How Automated Testing Helps Banks Launch Innovations Four Times Faster

Military Bank, a leading commercial bank in Vietnam, is one of the first financial institutions to use Way4 Testing Framework. This automated functional and regression testing tool for card issuing, merchant acquiring, digital wallets and transaction switching was developed by OpenWay. After successfully implementing Way4 TF, the bank cut its time-to-market to a fourth of what it was previously.

Military Bank manages payments on the Way4 platform from OpenWay, a leading digital payments software provider for the Vietnamese market and worldwide. The bank provides card issuing, POS and e-commerce acquiring services to over 10 million cardholders and 2,600 merchants. Military Bank issues virtual cards on Way4 for ViettelPay, the mobile wallet from the largest mobile network operator in Vietnam, Viettel Group. This popular app is used to transfer money, buy air tickets, book hotel rooms, and pay utility bills. With 7 million virtual ViettelPay cards issued, Military Bank has become the largest issuer of virtual cards in the country, accounting for 70% of its overall card portfolio.

Viettel Group is Vietnam’s leading mobile online payment service provider. ViettelPay customers pay for services using virtual cards issued by Military Bank.

Binh Tran Thanh, Head of IT Quality Assurance at Military Bank, explains how implementation of the efficient testing process allowed the bank to launch its payment innovations four times faster.

OpenWay: Why did Military Bank choose Way4 Testing Framework (Way4 TF)?

Binh Tran Thanh: We have been using Way4 for over 10 years now. During this time, we have launched a lot of new services in card issuing, ATM and merchant acquiring on this system. The client base grew by 5 million and there came to be more than 100 different card products in the system. Every time we upgraded the system and launched new customer products, we had to re-test all these products to ensure that the system works well. With limited resources it was impossible, and the system upgrade would take a lot of time. Way4 TF solves the time and resource problem. With this solution, we can define all the test cases and process them very quickly while using few resources.  

OW: How many people in your bank are involved in the testing now?

Binh Tran Thanh: We managed to reduce the number of staff required for testing of the Way4 processing system by two thirds. Now only 3 people from the card center and 2 people from IT Quality Assurance are required.

OW: How did the use of Way4 TF impact time-to-market?

Binh Tran Thanh: Each Way4 release comes with new innovative solutions as well as mandatory functionality required by international payment schemes. For us, it is crucial to deliver these new functionalities on time. Before Way4 TF was implemented, our team could spend up to 4 months on functional testing. There was a lot of manual work. Also, the testing team had to go to the terminals physically to test them. Sometimes there was no terminal of the specific type available for testing, so the testing team had to ask our operations team to create transactions on the production system, which is always risky. Now the entire process takes only a month as most testing procedures are automated, and the ATMs and terminals can be tested remotely.

OW: How does Military Bank use Way4 TF?

Binh Tran Thanh: We use this tool to automate the testing of the whole processing system lifecycle, including functional testing, confirmation testing, maintenance and regression testing. We run test cases for everything from card production and client onboarding to interfaces with payment schemes, basic online operations such as authorization or 3DS authentication and daily procedures such as end-of-day processes.

OW: Are there additional benefits you would like to mention besides the optimization of time and human resources?

Binh Tran Thanh: Sure! I’d like to mention the comprehensiveness of the testing. For our team, it would be impossible to create and test all possible cases manually, while the testing model of the Way4 TF includes already over 1000 ready-to-use test cases. That’s why we can be sure that the quality of testing has improved significantly since Way4 TF implementation.

Also, this tool has educational value. Each testing script in Way4 TF has a step-by-step description. By running these scripts, our testing team can better understand the processing flow of transactions. 

I would like to thank the local and international OpenWay teams for their support. They helped us to understand how Way4 Testing Framework can help us automate the Way4 system testing in the most efficient way, and guided us through the entire process of solution setup, including creating and implementing test cases. That was especially helpful, as the knowledge transfer had to be done remotely because of the pandemic.

Thanks to Way4 Testing Framework, Military Bank can roll out payment innovations to its customers four times faster.

What is Way4 Testing Framework?

Payments rank among the most dynamically developing businesses in the world, with new functionality being added frequently. High-quality testing of payment processing systems should ensure that these systems will run stably without interruption when banks and processors implement new services, update infrastructure or increase processing volumes.

Way4 Testing Framework is a software tool for banks and processors for automated functional and regression testing of all solutions for payment business, such as card issuing, merchant acquiring, digital wallets and transaction switching solutions.

Way4 TF helps users to:

• Prepare for certification by international payment systems and mandatory updates (such as 3DS v.2 testing)

• Test software updates and changes to system or bank infrastructure configuration

• Model issues encountered in the production environment

• Add new functionality quicker and on a more regular basis

Way4 TF is an end-to-end testing environment that emulates the actual payment processing system environment as closely as possible, including generation of test data, emulation of online interfaces to devices, payment systems, and ready-to-use test cases.