation services worldwide, as it has become exponentially efficient and saves a lot of time.

Apart from periodic implementation and least amount of human effort, the most notable business advantage of test automation is a high level of accuracy.

Software development practice has seen radical changes over the time, so do tools and technologies.

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These changes are aimed to improve quality, productivity and shorten delivery time.

Software testing services evidently plays a vital role in achieving these goals. With the increased demand for test automation especially in the field of IT, and several automation tools available at the disposal, Selenium has been a stand-out in this space.

Let’s look into some of the reasons why Selenium is more popular than other tools?

Selenium is an open-source tool used to test web applications. It was originally developed by Jason Huggins in 2004.

In 2004, when no one was talking about Agile and DevOps, Selenium was developed keeping in mind agile infrastructure and DevOps workflow.

The response for Selenium in the early stages was not good. Since then, it has come a long way and has become one of the most used test automation tools.

Selenium is probably the most popular test automation tool in the market at present. Here are few statistics demonstrating the same.

Yes! you read it right. Since Selenium is an open source automation tool there is no licensing cost involved, which is a big advantage compared with other tools.

Though, there is no official support available since it is an open-source tool, some of the brightest minds are behind the success of this tool which makes the selenium community strong and growing.

The community based technical support is also available for free. Now that’s a lot of savings.

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Diversity

Selenium is all about choices. It offers unlimited choices to testers from languages to the operating system.

Easy to Handle

Selenium in stark contrast with its competitors is very easy to use. The UI of the tool is designed in a way to help the users understand it easily with features like ‘click of a button’ and ‘type words in any of the field boxes’.

Selenium can automate the test process with a basic set of instructions. In other words, you do not need a much of programming knowledge to use this tool.

Features of Selenium

Selenium is not just a single tool, it is a complete package. It is a suite of tools consists of quite a few components, each one of them playing an explicit role in the development of web applications.

Selenium’s Community

The technical support for Selenium is completely dependent on its community as it is an open-source tool.

Fortunately for Selenium, it has a huge and responsive community that enables constant updates and upgrades to the tool.

Selenium has a large and active user community that offers comprehensive support. This makes the tool highly resourceful and cost-effective.

Irrespective of numerous tools on the market, Selenium was still considered as the first choice for many testing projects.

Also, if you’re considering a tool that requires minimal programming knowledge, Selenium should be your first preference.

Right from open source nature to cross-platform compatibility, Selenium is a diverse testing package. Selenium offers an organization the best when it comes to test automation.

General FAQ

What is required for selenium testing?

Selenium works on Windows, Mac as well as Linux. It is open source and under Apache 2.0 License. Selenium is written in Java and the most recent version as of today is 3.11.0 which was released in March 2018.

Can selenium do performance testing?

Selenium WebDriver is an automation tool for web applications. It can operate on Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer and many other browsers via its driver ecosystem. JMeter, on the other hand, is a Java-based performance testing tool…

Ask the Expert – Selenium Community

The technical support for Selenium is completely dependent on its community as it is an open-source tool. Fortunately for Selenium, it has a huge and responsive community that enables constant updates and upgrades to the tool. Selenium has a large and active user community that offers comprehensive support. This makes the tool highly resourceful and cost-effective.

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Why selenium testing is used?

Selenium is a framework to conduct software testing. It is used mostly to test web applications.
With selenium there is no need to write testing scripts, the software comes with easy navigation tools that can write test cases without the need for any script.
Selenium can also provide a domain-specific language to write test cases in any of the popular programming languages such as C#, Java, Scala, Ruby, etc.

Can selenium do load testing?

It can be very useful even for load testing as it allows users to re-use existing functional tests and run them with virtual concurrent users. Selenium is a very powerful open-source testing tool mainly used for automated functional testing via interacting with browser level objects.

Software Development & Testing Methodologies – A Complete Guide

Posted on by Pradeep Parthiban

Introduction

Software development methodology contributes to being a wide assortment of proven practices and practical ideas which are useful for the management of software projects in an efficient manner.

In other words, it is the package of different processes. 

Software testing methodology is recognized to be a wide assortment of testing types and strategies that are beneficial in certifying and ensuring that the application which has been tested accomplishes the requirements and expectation of the clients.

