Time Machine® and TM Sync Server Help CYBG Test Debt Management 9 with True Test Automation for Smooth Deployment

Thursday, October 24.2024 at 12:00 PM EDT

Using a slower clock to reduce the speed of the virtual clock a factor 20X, CYBG was able to stay within a specific business day, and business hours, for testing, even if the testing took several days for critical functional testing of FICO's DM9

Challenge:

Powerful Collections and Recovery software like FICO’s Debt Manager, has a tremendous amount of temporal business logic that needs validation before release.

As the UK’s sixth biggest bank offering a true alternative to the status quo in banking, CYBG continues to maintain its banking application to handle increasing customer demand.  As a result, CYBG decided to upgrade their Debt Manager application from DM5 to DM9 with an aggressive delivery deadline. The challenge was, “How to validate critical time sensitive app logic in the most efficient way, to ensure rapid release without any additional risk?”  Time Machine was the answer… not only ensuring faster test cycles, but dramatically reducing risk. 

Without Time Machine, the team would have had to change the system clock which necessitates the constant shutting down and restarting of servers after each clock change.  In deeply secure environments  (Kerberos/Active Directory), changing the system clock is usually not even an option, as users would get locked out of the domain when their clocks were beyond a standard parameter of 5 minutes. Add to this, the risk of file time stamp corruption, and no elegant way of automating temporal  testing, then Time Machine’s ROI becomes apparent.

With Time Machine multiple testers can create non-intrusive virtual clocks in parallel to “future proof “critical application logic on the fly, with no restarts, reloads, or changes to

code needed. And with Time Machine’s “Sync Server”, you can broadcast virtual time to multiple servers and synchronize testing from a single user interface. Furthermore, the Sync Server API enables 100% test automation and can be initiated from industry leading tools such as HP, Oracle, IBM, Smart Bear, or open source tools like Selenium.

Time Machine, Time Machine Sync Server (TMSS) Solution and CYBG Use Cases:

The bank has been on a technology transformation the last few years adopting a more agile & DevOps method to its ever complex banking application. To maximize efficiency from both a functional and economical prospective, CYBG DM9 team uses Time Machine and TMSS extensively to run functional testing on a daily basis. Unique and advanced features are utilized by their skilled tester to overcome the challenges of testing in a time constrain scenario otherwise difficult to accomplish.

Frequently testers use Time Machine to time jump to “future proof” application process flows and validate parameter values, TMSS helps system adm broadcast and sync up a virtual clock to all Time Machine servers which streamline testing processes. Non-Time Machine servers can be included via built-in http API by scripting test commands to control those servers which enable 100% test automation. Testing teams are happy campers and have been busy using Time Machine every day. They truly enjoy the software plus excellent service from Solution-Soft to optimize their testing process by eliminating latency and roadblocks for mission critical deliveries.

Use Cases:

Basic architecture included WebSphere on Red Hat Linux with SQL Server backend. Time Travel: Using Time Machine to step through each day after the initial migration, run the daily batch, perform tests in DM9 (a debt collection application), and then move on to the next business day. Time Machine allowed CYBG to step through time and test that the correct triggers have fired before moving on to the next business day and running the next daily batch etc. During the debt collection cycle and work flow, there are many different time triggers that call for different actions. In addition, many actions and tasks are also date & time dependent, such as proposing a payment plan. CYBG also takes advantage of the persistent virtual clock.  With persistent virtual clock, the virtual clock continues to tick forward after a system reboot. This way, the test environment will automatically and continue to be in sync; ready for the testers; after one of the systems is rebooted for patch management or operational procedures.

Test Automation and Broadcasting:

Using the TMSS URL API capability to set virtual time via IBM Urban Code Deploy for Time Machine and Non-Time Machine servers to fully automate testing of batch job, CYBG also utilizes TMSS to broadcast the same virtual clock to both database and application servers. The idea being that they were able to roll up three tasks of taking a DM9 DB backup, setting the etl.batch_date in DM9, and setting TM to the relevant business day prior to running a batch from an IBM UCD orchestrated job. This way the appropriate people on the project could perform these actions without having been granted permissions in SQL and for Time Machine. With the TMSS API, CYGB was able to automate, and grant permissions to only perform those actions through IBM UCD.

