Challenges in Testing Banking Apps And Their Solutions

The number of banking apps is growing and snowballing. This sector is actively developing, because a huge number of companies and their clients are convinced that the use of such applications greatly simplifies maintenance. At the same time, the number of hacker attacks has increased significantly. In the first quarter of 2022 alone, the number of attacks increased by 226%. This has led to a rapid rise in the importance of testing in the financial sector.

The most common problems in testing banking applications

The main task of testers is to determine whether the software can perform its functions, serve customer needs efficiently, and identify the slightest vulnerabilities. They must identify the slightest errors that could negatively affect the quality of the software before they become noticeable to users. In the case of banking applications, this is quite difficult to do due to the specifics of how such software works. 

Huge number of third-party integrations

Building test scenarios for banking applications can be quite complex due to the huge number of third-party integrations. Such applications integrate with a host of third-party systems, such as bill payment or merchant accounts or account verification systems. And as a rule of thumb, a tester needs to have a good understanding of various such integration products as a separate entity to have an idea of what can cause potential errors and prevent them onshore.

Many functions with complex logic

Most banking applications must perform a large number of functions, which are often driven by complex logic. For example, even the user entering a few digits can trigger a fairly complex calculation algorithm. In addition, many functions require access to large databases.

Expanding the functionality of banking applications

The financial sector is developing at great speed. To keep your business competitive, you need to constantly add new features. Introducing new modules into complex software can be a real challenge for testers, as they need to evaluate the functionality of the module itself, its compatibility with existing code, and determine whether it can perform its intended function.

Best practices for ensuring high-quality software

Ensuring high-quality software is essential and adhering to best practices can significantly enhance a software product’s reliability, performance, and user satisfaction. Quality software minimizes bugs and errors, leading to improved customer trust and user experience. Adopting rigorous testing methodologies, such as unit testing, integration testing, and user acceptance testing, can identify issues early in the development process, allowing for timely resolution. For those seeking to enhance their software quality, following these best practices can result in robust, high-performance applications. You can find more detailed information on these practices in the provided link – https://testfort.com/fintech-and-banking. Let’s look at what practices to use to ensure high-quality software.

Early requirements and design analysis

Before starting work on a project, specialists study the software requirements, determine how clear they are, how correct they are, and whether they can be verified. They study the project’s infrastructure and determine what tools were used in the development process and what standards it must meet.

In parallel with requirements analysis, specialists begin to think through testing design. This should cover all application states and avoid any inconsistencies between different platforms.

It is worth introducing testing in the early stages of development. Errors often accumulate like a snowball; the sooner you notice them, the faster and easier it will be for you to correct them, and the less money and effort you will spend on them.

The general structure of test cases

Experienced specialists develop a general structure for writing test cases and case studies. This leads to the fact that writing such test cases takes less time and reduces the risk of errors due to the human factor. In addition, the same structure simplifies work within a team, which is especially important if several specialists are working on one project.

Test automation

Implementing automated tests has a huge number of advantages, among the most important:

• Optimization of financial costs;
• Deeper code analysis;
• The check is carried out in the background;
• Avoiding errors due to the human factor;
• Identification of the slightest errors, even the most insignificant at first glance.

Automating many tests is another important aspect of ensuring flawless software quality. Of course, there is no need to automate all processes; there are important aspects of the software that should be entrusted to manual testing (for example, checking the quality of the interface), but there are points that need to be automated, these include performance, compatibility or security level.

It is worth saying that automated testing is developing at tremendous speed. There is an opinion that in the next 5 years, the share of automatic testing will be 90%.

Testing before release

The release of software is one of the most important stages of development and it must be of excellent quality by this time. Often, in pursuit of deadlines, developers abandon the final stage of testing, which often leads to irreparable consequences. In any case, before releasing your product into the world, you should make sure that it is of impeccable quality.