Banking Domain Application Testing

Banking Applications directly deal with confidential financial data. It is mandatory that all the activities performed by banking software run smoothly and without any error. Banking software perform various functions like transferring and depositing fund, balance inquiry, transaction history, withdrawal and so on. Testing banking application assures that these activities are not only executed well but also remain protected from hackers.

In this tutorial, we will learn

● What is Domain in Testing?

● Why Domain Knowledge Matters?

● Introduction to Banking Domain

● Characteristics of a banking application

● Stages of testing banking applications

● Sample Test Case for Net Banking Login Application

● Challenges in testing banking domain & their Mitigation

What is Domain in Testing?

Domain is nothing but the industry for which the software testing project is created. When we talk about software project or development, this term is often referred. For example, Insurance domain, Banking domain, Retail Domain, Telecom Domain, etc.

Usually, while developing any specific domain project, domain expert help is sought out. Domain expert are master of the subject, and he may know the inside-out of the product or application.

Why Domain Knowledge Matters?

Domain knowledge is quintessential for testing any software product, and it has its own benefits like

Banking Domain Knowledge - Introduction

Banking domain is huge, and basically it is sub-characterized into two sectors

1. Traditional banking sector
2. Service based banking sector

Below is the table of the services these two sub-sectors of banking encompass

Traditional banking sector	● Core banking ● Corporate banking ● Retail banking
Service based banking sector	● Core ● Corporate ● Retail ● Loan ● Trade finance ● Private banking ● Consumer finance ● Islamic banking ● Customer delivery channels/Front end delivery

Based on the scope of your project you may need to test one or all of the above service offerings. Before you begin testing, ensure you have enough background on the service being tested.

Characteristics of a Banking Application

Before you begin testing, it's important to note the standard features expected of any banking application. So that, you can gear your test efforts to achieve these characteristics.

A standard banking application should meet all these characteristics as mentioned below.

● It should support thousands of concurrent user sessions

● A banking application should integrate with other numerous applications like trading accounts, Bill pay utility, credit cards, etc.

● It should process fast and secure transactions

● It should include massive storage system.

● To troubleshoot customer issues it should have high auditing capability

● It should handle complex business workflows

● Need to support users on multiple platforms (Mac, Linux, Unix, Windows)

● It should support users from multiple locations

● It should support multi-lingual users

● It should support users on various payment systems (VISA, AMEX, MasterCard)

● It should support multiple service sectors (Loans, Retail banking etc.)

● Foolproof disaster management mechanism

Test Phases in Testing Banking Applications

For testing banking applications, different stages of testing include

● Requirement Analysis: It is done by business analyst; requirements for a particular banking application are gathered and documented

● Requirement Review: Quality analysts, business analysts, and development leads are involved in this task. The requirement gathering document is reviewed at this stage, and cross-checked to ensure that it does not affect the workflow

● Business Requirements Documentation: Business requirements documents are prepared by quality analysts in which all reviewed business requirements are covered

● Database Testing: It is the most important part of bank application testing. This testing is done to ensure data integrity, data loading, data migration, stored procedures, and functions validation, rules testing, etc.

● Integration Testing: Under Integration Testing all components that are developed are integrated and validated

● Functional Testing: The usual software testing activities like Test Case preparation, test case review and test case execution is done during this phase

● Security Testing: It ensures that the software does not have any security flaws. During test preparation, QA team needs to include both negative as well as positive test scenarios so as to break into the system and report it before any unauthorized individual access it. While to prevent from hacking, the bank should also implement a multi-layer of access validation like a one-time password. For Security Testing, automation tools like IBM AppScan and HPWebInspect are used while for Manual Testing tools like Proxy Sniffer, Paros proxy, HTTP watch, etc. are used

● Usability Testing: It ensures that differently able people should be able to use the system as normal user. For example, ATM with hearing and Braille facility for disabled

● User Acceptance Testing: It is the final stage of testing done by the end users to ensure the compliance of the application with the real world scenario.

Sample Test Case for Net Banking Login Application

Security is prime for any banking application. Therefore, during test preparation, QA team should include both negative and positive test scenarios in order to sneak into the system and report for any vulnerabilities before any unauthorized individual get access to it. It not only involves writing negative test cases but may also include destructive testing.

Following are generic test cases to check any banking application

Sample test cases

For Admin

● Verify Admin login with valid and Invalid data

● Verify admin login without data

● Verify all admin home links

● Verify admin change password with valid and invalid data

● Verify admin change password without data

● Verify admin change password with existing data

● Verify admin logout

For new Branch

● Create a new branch with valid and invalid data

● Create a new branch without data

● Create a new branch with existing branch data

● Verify reset and cancel option

● Update branch with valid and invalid data

● Update branch without data

● Update branch with existing branch data

● Verify cancel option

● Verify branch deletion with and without dependencies

● Verify branch search option

For New Role

● Create a new role with valid and invalid data

● Create a new role without data

● Verify new role with existing data

● verify role description and role types

● Verify cancel and reset option

● Verify role deletion with and without dependency

● verify links in role details page

For customer & Visitors

● Verify all visitor or customer links

● Verify customers login with valid and invalid data

● Verify customers login without data

● Verify bankers login without data

● Verify bankers login with valid or invalid data

For New users

● Create a new user with valid and invalid data

● Create a new user without data

● Create a new user with existing branch data

● Verify cancel and reset option

● Update user with valid and invalid data

● Update user with existing data

● Verify cancel option

● Verify deletion of the user

Challenges in testing Banking domain & their Mitigation

Challenges tester might face during testing banking domain are

Challenge	Mitigation
● Getting access to production data and replicating it as test data, for testing is challenging	● Ensure that test data meets regulatory compliances requirements and guidelines ● Maintain the data confidentiality by following techniques like data masking, synthetic test data, testing system integration, etc.
● The biggest challenge in testing banking system is during the migration of the system from the old system to the new system like testing of all the routines, procedures and plans. Also how the data will be fetched, uploaded and transferred to the new system after migration	● Ensure Data Migration Testing is complete ● Ensure Regression Test cases are executed on old and new systems, and the results match.
● There may be the cases where requirements are not documented well and may lead to functional gaps in test plan ● Many non-functional requirements are not fully documented, and testers do not know whether to test it or not	● The test should participate in the project right from Requirement Analysis phases and should actively review the Business Requirements
● The most important point is to check whether the said system follows the desired policies and procedures	● Compliance or Regulatory Policies testing must be done
● The scope and the timelines increases as banking application are integrated with other application like internet or Mobile banking	● Ensure Time budget for Integration Testing is accounted if your banking application has many external interfaces