Slower Clock:

By reducing the speed of the virtual clock a factor 20X, CYBG was able to stay within a specific business day, and business hours, for testing, even if the testing took several days, or was split over a weekend, no problem! A 9-hour business day was stretched across 14 days for testing if needed, without having to adjust the time back to the same virtual date each day. This was super helpful especially for WAS because going back in time required the team to shut down and restart the application. Time Machine enables testers to step through different time trigger dates to perform both daily batch and interactive tests. It is also common for testers to stay on the same trigger dates for multiple physical days before jumping to the next trigger date. For slowing the clock down to values over 20, testers can keep the date and time within a specific virtual business day for testing that would have taken a number of days or is split over a weekend etc. and replace the virtual clock to jump to the next business day when all testing is done. It's been a life saver for CYBG team.
 
Ultimately, Time Machine contributed to a successful delivery, and Solution-Soft was once again recognized for our “outstanding” customer support.

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About CYBG

CYBG PLC is the UK’s sixth biggest bank offering a true alternative to the status quo in banking. Operating under the Clydesdale Bank, Yorkshire Bank, B and Virgin Money brands, it's the only Bank outside the ‘Big 5’ that boasts a genuine full-service retail and SME capability. It serves over six million customers across the UK through an omni-channel model of online, mobile and telephone banking and we have a national network of 250 branches and business banking centres. CYBG's goal is to offer the best service in UK banking, providing customers with market-leading functionality and innovative products, supported by robust technology and a first class, personal customer experience.

In February 2016, it completed its IPO from National Australia Bank, regaining its independence for the first time in almost 100 years. CYBG completed the acquisition of Virgin Money on 15 October 2018, enhancing the Bank’s scale and national footprint.

About FICO:

FICO provides analytics software and tools used across multiple industries to manage risk, fight fraud, build more profitable customer relationships, optimize operations and meet strict government regulations. Many of their products reach industry-wide adoption — such as the FICO® Score, the standard measure of consumer credit risk in the United States. FICO solutions leverage open-source standards and cloud computing to maximize flexibility, speed deployment and reduce costs.

About Time Machine:

Time Machine saves ten-fold or more on resources and costs associated with temporal testing of applications. It enables you to finish your large scale software projects on time and under budget. Some other usage scenarios of Time Machine include Cloud migration, time zone adjustment, data aging, Big Data analysis and online training. Time Machine is the original date and time simulation software for Unix and Windows since 1997 and it is Cloud ready. Thousands of customers worldwide utilize Time Machine successfully across all industries on a daily basis; including 47 of the Fortune 100 companies.

About Solution-Soft:

Solution-Soft is the leader in virtual clock, time shift testing software solutions for the ever-changing digital world. Our flagship and market proven product, Time Machine, opened up brand new possibilities in the application testing landscape upon its release in 1997. Today, thousands of applications have been tested with Time Machine, and IT professionals recognize that using a virtual clock is the ideal and safest way to conduct date and time testing. As pioneer in our field, we've created the Time Machine Product Suite and Time Machine for Container, a collection of cutting-edge testing software that augment Time Machine to further streamline enterprise cloud initiatives, containerization, micro services, and IT modernization for end-to-end integration testing, cloud migration, test automation, Agile/DevOPs, Continuous Operation, and Test Data Management.

We proudly provide our 2000+ domestic and international customers, including 47 of Fortune 100 companies, with our advanced solutions to optimize their testing and help deliver projects on-time. Solution-Soft's customers are across all market sectors including 3M, AMEX, AIG, Australia Tax Office, BBC, Boeing, British Gas, Covered California, Dept of Works & Pension, Deutsche Bank, Discover, FedEx, Federal Reserve Bank, Orange, National Australia Bank, SNCF, and Zurich Insurance. We bolster our market presence through robust partnerships with companies including Accenture, Capgemini, DXC, HPE, IBM, Infosys, Microsoft, Oracle, Red Hat, and RedMane.

Founded in 1993, Solution-Soft is privately held and based in Santa Clara, CA.