Lufthansa Improves Regression Testing With Automation

The Challenge

Lufthansa owns and operates a fleet of 19 MD-11F aircrafts, and charters other freight-carrying planes. To continue its leadership in high-quality air cargo services, Lufthansa decided to implement an API for its central Shipment Database (SDB).

The purpose of Lufthansa Cargo AG’s SDB project was to provide consistent shipment data as an infrastructure for each phase of its shipping process. Consistent shipment data is a prerequisite for Lufthansa Cargo AG to efficiently and effectively plan and fulfill the transport of shipments. Without it, much is at stake. In instances of irregularities caused by inconsistent shipment data, they would experience additional costs due to extra handling efforts, additional work to correct accounting information, revenue loss, and poor feedback from customers.

The Approach

With such critical factors in mind, Lufthansa Cargo AG determined that a well-tested API was the best solution for its central shipment database. Lufthansa Cargo AG’s goals with the SDB project included improving shipment planning, loading processes, handling and accounting, and, most importantly, customer satisfaction and revenue gain.

Lufthansa Cargo AG ordered the development of SDB from Lufthansa Systems. However, functional and load testing is performed at Lufthansa Cargo AG with a core team of six business analysts and technical architects, headed by project manager, Michael Herrmann. Herrmann determined that he had an interesting dilemma: a need to develop central, stable, and optimal-performance services for different applications without affecting the various front ends that were already in place or currently under construction.

Functional testing needed to be performed on services that were independent of any front ends, along with their related test environments. The solution? API testing with Parasoft SOAtest.

The Results

Up and Running Quickly

Parasoft provided exactly what the SDB project team was looking for—including the ability to create test cases automatically. What’s more, the SDB project team found the solution easy to understand and got up to speed quickly—within just two to three days. Herrmann stated:

“We received very good consulting and so the set up of the complete environment was easy for us—very helpful. And, the training was excellent, so it was easy for the team to understand and work with the solution.”

The importance of regression testing in preventing new code from breaking existing functionality is critical at Lufthansa Cargo AG. “The SDB project team reduced regression testing efforts by at least 20% by using Parasoft versus the efforts that would have been put forth if we had performed regression testing manually,” Herrmann reported.

Not only did the SDB project team save time, they also achieved higher quality results. Commenting on the Parasoft solution, Herrmann said, “We had excellent coverage with test cases. The quality was very good as we tested the stability of the services with the load tester, which was a core part of our test process.”

“Since we had visibility into all of the issues in advance, the beginning of production was smooth. The problem rate we see in production now is less than 0.2%. Of that 0.2%, we know the issues and we know them before we go into production.”

Improved Regression Testing Through Automation

Herrmann stated, “From a project perspective, this was a big success for us. It helped me achieve my targets. The biggest advantage for me is the efficiency of the test process now in operation. I was able to hand over a complete set of test cases to the operations organization where we used our ‘ten minutes regression test.’ Ten minute regression testing would not be possible without this solution.”

“The [Lufthansa Cargo AG] SDB project is now completed and Parasoft’s solution was a critical success factor for the overall project. The solution enabled me to stick to my original plan and budget.  Now, after seeing the excellent results of the project, I strongly believe that it would not have been possible to accomplish this level of high quality without Parasoft.”

– Michael Herrmann, Project Manager