Switchable Test Environments for Service Provider Systems
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Service providers face significant time and effort in modifying test files to accommodate differences between their environment and that of the test engineer's when testing applications, leading to inefficiencies in testing frequency and capacity.
Innovation Solution
Implementing switchable environments for test cases, where a service provider system creates provider inputs and outputs based on customer inputs and outputs, allowing for seamless execution of revised test cases in their environment without additional manual modifications.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If service providers manually modify test files to accommodate environment differences, then test cases can be executed in the provider's environment, but significant time and effort are consumed, reducing testing frequency and capacity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-processing customer test files to create provider-specific input and output file sets before the actual testing execution. This preprocessing step converts customer environment files into provider environment files in advance, eliminating the need for manual modification during each testing cycle and significantly improving testing capacity while maintaining environment compatibility
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces intermediary files (provider input files and provider output files) that act as mediators between the customer's test case definitions and the provider's testing environment. These intermediary files contain environment-specific configurations, data formats, and output specifications that enable seamless execution without direct manual intervention, resolving the contradiction between adaptability and productivity
2Adaptability or versatility
If service providers manually modify test files for each testing engagement, then test cases can be adapted to specific environments, but the time and effort required negatively impacts testing frequency
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary conversion of customer test files into provider-specific formats before testing begins. By pre-processing the input and output file sets with environment-specific configurations, the system eliminates repetitive manual modification time while maintaining the ability to adapt to different environments, directly addressing the time loss issue
3Reliability
If test files are customized for each customer's environment, then accurate testing can be performed, but the complexity of managing multiple environment configurations increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the testing configuration into distinct, independent file sets: customer input files, provider input files, customer output files, and provider output files. Each segment contains environment-specific information, allowing the system to maintain testing accuracy through proper segmentation while reducing overall complexity by organizing configurations into manageable, isolated units that can be processed independently
Data Source
AI summary
A service provider system receives an initial file set (specifying a customer input, an initial test case, and a customer output) created by a service provider system customer to test an application. The service provider system enables creation of a provider input based on the customer input, and creation of a provider output based on the customer output. The service provider system receives a revised file set (specifying the customer input, a revised test case, and the customer output) created by the customer to test the application. If the revised test case's switch is in a provider environment mode, the service provider system tests the application by executing the revised test case in a provider environment that is specific to the service provider system, by using the provider input to input data for the revised test case and using the provider output to output data from the revised test case.