How to Test Financial Applications Effectively

The test cases that you can work with effectively are the test cases you can quickly write and manage without correcting all the dependencies. Testing financial applications require specific knowledge of writing test cases and what type of test cases to apply at the beginning of the development and when deploying an app.

We will go over some examples of writing efficient and manageable test cases when testing financial applications, what test cases to write when deploying the app, and highlight the checklist for writing test cases for banking or financial applications to help you and your testing team. Let’s go!

Reminder: what to include and omit when writing test cases

A QA manager is the one who ensures that a product meets the required qualifications and also writes test cases rarely. So a quick reminder of how to write a good test case (and for financial/banking apps, too!) would be helpful.

Any type of test case should include:

• It is essential to have a unique identifier for your test case so that the issue can be easily identified and navigated through the kits;
• A title and a brief description of test cases is necessary – so you can locate them quickly among the other patients;
• Preconditions are not directly related to the functionality that is tested. Still, they must be fulfilled: you can describe the test case’s environment and the previous outcome even in the sequence. Preconditions help to estimate the context of a particular test case in software testing;
• Steps of the test case to show the tester what actions will lead to the expected result;
• The output should include the description of the desired result after finishing the test;
• Results of test cases. We can get three results after running test cases: positive, negative, and blocked effects. The first describes the outcome equal to the expected one, the second is the error result, and the blocked one occurs when one of the test execution steps can’t be fulfilled.

The things to avoid in any software testing test cases:

• While writing test cases, avoid unclear formulations;
• Avoid dependencies on the other test cases;
• Excessive details or lack of information that is necessary for passing test cases.

Software testing: financial and banking applications

Testing of financial applications is getting more complex because of the growing number of microservices and other multi-layer connections. A banking and financial application integrates with different regulatory or supplementary applications such as payment gateways, merchants, and trading accounts; the following types of test cases and testing should be written correctly.

Test cases to write when testing financial and banking applications

There are several key types of test cases in QA you can’t avoid dealing with banking and financial applications. Let’s get to the point and outline them.

Functional testing (test case checklist):

• Check if new accounts are created correctly with valid data;
• Use functional testing type to check how an application behaves if the accounts are created with invalid data;
• To make sure your account is secure, check login functionality with invalid data;
• It is essential to check that the app functions from a user’s point of view (whether balance updates after withdrawal or crediting, regular payments saved and performed at a specific time);
• You must test the app in all of its functions from an admin’s point of view too(whether bulk messaging can be sent and analyzed, whether support requests are correctly handled. Use integration testing for that).

Database testing (test case checklist)

• Check if the data is structured correctly;
• Make sure that the field’s data has the correct format;
• Check if the values of computed fields are accurately calculated;
• Check if each table has all needed constraints: primary keys, foreign keys, and unique indexes;
• Сheck if there is duplicate data in the table;
• Don’t be fooled by the null value. Make sure you check if it should exist and not in any other places;
• Ensure that all data is written correctly to the table when a user creates or updates their profile;
• Check application behavior when the database server is not working;
• Ensure that your data isn’t lost after an operation fails; check if the previous history was saved;
• One of the most crucial aspects of maintaining a database is ensuring that you have regular backups. If this process isn’t done on time or at all, your data could be lost forever.

Performance testing (test case checklist)

• Check app performance when lots of users use the same or different functionalities;
• Ensure you check it when running on low battery, medium charge, and if the device has only one percent of power left;
• Check app performance when the connection is slow;
• You can check your app’s performance to see if it slows down or chokes during a transaction. You should also monitor for this when the Internet speed changes from slow, middling speeds all of a sudden becoming fast-loading and reliable.

Regression testing (test case checklist)

• Check the outlines of the requirements vs. types of test cases;
• Check issues between the current release and the previous release;
• Check compliance with FMEA, output from code coverage report, etc.;
• Check regression test packs are continuously pruned by removing the test cases that are no longer needed & add additional ones.

Accessibility testing (test case checklist)

• Check if the labels are correctly written and placed or not;
• Check if the audio/video content is appropriately audible/visible or not;
• Check if the color contrast ratio is maintained or not;
• Check if the control actions for the video are working fine or not;
• Check if the short keys are provided for the menu, then you need to check if all of those are working fine;
• Check for tabs if the navigation between tabs is an easy task;
• Check if the application has followed all the principles and guidelines or not;
• Check if the heading is unique and conveying the meaning & structure or not;
• Check if the link text is written with a content description instead of creating ambiguity;
• Check if a meaningful multimedia caption is provided or not;
• Check if the instructions are given clearly or not;
• Check if the content is clear, concise, and understandable or not.

Security testing (test case checklist)

• Check how the application responds to multiple logins;
• Check if the “Forgot password” option allows you to recover the account details quickly;
• Check if pass requirements are good enough;
• Make sure that IDs and passwords are encrypted;
• Check if the application uses a secure protocol, like HTTPS;
• Check if the pass hides under dots or other signs when the user enters it in the application;
• It is a valuable safety feature to ensure that the user does not remain logged in indefinitely;
• Ensure the application response to cache clearance in such types of test cases

User acceptance testing (test case checklist)

• Check if navigation is intuitive and adjustable at the user interface;
• While writing a user acceptance testing test case, you should check the font and color scheme to make sure that all visual elements match;
• It is crucial to make sure all the pages on the app are using consistent language, so start with checking for terms like “recurring charges” or regular payments;
• Make sure that all of the links and buttons have clear titles;
• Error and warning messages should be self-explanatory, so check that they are.
• Essential fields have placeholders for important information like tips or explanations on avoiding trouble in the future, so adjust the user interface for that too.

Addressing the challenges of writing test cases for financial and banking apps

Challenge 1: Lack of knowledge about compliance requirements in software testing. When writing test cases on security testing, lack of knowledge could result in issues while passing security compliance of the tested financial application.

Challenge 2: Testing sensitive data migration and writing test cases on migration can be challenging for testers who lack knowledge about systems and frameworks. That is why templates for writing functional test cases for banking and financial apps can be a solution.

Applying a professional test case management tool can help address the challenges of writing test cases in software testing: aqua ALM is the solution to help a testing team with compliance requirements, data migration, and test case customization.

Final thoughts

Writing test cases for financial applications can be tricky for a testing team: specific environment of app deployment, lack of compliance knowledge, and complexity of the test cases. Choosing the fit tool for testing banking and financial apps means solving 50% of the problems that might arise when the other 50% of the problem’s solution is a qualified test case management.

Also published here.