Quality Testing Supplement

SOFTWARE QUALITY AND TESTING SUPPLEMENT

Moving testing on Where is testing going next?

Building quality earlier in the development lifecycle JAVA vs COBOL? We put two programmers in the ring Plus 16 pages of software quality and testing insights

In association with Micro Focus Š 2012 Micro Focus. All rights reserved.

Welcome to Q.T. Supplement

p.3

Welcome to Q.T. Supplement I

’d like to welcome you to this

addressing these challenges is the

special supplement on software

focus of this publication. It goes

quality and testing. As a tester,

without saying that quality is an

you are more than familiar with

important part of the equation. But

the challenges involved in testing,

before we look into the detail, I’d

and that includes mainframe

like to give you my own personal

applications. How we go about

take on the subject.

Kevin Brearley, Director of Product Management, Micro Focus

STRESS TEST

Why testing is putting a strain on resources Companies are under pressure to deliver applications faster than ever whilst maintaining standards of quality. How can they rise to this challenge?

Businesses around the world currently

Testing is putting intense strain on

In 2012, we will see more companies

spend more than $50 billion on

enterprises’ time and internal resources.

moving their testing off the mainframe.

application testing and quality

To ease the burden, companies are

Increasingly, businesses will be doing

assurance, according to Pierre Audoin

increasingly turning to advanced

their heavy-lifting testing on other

Consultants (PAC). And the market is set

tools and technologies. This trend will

environments such as Windows

to continue its robust growth. Over the

accelerate: expect to hear more about

Server. These platforms will help

next five years the testing market alone

crowd sourced testing, Testing-as-a-

many businesses resolve the major

is expected to grow by a compound

Service (TaaS) and cloud testing over

bottleneck and cost constraints

annual growth rate of 15.4 per cent.

the coming months.

presented by the mainframe.

Even though IT budgets remain tight,

These services and technologies are

Businesses that release test

businesses have no choice but to

perfect for testing applications stored

processes from the constraints of

increase their spending on testing.

in the cloud or on mobile platforms.

the mainframe will also be able to

Think of any large corporation. The

But they’re of little practical use for

complete testing cycles faster. And

chances are that it is under immense

testing applications housed on a

this will give developers more scope

pressure to deliver high quality

mainframe. And that is where the

to focus on quality.

applications in a short space of time.

majority of most companies’ testing

Rapid speed to market counts for

continues to be concentrated.

2012 could be the year in which

everything in today’s highly competitive

testers finally wrestle control of their

business environment.

applications from the mainframe.

THE NEED FOR SPEED: faster time to market with testing It’s not just Tom Cruise who feels the need for speed. Today’s companies operate in a constantly shifting business environment.

Companies that have the ability to react to commercial opportunities in real time will flourish and prosper. The rest will be left behind.

In many ways, today’s market

Millions of Instructions per Second

represents a vast Darwinian ecosystem

(MIPS) and the time that important

where only the fittest survive. It

testing activities consume.

goes without saying that this battle for market supremacy is having a

Given all these constraints, is it any

profound effect on the way in which

surprise that service delivery managers

businesses deliver applications. And

struggle to meet their deadlines? They

the mainframe is right in the middle

need to have the flexibility to speed up

of the crossfire. Often ridiculed

application change but are hamstrung

as cumbersome and archaic, the

by the environment that they are

mainframe has set a benchmark in

operating in.

business performance and reliability that has yet to be surpassed. But these

Accelerated time to market

What’s more, these products allow

Aside from consuming precious

So what then, is the alternative?

development cycle, which reduces

resources, mainframes are often

Moving applications off the mainframe

the need for costly re-working.

off-limits to testers and developers.

and into another test environment

They also allow testers to

Pre-production testing can only be

is one option. Products such as

accomplish their testing in a

scheduled according to the capacity

Micro Focus’ Test Server allow users

shorter time frame.

available on the mainframe. And that

to scale test capacity to meet

capacity is often tied up in running

fluctuations in business demand.

Another consequence of testing in

core production systems.