The test methodologies are inclusive of integration testing, unit testing, performance testing, and system testing.

Here is a list of the different types of software development and testing methodologies:

Waterfall Model

In this model, the progress of software development continues through a bunch of phases such as design, requirement analysis.

In the model, the next phase starts with the completion of the earlier phase. The very first phase in the model happens to be the requirements phase in which different project requirements are defined in a complete way prior to the beginning of the testing.

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In this phase, the test team is known to brainstorm the test strategy as well as the scope of testing after which the test plan is drafted in detail.

With the completion of the software design, the team will continue the execution of different test cases with an eye to ensuring that the developed software functions according to the expectations.

In this process, the testing team progresses in the immediate next phase as soon as the past phase is accomplished.

The advantages of this methodology are many:

  • Waterfall works based on clear, well-defined set of steps. The progression is, therefore, intuitive
  • It determines the objective clearly and at an early stage of the testing process, thus enabling teams to stay focused on the goal
  • The Waterfall method, because it is methodical and sequential, transfers essential information coherently. It means collaboration within the team is seamless

Iterative development

This model involves the division of the huge project into several small parts. Every part is known to be subjected to a wide array of iterations of the model.

With the end of the iteration, there is a development of the new module or there is an enhancement of the existing model.

The module is known to be integrated into the architecture of the software after which the complete system is tested.

With the completion of the iteration, the whole system is subjected to the testing process.

Related Article : Find Out More about Indium Software’s App Development Services

The feedback which is received from the testing can be availed immediately and gets incorporated in the immediate next other cycles.

It is possible to reduce the testing time which is needed in the iteration successively in accordance with the experience, which is earned from the previous iterations.

The primary benefit of the iterative development happens to be the test feedback which can be availed at the other end of every cycle immediately.

Agile methodology

An astonishing 71 percent of companies are implementing the Agile methodology as of 2021, while 60 percent of organizations report growth in revenue and boost in profits after adoption of the Agile approach, according to HBR.

The traditional software development functions on the premise in which the various requirements of software are consistent throughout the project.

With the rise in complexity, the requirements need to go through a bunch of different changes and evolve in a consistent manner.

There are times when the customer cannot say what he wants exactly with security. Via the iterative model, this issue is addressed in a proper manner and is based on the waterfall model in a complete manner.

ALSO READ: Test Automation Solution for Salesforce Application – A Success Story

In the agile software testing services, the development of software continues in different incremental and rapid cycles.

Emphasis is given to the clients and developers, and interactions between the customers instead of tools and process.

The agile methodology involves responding to change instead of extensive planning. The incremental testing is known to be used in a wide array of agile development processes.

Thus, each release of the project needs to be tested in a thorough manner. This ensures that each and every bug present in the system should be fixed prior to the next immediate release.

Extreme programming

It contributes to being a sort of agile process which is dependent on the short development cycles.

The project gets divided into a series of simple engineering tasks. The programmers are known to code the simple piece of software after which they reach the clients for getting their feedback.

There is the incorporation of the different review points from the customers after which the developers will be proceeding within the other immediate task.

Developers require working in pairs in extreme programming. The needs of the clients keep changing in a consistent manner in this cycle.

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Conclusion

You need to keep in mind that the methodologies are not set up for the testing of the software code.

You should not take the bigger picture into consideration and it is a prerequisite that the goal of the project needs to be satisfied with the aid of the testing procedure.

Realistic scheduling contributes to being the key to the implementation of the testing process in a successful manner.

It is necessary that the schedule should accomplish the requirement of the individual member, present in the team. In order to ensure that each and every member of the team are on the same page, you require providing the well-defined deliverables.

You need to ensure that the deliverables comprise of the direct content without the ambiguity.

With the completion of scheduling and availability of defined deliverables, the testing team needs to have the capability for the formulation of the proper test approach.

Software Testing Techniques : The Definitive Guide (2021 Update)

Posted on by Pradeep Parthiban

What is a Software?

Software can be defined as a series of programs and instructions for a computer system to carry out a specific task or tasks.

