Functional and performance testing for the “Finacle - Infosys” core banking system using IBM Rational

Question

I am trying to evaluate the capabilities of the below IBM Rational tools to handle functional testing automation and performance testing for the "Finacle - Infosys" core banking system.

1. IBM Rational Functional Tester (RFT)
2. IBM Rational Performance Tester (RPT)

Also, I would like to confirm whether any additional components are required to be added for both tools to support my testing needs (e.g. plugin to test web services or handling Oracle NCA JInitiator ... etc.).

Appreciate your kind help and support.

Note: I apologize for posting the question twice on the "Software Quality Assurance and Testing" and the main "StackOverFlow" sites.

Answer 1

As checked and confirmed with IBM representatives and according to IBM Portal (Link Here), the use of both Rational Performance Tester (RPT) and Rational Functional Tester (RFT) should be supported.

We will have a project running to conduct both functional testing automation and performance testing for the "Finacle - Infosys" core banking system during the coming 12 months, after-which I can post any updates on this question of mine.

Answer 2

Rational Functional Tester(RFT) is a Functional/GUI Testing/Automation tool. I am not sure about the application you are using however RFT provides a very good support for Html /Java /.Net /Win based applications (to name a few)

I am giving a brief description on what RFT can do and then you can decide if it meets your requirement for functional testing or automation. RFT can be installed on an Eclipse IDE or Visual Studio IDE or Both and you can use whatever you are comfortable with.

RFT provides you the capability to create your test scripts using a Recorder which simply records the action you perform on your application , capturing the objects you interacted all along and saving the object map. You can create Verification points (data verfication point , property verification point etc) or use Datapool to run some tests with different sets of data.

The script thus generated can be further fine-tuned if required post recording also. Once you have a script ready you can playback the script and then RFT would start executing the actions the script contains, RFT would use the object map to determine the properties and the hierachy of the object to find the controls and perform actions on them. It may also use the saved verification points if any, to verify any data/property . Or may use the datapool to data-drive the script.

Another way you could use RFT is by harnessing the power of descriptive programming (you would require some basic Java/VB skills). Using descriptive programming you would essentially create the script on your own without using the recorder. You could use the find() api provided by RFT to find objects and then perform actions / verfication test etc. When using descriptive scripting we would usually unbind ourselves from the object map as we are defining what to find and where to find etc.

Also a combination of two can be used where you can use some objects from the object map and some can be found using the find() api. This would entirely depend on your the kind of test case you want to write and type of application you are automating/testing.

You could also use Simplified scripting which records a script in plain english like format and also allows capturing of application visuals enabling a user to modify a script even if the application is offline using the captured visuals.