The production of business-focused

this fashion is reduced cost. Products

applications can also be sped up

like Test Server mitigate the need to

Even when service delivery managers

because Test Server expands the test

make substantial investments in new

get access to the mainframe they are

environment beyond traditional test

mainframe MIPS. They actually help

constrained by its existing capacity.

teams. It allows business users and

reduce mainframe MIPS consumption

Worse, they are frequently under

developers to fully participate in

because more testing is done in the

pressure to reduce the amount of

the testing process.

new environment.

workhorses of the IT world require a huge amount of maintenance.

delivery managers to identify issues considerably earlier in the

THE NEED FOR SPEED: faster time to market with testing

p.5

We’re on a MIPS control mission It’s no secret that mainframes are extremely costly to maintain.

These practices have been proven

systems to a UNIX platform instead –

Most businesses have a finite

to deliver significant business value.

and the whole process took only a year.

number of MIPS and don’t want

Micro Focus customers have been able

to exceed their quota. Thankfully,

to cut application delivery costs by as

Many testers and developers wrongly

there is an alternative – Windows

much as 77%. They have also been

believe that they are chained to the

Server. By moving applications

able to boost customer satisfaction

mainframe in perpetuity. In fact, there

onto a Windows environment,

and enjoy faster time to market.

are a wide range of products on the

Micro Focus customers have

market that can be used to significantly

reduced their IT costs by as much

One company that has explored

accelerate the mainframe application

as 77%. Development throughput

alternatives to the mainframe is

testing process.

can be improved by 40%. It

Tesco. The retailer was planning to

seems the message is getting

launch in the United States and other

through to businesses – according

new territories and needed a new

to Gartner*, organisations are

mainframe. This would have taken

now routinely transferring

up to three years to set up. After

workloads worth 2,000 to 3,000

consulting with Micro Focus, Tesco

MIPS onto other environments.

decided to move their critical store

*Gartner January 2010

THE PRESENT FUTURE: what's around the corner in testing?

Testing applications can be a time consuming and prohibitively expensive exercise. No more so than on the mainframe.

Fortunately, there is another way.

The humble mainframe continues to

re-writing. The former approach forces

cost commodity hardware. From a

dominate the enterprise space. The

organisations to do business in the

financial perspective this makes

50 largest banks in the world use

manner dictated by the package’s

complete sense. Application testing

mainframes to run their mission-

functionality or spend a considerable

on the mainframe can take up a huge

critical applications as do 24 of the

amount of time and money customising

amount of processing power and

27 largest retailers.

the package. Workflow that is

cost – sometimes as much as 50%

fundamental to the way a business

of available MIPS. Re-hosting testing

The applications that are housed within

operates can be lost, and costly,

on Windows, for example, can halve

mainframes need to be updated and

complex data modelling and retaining

testing costs and significantly reduce

enhanced on a continual basis. And

is invariably required. Many package

the amount of time needed to deploy a

since these applications are so critical

implementations are never fully

new release or package.

to the enterprise, every update has to

completed or go over time and budget.

be thoroughly tested prior to release.

Of course, this all counts for nothing Re-writing applications is an even

if the completed applications have

riskier approach. The majority of

bugs in them. Testing in a Windows

An emphasis on cost

re-engineering projects either fail

environment mitigates this risk

completely or are delivered years later

because teams are also able to perform

In today’s cost conscious business

than they should be.

more testing within shorter timeframes

environment, IT budgets are under

at lower cost, which reduces re-work

pressure as never before. Your CIO

expense, speeds up the completion of testing and generally improves quality.

large component of the overall cost of

Moving the testing environment off the mainframe

developing or updating an application,

There is an alternative and far more

testing phases faster by moving their

is this really possible?

cost-effective way to test mainframe

testing environment onto Windows

is often tasked with producing good quality applications at much lower cost. Considering that testing is a

Does this really work? Yes, it does.