 Software Testing Techniques

Software Testing Techniques can, therefore, be defined as the different ways and methods of testing these programs and instructions to ensure that they are functioning well and carries out the specific tasks that they were designed to. 

These techniques keep the quality engineering in check for software applications and as there are tasks to be carried out. They can be classified or categorized in a number of ways. 

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They can be classified or categorized in a number of ways.  However, for the purpose of this article, we shall be looking at Software Test Levels, Software Testing Types and Software Testing Methods – these all are techniques for testing software.

Under each of the areas listed, we shall be looking at the following:

a)  Software Testing Levels:

  1. Unit testing,
  2. Integration testing,
  3. System testing, and
  4. Acceptance Testing.

b) Software Testing Types:

  1. Smoke testing,
  2. Performance testing,
  3. Compliance testing,
  4. Functional Testing,
  5. Usability testing,
  6. Regression testing, and
  7. Security testing.

c) Software Testing Methods:

  1. Ad hoc testing,
  2. Agile testing,
  3. Black box testing,
  4. White box Testing, and
  5. Gray box testing

Software Testing Levels

These following tests are carried out at different stages during the development of software.

1.  Unit Testing

Software applications comprises of various blocks of code (modules, routines, procedures, functions, calls, etc.) each referred to as a unit. It is the first level of testing and is normally performed by developers.

Each of these units carries out a unique and specific function or task. 

Unit testing is the testing of each of the units independently to ensure that it carries out its intended task or function.

For example: A mobile phone has a number of system and user apps (such as phone dial, file manager, messages, camera, backup and restore, contacts, downloads, storage manager, facelock, fingerprint, etc.  Each of these is a unit and can be tested on its own independent of each other.

2. Integration Testing

In our mobile phone example above, the camera app integrates with the storage manager. 

This is because when the camera is used (in taking a picture or recording a video), the output must be stored on a storage media (be it internal or external memory). 

Integration testing ensures that this occurs – that is, for example, the camera unit integrates successfully with storage manager. 

This should not be confused with system testing or functional testing (both discussed below).

Integration testing can be performed by either developers or independent testers and is normally carried out with a combination of automation and manual testing.

3. System Testing

A system is a combination of various units integrated together to carry out a function or task. 

System testing ensures that all the units are fully integrated and functioning as one, meeting the design requirements. 

Once a phone is fully complete, it is tested as a whole to see how well it functions as a phone with its individual components.

4. Acceptance Testing

At this level of software development, it is tested for acceptance both in-house (by persons not directly involved with its design and development (Alpha testing) and also externally by a selected group of end-users (Beta testing).

It is the final phase of functional testing and is used to check if the software is ready for use. The product must be checked for compliance with business criteria and if it meets the end-user needs.

Software Testing Types

These are many ways the various forms of tests that can be carried out on software.  There are literally hundreds of ways of testing a software.  However, we will limit ourselves to these prominent ones for this blog.

1. Smoke Testing (a.k.a. build verification testing)

This manner of testing got its name from switching on a newly designed electrical equipment in the design factory for the first time and hoping it does not blow up in smoke.  Smoke testing lightly inspects most of the major components paying particular attention to proper integration.  If this test is passed, the product proceeds to further testing.

2. Performance Testing

This examines the software’s performance, responsiveness and stability when under a certain load. 

Check out more : Explore Indium’s Performance Testing Services

Areas tested in this regard includes spike testing (i.e. load is spiked up or significantly increased), stress testing (i.e. how it behaves at work levels beyond what is expected), endurance testing (i.e. how well and how long the software can support and sustain excessive loads), and load testing (i.e. how the software responds as its workload increases).

3. Compliance Testing

This is to ensure that the software meets with internal and external standards, policies and regulations.

Internal compliance testing is carried out by selected persons or a department in the developing company while external compliance testing is carried out by external bodies or regulatory authorities. 

For example, the FCC will test mobiles phones for acceptable interference and radiation levels.

4. Functional Testing

A test to ascertain if the software works according to its design specifications and requirements. 

Unlike System Testing that checks everything, this testing is normally concerned with the output of the system, not minding the inputs and processes carried out.

5. Usability Testing

The user is the most important element in the development of any software.  This test examines how human factors and the user interface agrees with end-users. 

