01 The challenge
A new origination platform with a non-negotiable go-live date
The client needed a Release 1.0 home equity loan application deployed into a live call center inside a calendar quarter. The system integrated a Java / WebLogic front end, an Oracle database, a Netscape gateway, and a mainframe credit-scoring service accessed over MQ. Call Center agents would use it live, on the phone, with customers.
A failure in any of the integration points, scoring, application state, document generation at the downstream origination platform, would not just reject a loan; it would burn a real customer conversation. Negative business scenarios, capacity under concurrent agent load, and compatibility with the exact Fairbanks call-center desktop configuration all had to be covered in weeks, not months.
The bank had an in-house QA team and a beta program already running in Fairbanks, but needed an independent system-test organization with the discipline to run a fixed-date release to real exit criteria.
02 What we did
A six-cycle system test program with hard criteria
Rex Black Inc. authored the system test plan and led the Minneapolis Test Group through six weekly build cycles. The plan defined exactly what was in scope (positive use cases, capacity, configuration, client desktop compatibility, scoring integration, origination status communication) and exactly what was not (negative use cases, localization, operations, documentation) so stakeholders never had to argue what "done" meant.
System test entry required the bug tracker in place, source and configuration under formal management, all environments stood up, unit test complete, and fewer than ten must-fix bugs open, all named, all auditable. Continuation criteria forced release notes on every build and twice-weekly bug reviews. Exit criteria required three consecutive weeks without a server-side crash or halt, all must-fix bugs resolved, and an open/close curve showing stability.
The test lab ran LoadRunner virtual-user clients for capacity and performance alongside cloned Call Center agent desktops for manual functional work. Three regions, the loan-app QA region, the scoring QA region, and the origination reference region, were used in every cycle to verify end-to-end loan flow against the legacy system as the reference oracle.
What we delivered
- Master system test plan with IS / IS-NOT scope, definitions, and setting
- Quality risks framed around positive use cases from the home equity business line
- Schedule of milestones: unit test, smoke build, six build cycles, UAT, go-live
- System test entry, continuation, and exit criteria tied to bug-backlog and release-notes discipline
- Test configurations for LoadRunner virtual user clients and Call Center desktop clients
- Test execution process: test cycles, human resources, escalation process with full contact list
- Test case and bug tracking process, release management, risks and contingencies
03 The outcome
Release 1.0, six build cycles, exit criteria that actually held.
System test exited on schedule. User Acceptance Test ran in the planned two-week window, and the go/no-go decision shipped on the date in the plan. The exit criteria held, the release was not rushed past the stability bar; the stability bar was met.
The test plan itself became the template reused on subsequent releases of the same product family and is available (scrubbed) as part of the QA Library.
04 From the QA Library
The test plan behind this engagement
The full, sanitized system test plan, the one actually used on this program, is available as a gated download in the QA Library.