Delivery teams today can complete

applications – re-hosting mainframe

Server. And test capacity can be scaled

Traditionally, organisations have

testing. Delivery managers can

up and down as required which is

addressed this challenge through

move the testing environment away

not typically possible in a mainframe

package replacement and application

from the mainframe and onto lower

environment, meaning organisations

THE PRESENT FUTURE: what’s around the corner in testing?

p.7

Opening a new window on testing Delivery teams dread testing applications on the mainframe because they are handcuffed to the mainframe environment and capacity constraints. programmers developing composite Windows frees testers from these

applications can exploit this new

restrictions in an instant. All testing

testing environment to ensure their

takes place on Windows Server

application changes meet the same

rather than the expensive and

quality standards as their COBOL

resource-hungry mainframe. The

counterparts, but without having

mainframe testing bottleneck is

to rely on the expensive and often

eliminated and IT application service

unavailable mainframe. Now, more

delivery is dramatically improved.

than ever, it makes sense to escape

What’s more, Java and .NET

the mainframe trap.

Shining a spotlight on Cloud and mobile

Increasingly, applications that run in the Cloud and on mobile devices utilize Java. But the back end

We’ve all heard the buzz about

processing continues to be done

Cloud Computing and mobile, but

using COBOL. Being able to test both

is it really justified? Over the next

languages in the same environment

four years, according to almost half

will provide companies with

of all CIOs, the answer is yes. They

significant economies of scale and

expect to operate the majority of

allow them to deliver applications

can plan to test for peak loads and

their applications and infrastructures

even faster than before.

critical application batch runs with

through Cloud technologies. Will

greater confidence and flexibility than

mainframe applications be part of

And by providing a unified

before. Added to which, further Micro

the picture? One has to expect so.

environment for executing these

Focus technology can then be used to

applications, organisations are on

establish a fully automated process for

Mainframe applications are already

the first step towards being able to

testing these applications both under

being tested in environments like

re-host the whole production system

Windows (for low-cost system testing)

Windows Server. There is no reason

on those lower cost platforms, where

or back on the mainframe (for final pre-

why an environment shouldn’t allow

it makes sense to do so. It may sound

production testing).

users to test mainframe, cloud and

like a pipe dream, but it will be a

mobile applications at the same time. reality in the near future.

Moving the testing of core applications off the mainframe doesn’t just make sense from a cost perspective. It can also help companies reduce risk and stay one step ahead of the competition.

QUALITY AND TEST – are they on the same page?

You may think that they are only partly related, but quality practices and testing are inextricably linked. And their interaction starts at the very beginning of the development cycle.

For many organisations testing is something of an afterthought.

Typically, an IT team will develop

Managing business processes

But what happens if this exercise itself is poorly implemented? Then it is next to useless. Proper procedures have to

the applications that the business

Most large enterprises use application

be built into any APM operation right at

requires and only test them once

portfolios to control their core business

its inception. Establishing benchmarks

they have been built. There are

processes. However, over time, these

for data sourcing is a key starting point.

considerable flaws to this strategy.

portfolios can become more complex,

Unless the right data is extracted from

Substantial development resources

harder to manage and less aligned to

the organisation in the appropriate

can be allocated to applications that

the needs of the business.

way, it will be virtually impossible

are peripheral to the company’s core

for directors to determine which

business. Testers can wind up testing

So how can a company regain control

applications that are generally ignored

over its business processes? In the

by the business in preference to ones

first place, it needs to perform an

that are regularly used.

audit, a quality check if you like, of

applications to retire and retain.

Appropriate quality and testing

achieved through Application Portfolio

Establishing key performance indicators

practices need to be built into the

Management (APM). A key step in any IT

Take technical metrics. Every APM

beginning of the development

modernisation programme, APM allows

operation involves the collection

cycle – not at the end. And that

IT directors to evaluate the value of

of technical metrics related to the

process starts with the applications

business applications from a cost,

quality of enterprise applications. But

a company owns.

value and risk perspective.

these metrics need to be refreshed

its existing applications. This can be

QUALITY AND TEST – are they on the same page?

p.9

Failure to test can trigger disaster

on an ongoing basis, something many

how rarely they are asked for

organisations fail to do. An APM

their opinions. APM solutions

solution should also assess a wide

should include a surveying

spread of application environments.

mechanism that allows users to

You’ve established what

After all, the typical application

readily deploy questionnaires

applications to retain, but what

portfolio contains everything from

specific to their organisation.

happens if you don’t actually test them? Will you really be

COBOL to Visual Basic and Java.