It looks are the processes and steps required to carry out tasks and analyzes how effective, intuitive and easy those steps are. 

For example, suppose a user uses the camera phone and each time the system asks where to save the file (internal or external memory). 

This could be looked at as inefficient.  Instead, the user could set the default storage location and not have to indicate such each time the camera is used.

6. Regression Testing

Changes and upgrades are made to software continually. 

Regression testing ensures that new versions or upgrades have not created problems for other areas previously working okay. 

The test is carried out using previous test cases and the new results compared to previous results.

7. Security Testing

Every software is liable to malicious attacks and intruders. 

Security testing looks for loopholes, defects and vulnerabilities in the system that can expose the software to such threats.

Software Testing Methods

Methods are the ways by which the tests are actually carried out.

1. Ad-hoc Testing (a.k.a. monkey or random testing)

A test carried out with no documentation or planning given.  It is usually carried out randomly without any pre-defined process or intention.

The goal is to identify defects and break the application by either executing the flow or a random functionality.

While it’s normally challenging to identify defects without test cases, it is possible that defects found with ad-hoc testing may not have been detected with existing test cases.

2. Agile Testing

A testing that ensures that the ideals of agile software development are adhered to according to their Manifesto.

3. Black Box Testing (a.k.a. Behavioral testing)

This is testing of the entire system by persons who have no idea about the design, structure and implementation of the software. 

It is tested for errors in interface, performance, behavior, data structures, functions, etc.

4. White Box Testing (a.k.a. Blass Box testing, Clear Box testing, Open Box testing)

This is similar to Black Box testing except that the design, structure and implementation of the software are known to the tester.

5. Gray Box Testing

– A testing comprising of the two ideals of the black box and white box testing.  Some parts of the design, structure and implementation of the item are known to the tester and some are not.

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Conclusion

As said earlier, there are different techniques of testing a software-defined on your perspective. 

To explain the difference between levels, methods and types, a Performance Test (a Type) can be carried out during System Testing (a Level) using White Box Testing (a Method).

Top Software Testing Conferences in 2021

Posted on by Pradeep Parthiban

Why attend an event?

Attending an international event is not easy, especially with the ticket price so high in most of the events; one might have many queries running through the mind.

  • Can attending events actually take advantage of my day-to-day actions?
  • Can it be 4-day dull sessions like most of our theoretical instruction where we hear with only our eyes open and keep our head someplace else
  • Can it be enjoyable?
  • Can I find some networking opportunities?

With so many questions running in our own heads, let us see the benefits of attending an international conference.

Benefits of attending Conferences

  • Attending Conference can help in fulfilling professional goals
  • Aids in getting to know more about the newest tools and technologies
  • Assists in collecting ideas for enhancing a present procedure or create new solutions to present issues.
  • Conference/Events provide testers a chance to increase software testing skills and techniques.
  • Gives an opportunity to meet and socialize with Business leaders & testing professional.

There are plenty of software testing events happening around the world every year. To make it easy for you, we have shortlisted 10 software testing conferences that you should not miss in 2019.

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Some of the popular names in software testing host these conferences. Some of these events are decade old and attracts big names in the respective field.

1. International conference on QA and software testing

Date – February 15th-16th, 2021

Place – Virtual

Hosted by – International Research Conference

The conference’s target audience includes students and academics, scientists, researchers, research scholars, QA and software testing professionals mainly. Software testing, Test automation, manual testing, unit testing are among the topics on which participants can speak on, while they also have the opportunity to showcase presentations on the same.

Check out more : Indium’s Software Testing Services

2. IEEE International Conference on Software Testing 2021

Date – April 12th-16th, 2021

Place – Virtual

Hosted by – ICST Committee

The conference a common forum for researchers, scientists, engineers and practitioners throughout the world to present their latest research findings, ideas, developments and applications in Software Testing, Verification and Validation. This year’s ICST will include keynote addresses by eminent scientists and special, regular and poster sessions.

