Portfolio
Migration testing of advanced pharma e-commerce
a1qa ensures high-end quality of migration testing for one of Europe’s largest and most trusted online retailers of veterinary products and pet supplies.
Overview
The a1qa engineers seamlessly integrated with the development team on the client’s side, and have been an integral part of it throughout the migration project.
CTO
The client is one of Europe’s largest and most trusted online retailers of veterinary products and pet supplies.
The customer initiated restructuring of the IT department. The milestone for the first 6 months was to migrate the legacy .NET-based web solution onto the new platform developed with Java.
The two e-commerce platforms facilitate pan-European sales for the company, and their performance is mission-critical for business.
The client faced a shortage of quality assurance specialists on the local market and turned to a1qa.
The client’s major e-commerce platforms lie in the core of the company’s business, meaning their reliability and performance are essential to the company’s sales.
The first solution was the frontend of a comprehensive, though light-weight ERP system based on Apache OFBIz that includes CRM SFA, user management, inventory management, and many more.
The functionality of the second website was much simpler. Therefore, one of the goals of the migration project was to lift it up to that of the first one.
It was a major uplift taking place in parallel with combining the two websites’ databases and significant changes in the UI.
Noteworthy are two scenarios how an order can be processed.
Over-the-counter products are sold with no limitations, and the corresponding order processing workflow is straightforward.
However, the client also deals with drugs sold against a written prescription. In this case, the order is double-checked by an internal team of pharmacists of the veterinary medicine.
This is an important step taking into account that the client operates in multiple European countries, each having different limitation on drug sales.
In addition, the solution based on Apache OFBIz manages a network of special printing machines, which print custom labels for parcels.
The delivery options differ depending on the geography and parcel weight, from Royal Mail to courier.
Services offered
Compatibility testing
Functional testing
Localization and internationalization testing
Performance testing
GUI testing
Migration testing
Project scope
During the project, the a1qa engineers performed the whole set of testing procedures.
Localization and internationalization testing
a1qa tested 5 language versions of the solution (English, German, Dutch, French, and Spanish) for a number of local specifics, such as currency, taxes and VAT rates, prices, shipment costs, and legal restrictions to sell certain medicines without prescriptions and/or via online channels.
Moreover, localization stretches to newsletters and invoices, each issued in the language of the user.
Functional testing
While merging the databases of two web solutions, a1qa had to make sure that the whole product catalog works smoothly with the new consolidated database.
The functionality of the first solution was uplifted to replicate that of the second one.
The a1qa team tested both frontend and back office of the renewed solution.
The solution’s back office largely represents the functionality of a ERP system that controls multiple business activities, from order processing to pharmacy and warehouse management.
Performance testing
The client provides its customers with a multilanguage 1st line support, including a call center, email and online chat.
a1qa had to verify that the solution operates fast and with high productivity to make sure the client’s customers receive excellent customer support service disregarding their geographic location or spoken language.
UI and usability testing
In parallel with the migration activities, new user interface was introduced for the solution.
a1qa performed usability and cross-browser testing of the new UI to ensure consistent user experience of this interactive website.
Security testing
The major objective was to improve overall website’s security by means of introducing hashing procedures.
This helped solve the issue with unprotected user information and prevent unauthorized access to the service and leakage of sensitive data.
The delivered high quality encouraged the client to expand business internationally.
CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS
- Critical for the client was to keep habitual workflows and access and permissions intact.
- Moreover, a1qa had to work with bulk heterogeneous data, including over 180,000 user profiles, millions of order history records, which were to be kept consistent and untouched during the migration activities.
Simultaneously, a1qa provided data cleansing services to filter off and remove duplicates and invalid user information.
While the new system was implemented, the a1qa team was assuring quality of the legacy system as well.
On the one hand, the old software was used as the standard one when testing the new system. On the other hand, the a1qa engineers provided testing support within the legacy system change management process.
Technologies & tools
- Java
- Apache OFBIz
- .NET
Results
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The new functionality and look and feel of the solution now deliver excellent user experience to customers.
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The portal allows the client to cut costs on maintenance and support by 40% and reinvest the released assets into further growth.
In numbers
3
months of the project duration
1,000
the number of orders processed daily