It is well worth building quality

courting disaster?

Once raw technical data has been

procedures into an APM solution.

extracted it needs to be analysed

Development teams today are

Enterprises are notoriously

properly. This is only possible if

under huge pressure to deliver.

secretive about system crashes,

businesses put in place appropriate key

They also have fewer resources

but stories still manage to trickle

performance indicators. Again, many

available to them. Ensuring that

into the media. There’s the

companies fail to put sufficient effort

these resources are allocated to

retailer that lost £15m on one of

into this activity.

the right applications is critical.

the busiest days of the year due

This is particularly the case when

to a system crash. Then there’s

The right metrics also need to be

it comes to testing. At a time when

the online ticketing system that

obtained from stakeholders. Given that

80% of IT budgets are dedicated

collapsed leaving baseball fans

a company’s stakeholders are

to ‘lights-on’ activities, CIOs can

out of pocket. And less we forget,

typically the main users of

ill afford to waste money testing

there’s also the three day network

applications, it is surprising

redundant applications.

outage that affected millions of BlackBerry subscribers in October 2011.

These are just a few examples that illustrate the vital importance of linking quality and testing.

When two worlds collide The difficulties with testing enterprise applications are compounded by the fact that many core systems span language and even platform boundaries. For example, many major mainframe applications, running COBOL, are presented to end-users by a front-end Java application interface. So, what’s the problem here. They’re both well known languages albeit with different histories. One, COBOL, is deemed to be rooted in the past, while the other, JAVA, is currently stealing all the headlines.

Ian Barrow is currently a programmer who works with JAVA, while Charlie Grant works in COBOL in a financial company which has recently re-hosted to a Windows environment. Derek Britton of Micro Focus referees an intriguing interview, as our two contestants slug it out – discussing the merits, or otherwise, of both languages.

Derek: We are here to discuss what’s

squiggles, the full IDE. For COBOL, it’s

quality enterprise systems for many

different, good, or complementary

the same as any other new language.

more years than you guys have.

about your two different languages. So

And anyway, COBOL was the original

who would like to lead with a question?

write-once run-anywhere language and

Ian: It’s still a bloated, verbose language

had multi-platform support long before

though, admit that.

Ian: I would start by saying the big

Java was born.

difference that exists in our two working

Derek: ...that is an argument that

environments is agility... the fact that

Ian: Well, JAVA has grown up it’s

I use rich, productive tools. JAVA is a

definitely now the programming

very visual and intuitive test

language of the future.

environment... that’s got to be something you envy, Charlie.

is often levelled at COBOL, Charlie.

Charlie: Sure, many people think it’s a verbose language. That’s probably

Charlie: Of course Java is superb

because we have billions of lines of

for building front ends.

code out there. But it’s only as wordy

Charlie: Not at all, I already have what

as you need, and more to the point it is

you have. I’m probably working on

Ian: Yes, and the code runs anywhere,

readable. And also, as it’s syntax driven,

the same IDE as you? My preference

it runs on tons of platforms, and it’s

you can do a one-liner in a COBOL

is Eclipse but I also use Visual Studio.

high-quality code. We’re talking about

program like DISPLAY “Hello World”

It just happens that the Apps I’m

the difference between object-oriented

and it compiles and runs... interestingly

working with are COBOL-based. They

versus the old-fashioned procedural

Ian you could be up and running

were moved off the mainframe with

techniques of COBOL. Who really does

with COBOL in a couple of hours flat:

very little disruption, and so now my

that anymore?

because you can read it, understand it,

interface is totally visual, with all the bells and whistles you have.

and use the same IDE to code it, there’s Charlie: Well that’s a lot of claims. I

nothing stopping you.

said JAVA is ideal for front ends but Ian: So, do you have Intellisense?

that doesn’t mean COBOL isn’t better

Ian: Well it might be easy to pick up

at running the back end. It always has

but, look, you basically can’t conceive

Charlie: Yep. Intellisense, auto-

been. And as for the quality of code,

and implement Apps quickly using a

completion, background parse, red

well, we’ve been churning out high-

small team with COBOL. JAVA does

When two worlds collide

p.11

that and that can only be good for our

accessed by a web portal, a mobile app,

There’s a lot of major enterprise

business users.