3. StarEast 2021

Date – April 25th-30th, 2021

Place – Orlando, Florida (Rosen Centre Hotel)

Hosted by – Techwell

The conference features keynotes from industry thought leaders and offers the opportunity to interact with experts and fellow software testers. Sessions are lined up on major testing issues and solutions, test management, test techniques, performance testing, Test automation, agile testing, mobile testing and more. IT directors, CTOs, QA managers and analysts, developers are among the intended audience for the conference.

Also Read: Performance Testing of Mobile Applications – Things to Consider

4. Agile + DevOps 2021

Date – June 8th-11th, 2021

Place – Virtual

Hosted by – Techwell

The Agile + DevOps virtual conference will be streaming 90+ talks—including 5 keynotes, 25 tutorials, 50+ sessions, and 14+ Industry Technical Presentations in an engaging and interactive premium virtual atmosphere. Agile Test automation, DevSecOps for practitioners, Fundamentals of Test automation are among the topics of discussion at the virtual event.

5. Agile Testing Days USA

Date – June 20th-24th, 2021

Place – Chicago, Illinois

Hosted by – Trendig Technology Services GmbH

The five-day event features tutorials on Agile Testing, Python for testers, web and mobile security testing and more. The conference commences on the third day with keynotes on topics such as Test Automation in the Space Age, Finding Bugs before Implementation, to go with talks from industry experts.

6. EuroStar 2021

Date – September 28th-30th, 2021

Place – Virtual

Hosted by – EuroStar

It is Europe’s No. 1 software testing and quality conference, with “Engage” being the theme of the 2021 edition of the conference. You can submit papers that you’d like to present at the conference on topics such as Testing in Agile and DevOps, Observability and Monitoring, CI/CD Pipelines and Continuous Testing, Non-functional Testing and much more. The conference is another excellent platform for gaining and sharing knowledge on engagement with your teams and colleagues, delivering quality and value to customers and stakeholders, and more.

7. QA Fest 2021

Date – October 1st-2nd, 2021

Place – Kyiv, Ukraine

Hosted by – Fest Group

Regarded as the largest conference for quality assurance and Test automation engineers, the event is scheduled to take place in the largest IT city of Ukraine, Kyiv. Testing tools and approaches, Test automation and TestOps, Non-functional testing and innovation are among the topics for discussion at the conference, which year on year is attended by world-famous speakers and software testing professionals globally.

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8. DevOps Fest 2021

Date – TBC

Place – Kyiv, Ukraine

Conference organizer: Fest Group

The event is a congregation of some of world-famous speakers from the USA, Europe and Ukraine who will present talks with practical examples from real-life projects. Approaches and tools, new trends in the IT world, practical cases are among the topics of discussion at the event, where attendees have plenty to gain, including having the chance to connect and network with fellow practitioners for potential future career development.

8 different stages involved in a Software Testing Life Cycle

Posted on by Pradeep Parthiban

What’s a Lifecycle?

A lifecycle in simple terms denotes the series of changes from one form to another kind. These changes can occur to some tangible or abstract things.

Everything has a lifecycle from the beginning to end.

Similarly, the software can be also be an entity. The same as developing applications entails a sequence of measures, testing tool has measures that ought to be implemented at a certain sequence.

This process of implementing the software testing activities in a planned and systematic manner is known as testing life cycle.

These software testing activities provide quality assurance to the software. A good software qa testing service partner can help your business keep software updated and tested continuously.

What is Software Testing Life Cycle (STLC)?

Software Testing Life Cycle (STLC) is described as a succession of tasks conducted to execute Software Testing.

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In contrast to popular belief, software testing services is not a one-time task. It is made up of a collection of actions completed methodologically to assist revaluate your software product.

Also Read: Is Self-healing Test Automation the Next Big Thing in QA?

These are the stages of an STLC.

What is an Entry and Exit Criteria?

Entry Criteria: The prerequisite items have to be done before testing can start is specified as entry criteria.

Exit Criteria: It is defined as the items that must be completed successfully before the testing is signed off.

There are an Entry and Exit Criteria in all levels in the Software Testing Life Cycle (STLC).

1. Requirement Stage

In this stage of STLC, prerequisites are studied and analysed. Brainstorming sessions are conducted along with different teams and the goal is to discover whether the project requirements are clear or not.

This stage can help recognize the kind of testing. In case any attribute is not testable, discussions will be carried out through this stage so the mitigation strategy could be planned.

