Daimler AG – Test automation

For its E-business application, Daimler AG uses a car configurator that works efficiently in terms of cost and time using test automation from T-Systems Multimedia Solutions.

The task

The E-business application "eMB Vehicle Suite" is used within the Daimler group for online sales and marketing within the Mercedes-Benz Cars business area. It displays new and used car vehicle processes for the brands Mercedes-Benz and smart (used vehicles) and is productive internationally. A core part of the eMB Vehicle Suite is the Car Configurator. The acceptance tests of this application faced large technical and time challenges because of the high degree of internationalization and the immensely variable vehicle configuration options. In order to perform the tests in a way that was efficient in terms of cost and time, Daimler decided to go for a test automation solution with the following requirements:

• License-free
• A high degree of parameterization to cope with the use of several test environments, the multi-lingual nature of the application and the number of vehicle configuration options
• Low introduction resources for specialist testers required
• Scriptless automation interface for specialist testers (scriptless testing)
• Basis for efficient and versionized test case and test suite preparation
• The use of parallel test server instances
• Scalable test framework
• Provision of the test framework as a service together with the infrastructure: Test as a Service

The solution

T-Systems Multimedia Solutions provided a test automation service in the form of Test as a Service.
Test as a Service (license-free test automation solution)

• A testing framework that is based upon open source tools and that works on virtual test instances.
• Test framework: Extension, updates and maintenance
• ITIL-compliant services around the framework
• Provision of a service desk with SLA, access channels: landline, E-mail, ticket system
• Problem management
• Technical support

Benefits for the client

Thanks to an easily understandable syntax and ease of operation, the test framework was able to be used in its entire functionality after a brief loading and training period. Because of provision as a managed service the customer did not have to waste any resources on administration. Thus the acceptance test benefited fully from the resource of "time".
Test as a Service offers the customer further benefits:

• Customer-specific extensions can be implemented at short notice without complicated and cost-intensive license management.
• Because of the scalability with test server instances, a cost-effective sharing model is possible.
• Access from every test client can be made without additional software installation.
• Because tests can be run at any time, time and resource deployment is reduced.
• The minimized initial resources in preparing the automated test cases leads to a reduction in cost for the customer.

There is a high degree of reproducibility of the test results based upon exactly-matching test repeats and a provable increase in quality by preventing subjective influences that occur with manual testing (tiredness, routine, carelessness).