or whatever.

software projects out there. And I think programmers and testers who have

Charlie: What’s really important for the

Ian: You make that sound so easy,

COBOL and new programming language

business is the value of the business

yet it can’t be.

skills such as C# or Java are well placed

logic and data that already exists,

to take a lead role in that.

getting at that, and using it in different

Charlie: OK, you’re thinking ‘how

ways. Who would choose JAVA to try to

do I call COBOL from Java when a

Ian: So who knows we might even

build an entire new banking application

mainframe App has all of these weird

up working in the same team!

for example?

data types I can’t use from Java’? Well, we can talk language-to-language.

Charlie: Really, it’s not so crazy as you

Derek: Ian sorry to interrupt, I want

You can create interfaces to COBOL

think. I know I’m collaborating more

to move you on to another important

programs that Java developers can

now with other programming teams,

area, and that is testing for mobile and

use without worrying about what they

and using testing technology that

cloud, anything to be said here?

are calling.

bridges COBOL and Java environments, there are a lot of new composite

Ian: Well obviously JAVA will be on

Derek: That’s an interesting

mobile and in cloud. It’s a mainstay

proposition. Just to give you both a

language there for development and test.

chance to finish this off, I’d like to ask

Derek: Well let’s shake hands on that

what the future holds employment-

thought please, gents. Sounds to me

wise for developers such as yourselves.

like there is space for both languages

Charlie: You’re right there, Ian. Java is designed for that and that’s why COBOL

applications out there.

to flourish, and start to cooperate more,

sticks to the back end business logic.

Ian: That’s easy, I think the JAVA

both for developers and testers. Thank

You can now leverage COBOL systems

developer has never been more

you for giving your time to this debate.

wherever they might be running by

in demand.

interfacing with new technologies like web services, for example. So your

Charlie: And that’s actually true of

back-end core business system can be

COBOL too – no Ian it is! – really.

THE MISSING LINK: addressing the skills gap Old fashioned but indispensible – COBOL will dominate computing for many years to come. But with a shortage of experienced programmers on the market, how can businesses get the support they need?

Without COBOL the world would literally grind to a halt. COBOL manages every aspect of our daily

A fifty year old language

unappealing. There is also widespread perception that it takes 100 lines of code in COBOL to write something that

existence. Whenever you use an

Antiquated, archaic and outmoded –

can be done in only 20 lines of another

ATM, stop at a traffic light or shop

those are some of the more pleasant

language – something the advocates

online, you’re likely to be interacting

expressions that have been used to

of COBOL hotly dispute.

with a system that runs on COBOL.

describe COBOL. Others have been less kind. Computer scientist Edsger

The disparaging posts added to a

The statistics speak for themselves.

Dijikstra said: “The use of COBOL

recent article on COBOL give a flavour

There are currently 220 billion lines

cripples the mind; its teaching

of how the language is viewed.

of COBOL code in existence, a figure

should, therefore, be regarded as

One respondent wrote: “COBOL is a

that equates to almost 80% of the

a criminal offense.”

Vietnam-era computing language so

world’s actively used code. Three

outdated that many college students

quarters of the world’s business

Why has COBOL plummeted so much

don’t even bother to learn it anymore.”

data is processed in COBOL, while

in popularity? Part of the reason

Another wrote: “The sooner the

90% of all financial transactions

is generational. COBOL came into

dinosaur is extinct… the better.”

are handled by the language.

existence on 28 May 1959 – more

Every year, COBOL systems are

than fifty years ago. It pre-dates the

While many students balk at the

responsible for processing 80%

microprocessor by a whole decade and

idea of studying COBOL, many highly

of point-of-sale transactions and

was running the bulk of the world’s

experienced programmers are retiring.

connecting 500 million mobile

business systems before the likes of

In 2004, Gartner estimated that there

phone users.

Microsoft, Apple and Oracle had even

were two million COBOL programmers

been established. For a generation

worldwide, with the number declining

Given the central role that COBOL plays

brought up on Java and .NET, COBOL

by 5% annually. This trend is bound

in our daily lives, it seems scarcely

is decidedly unsexy. Most graduates

to accelerate over the coming years

believable that the language is barely

find the idea of operating in a green

as more baby boomers reach

studied any more.

screen mainframe environment deeply

retirement age.