The activities in requirement stage of STLC include:

  • Identifying the type of tests to be performed
  • Collect information about testing priorities and focus areas
  • Analysis of automation feasibility if required
  • Identifying test environment details

2. Planning Stage

Test planning should be the very first stage of a testing procedure in practical scenarios. In this stage, the team identifies the actions and tools that would help in testing goals.

During preparation, the team also attempt to spot the metrics, procedure of collecting and monitoring those metrics.

The planning is not done only with requirements.

Prerequisites do form one of the foundations but there are just two other essential elements that affect test planning. These are:

  • Organization’s Test strategy.
  • Risk investigation / Risk Management as well as reduction.

3. Analysis Stage

This STLC stage defines what exactly to be analysed.

The testing team essentially identify the evaluation requirements through the test requirements document and other evaluation basis.

There are several variables, which influence the identification of the test conditions:

  • Depth and levels of testing
  • SDLC involved
  • Project risks
  • The complexity of the software or product
  • Knowledge and skills of the testing team
  • Test management
  • Availability of stakeholders.

We need to make an effort and write the test requirements in a thorough manner. Also, recognize the exit criteria of this testing, i.e. ascertain some states when you may stop the process.

Read More: Approaches to Automating Microservices Testing

4. Design Stage

This stage outlines how to design the testing process. This stage involves these tasks:

  • Identify and receive the test information
  • Describe and prepare the proper test atmosphere.
  • Produce the test coverage metrics.
  • Produce the requirement traceability metrics

5. Implementation Stage

This is the most significant task in the Software Testing Life Cycle stage is the development of comprehensive test cases.

Assessing the test instances additionally to find out which test case will be part of the regression suite.

Prior to deciding on the test case, it is crucial to perform the inspection to guarantee the precision of these test instances.

Also, do not forget to sign off from the test instances before actual implementation begins.

If your job involves test automation, then assess the candidate test instances for test automation and then continue for scripting the test instances. Do not neglect to examine them!

6. Execution Stage

As the name implies this is actually the STLC stage where the real execution occurs.

However, before you begin your execution, ensure your entrance criterion is fulfilled. Concurrently fill the traceability metrics to monitor your own progress.

Related Article: Explore Indium Software’s Security Testing Services

The following activities are performed during the execution stage of STLC:

  • Execution of tests as per test plan
  • Documentation of test results, including logging of defects for failed tests
  • Retesting of defect fixes
  • Tracking of defects to the closure stage

7. Conclusion Stage

Depending upon your job and stakeholders selection, you can choose on coverage if you would like to send a daily report or weekly report.

There are various sorts of reports i.e., DSR (Daily status report) and WSR (Weekly status reports).

The content varies in these reports depending upon whom you are sending it to.

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If the project managers belong to analysing history then they’re more interested in the technical component of the project, so incorporate the specialized things on your document (number of test cases passed, failed, flaws raised, seriousness flaws etc.).

However, if you plan to send the report to upper stakeholders, then they may not be considering the technical matters so report them concerning the dangers, which were mitigated through the software testing process.

8. Closure Stage

In this final stage, these are the tasks for the final actions

  • Check for the conclusion of the test. Check whether entire test cases are implemented or mitigated properly
  • Check for severe defects
  • Do meeting on lessons learnt and document it
  • Create a test closure report
  • Submit qualitative and quantitative reports of the product to the client

Time-to-Market — A Key Measure for App Development

Posted on by Abhay Das

The success of an app in today’s world is not only determined by the features and the quality but also the speed of development and Time-to-Market (TTM). TTM refers to the time taken to develop a product from the time of conceptualization to design to audience outreach to relevant users. Those who are able to bring their apps to fruition quickly have a lead over competition and the potential to dominate the market.  

To be able to achieve this, the development process needs to be well-orchestrated from the time of planning to product roll-out and needs modern digital technologies and agile development environments to be able to achieve it. 

Low-code development solutions is fast emerging as the ideal methodology that empowers developers to reduce TTM.  

Related: Low-code in 2021: 5 Key Trends to Watch out for

A research report from Forrester shows that spending in this area will touch $US 21.2 billion by 2022, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 40%. This is driven by a desire to become market disruptors rather than react to market trends and therefore leverage data-driven digital technologies for greater agility and faster TTM. Low code fits into this overall IT strategy by enabling rapid build and deployment of applications by reducing the TTM from months to weeks. 

Features of Low Code Development 

One of the key features that makes low code development platforms (LCDP) such as Mendix ideal for speeding up TTM is its graphical user interface that lets developers use visualization and drag and drop techniques for app development rather than write millions of lines of fresh code. This makes the process more efficient and allows apps to be built faster. Apps can now be created in days which used to take months earlier.

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Mendix low-code platform is cloud-native and built on open standards because of which it integrates legacy systems with third-party applications using a bot-friendly interface. This creates automatic workflows to model real business processes. Also, this enables getting the development process started without the need for additional resources or infrastructure.  

Mendix also offers no code tool for web based visual app-modeling studio for business domain experts and robust support for project.

Low code development also enables remote collaboration between teams by facilitating secure access to company data. End-users can be more involved in the development process, thereby aligning IT with business objectives more closely.  

Low code platforms are agile and enable every feature’s look and flow to be tested and any changes are made if required before being moved into production. Changing course and adding or removing a feature without affecting the rest of the app is also possible as a result. 

Virtualization is another key feature of low-code platforms that speeds up development by virtualizing development and test environments or using a cloud service and can be deployed quickly. 

Benefits of Faster Time-to-Market 

Being a disruptor and introducing a feature quickly can in itself be an advantage for the app. However, there are other benefits too that a business can experience by speeding up the time to market for their app and features. These include: 

#1 Lower Cost of Development 

Faster development lowers the cost of development. In addition, it reduces the need for more developers, thereby reducing resource cost as well. This improves productivity while keeping the costs low. 

#2 Improved Productivity 

Due to faster development cycles, more apps can be developed in a shorter duration. From months, apps can be built in weeks or even days, improving resource utilization. 

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#3 Improved Customer Experience 

While faster development enables additional features in shorter periods, low-code platforms also help create features with good usability and user interfaces for better customer experiences. 

#4 Better Risk Management and Governance 

The regulatory environment is constantly changing, requiring businesses to keep pace and adapt quickly. With low-code development, changing to meet the deadlines and become compliant becomes easier. 

#5 Keep Pace with Trends 

As low-code development does not need complex coding and is data driven, businesses can quickly add or modify features to suit the changing needs of its customers. 

#6 Transform Quickly 

To benefit from the digital technologies, businesses can opt for low code development to transform quickly. Its ability to integrate legacy systems with third-party applications enables existing businesses to come up to speed and compete with start-ups and more agile businesses quickly. 

#7 Increased Business Agility

Mendix low-code platform is extensible, providing direct integrations with major vendors and enabling IT to turn APIs, web services. This accelerates the time it takes to integrate and deploy new tools and technologies, helping businesses stay ahead of market trends and consumer demands. 

You might also like: Third Party API’s Mendix Integration

#8 Easy Deployment Access 

Mendix low code platform allows us to deploy the application in an easy manner. Mendix offers an option to deploy the application in its cloud as well as in Private cloud.  On-premise deployment option is also available in Mendix Low code platform. 

Working with Indium to build an app with Mendix LCDP  

The low-code platform Mendix enables a close collaboration between business-IT teams, enabling faster innovations and reducing the risk of failure. By integrating emerging technologies and core systems quickly, it provides insights for improving business results. Its open and flexible architecture also future-proofs your investments. 

Its visual modeling and building blocks enable even citizen developers to get involved and improve the productivity of professional developers for faster development. One of the key strengths of this platform is that it enables story-boarding and tracking, sprints and feedback, all in one place, facilitating transparency and efficiency. Automated testing, tracking, and analytics along with role-based platform access ensures governance without compromising on the speed of development. 

Indium Software, a key Mendix partner with more than two decades of experience in cutting edge technologies, offers technology and domain expertise to empower businesses with fast app developments and gain competitive advantage. We have recognized capabilities in the innovative implementation of Mendix development solutions. 

If you would like to speed up your TTM for apps, contact us now.