THE MISSING LINK: addressing the skills gap

p.13

The situation is putting IT executives in a quandary. COBOL runs many mission critical 24/7 applications that are too costly to replace. At the same time, there is a shortage of

The future of COBOL

COBOL programmers on the market to maintain these systems. In 2007 Micro

COBOL work, while others are bringing

COBOL continues to evolve

Focus conducted a survey of CIOs.

in contract COBOL programmers.

and flourish in new ways

Almost three quarters said they

Neither of these approaches is

that make it more accessible,

were struggling to recruit trained

cost-effective or sustainable over

relevant and valuable than

COBOL professionals.

the long term.

ever. Recently, Micro Focus and Microsoft announced a strategic

To plug the skills gap, more IT

relationship to help businesses

An alternative approach

graduates need to be encouraged to

modernise COBOL applications

embrace COBOL. Micro Focus is leading

by porting them onto the

the charge by working with hundreds

Windows platform. It is already

Making COBOL more marketable and

of schools and universities in a number

possible to work with COBOL in

encouraging universities to incorporate

of countries to boost the number of

a Java environment.

the language into their curricula may

graduates with COBOL skills. At the

solve this issue eventually. But this

same time, efforts are being made to

If you’re tied to the mainframe,

is of cold comfort to companies that

make the language more user-friendly

you may still be using COBOL

need to solve their IT maintenance

– COBOL can be used within a Windows

in a green screen environment.

issues now.

(and .NET) or Java environment.

But using the latest technology available, now this language is

Companies have responded to the

It will take time to change the wider IT

fully accessible to a completely

skills shortage in COBOL in a number of

community’s perception of COBOL but

new demographic.

ways. Some businesses are outsourcing

the fight has begun, in earnest.

Testing you can bank on “By facilitating higher quality scalable testing and detecting errors earlier in the software development lifecycle we hope to be able to deliver changes faster and deliver more robust software through to the User Acceptance Testing phase and subsequently production.”

A leading bank put the spotlight on the entire delivery process to find ways to accelerate innovation and delivery.

Testing was a major cost element of the

Challenge

Benefits

process – and therefore came under

• T est activity constrained by

• Shorter development lifecycle

scrutiny. A senior IT manager remarked: “We needed to find an innovative solution that would facilitate higher quality, scalable testing.”

mainframe resources • Q uality of applications is a key consideration • M ainframe environment is

• Clear separation of unit and integration test cycles • Faster delivery of changes with higher quality

very complex The bank has adopted the efficient application service delivery approach offered by Micro Focus through its Test Server product. Exploiting this costeffective mainframe testing solution, the spokesperson commented, “We will be able to deliver changes faster and deliver more robust software through to the User Acceptance Test phase and subsequent production.”

Remarking on the same solution, the industry journal Professional Tester commented: “Integration, system and even acceptance testing could be done with no need for a real mainframe!”

Improved service delivery with Test Server

Testing you can bank on

p.15

Quality: a better way to test and develop The Micro Focus model for testing offers ground-breaking quality, flexibility and costefficiency. What was once a capacity bottleneck is removed – and time-to-delivery can be boosted, delivery quality raised, and the development process can be unified.

Need to transform the mainframe test environment? The sponsors of Q.T. Supplement are Micro Focus, a company with 30 years’ experience of modernising and maximising the value of core applications in both mainframe and distributed environments. @

www

Contact us by email at mainframe.testing@microfocus.com to learn more, or visit www.microfocus.com

INNOVATION FOR SOFTWARE QUALITY

TEST Magazine, c/o 31 Media Ltd, Unit 8a, Nice Business Park, Sylvan Grove, London, SE15 1PD Telephone: +44 (0) 870 863 6930 Email: info@31media.co.uk

Micro Focus, The Lawn, 22-30 Old Bath Road Newbury, Berkshire RG14 1QN Telephone: +44 (0) 1635 565200 Email: info@microfocus.com