FAQ
DO YOU ONLY SELL TO CUSTOMERS, OR ALSO PARTNER WITH TESTING SERVICE PROVIDERS?
It is our goal to make our customers, whether they are end user companies or the testing service providers supporting them, extremely happy with our tools and support. Our partners are listed here, so please take a look and contact them if you are an end-user company and don’t want to use Conformiq yourself.
DO YOU FIT IN AGILE OR WATERFALL (OR OTHER) APPROACHES IN THE SDLC?
Both, including hybrid variants. In a waterfall process, Conformiq models can be created at the time of requirement approval so the test cases would be waiting to execute at first code drop. In an agile process, modeling can be done in parallel with development and test cases then generated immediately for progression (in-sprint testing). Most of our deployments today are in agile projects since there is simply no survival in testing without a lot of automation.
WHO’S THE RIGHT PERSON TO USE YOUR PRODUCTS? BUSINESS ANALYST? TEST ARCHITECT? DEVELOPER?
Who’s the right person to use your products? Business Analyst? Test Analyst? Developer?That answer depends mostly on your project structure. The ideal user is someone who understands the operation of the SUT with some idea of how it needs to be tested. For Conformiq Creator by title, this should be a tester or test engineer. In some cases it is even a test analyst. Generally speaking though test analysts are MBT project leads that supervise model implementation by testers. Business Analysts should be involved to frequently review and advise on the model created by testers.
WE USE AN OPEN SOURCE REQUIREMENT MANAGEMENT SOLUTION. IS YOUR TOOL FLEXIBLE TO INTEGRATE WITH IT?
Yes. As previously mentioned in the answer to another question, Conformiq is built from the ground up to be able to interface with almost any external tool for requirements, test management, and automated test execution. Please check with us to see if this tool is already integrated and, if not, we can quickly scope the effort.
WE HEAVILY USE HP PRODUCTS SUCH AS HP ALM AND UFT. ARE YOU INTEGRATED WITH THEM AND ON WHAT LEVEL?
Conformiq is very tightly integrated with these HP tools. HP requirements and test cases in Test Plan are automatically linked by Conformiq for traceability, test cases are automatically uploaded into HP ALM™ in HP ALM™ format, test scripts such as VBScript are linked to HP QTP™ for automated execution. Additionally, existing record and playback HP QTP™ test case assets can be imported into Conformiq models. Many of our customers use the HP tool chain.
WHO ARE YOUR MAIN COMPETITORS?
Frankly our main competitor is fear of change, i.e., the status quo. Manual test case design works – not well – but change is disruptive. Will I really benefit? Absolutely. Conformiq can provide support and best practices to ensue you achieve excellent results. In the tools space, competition depends on the customer’s needs. There are many low capability tools, but not one that comes anywhere close to matching Conformiq’s ability to automatically generate test cases for automated execution directly from models of the application’s operation, plus the test oracle and known complete model coverage – all at the speed of development. Once the marketing is stripped away, the differences are obvious.
WE ONLY HAVE SOME USE CASES AND USER STORIES CAPTURED IN EXCEL. CAN CONFORMIQ LEVERAGE THESE AND GET MODELS FROM THEM? WE ARE THINKING MAYBE JUST TO USE CONFORMIQ TO CONVERT MANUAL USE CASES INTO HP QTP SCRIPTS. IS THIS POSSIBLE?
No and yes. First, use cases and user stories in Excel can be used by the modeler during manual model creation but there is no automatic model generation. We can LINK user stories to models that are created from flowcharts or recordings and we can also track changes in user stories with respect to the model. Second, manual test case assets can be used to generate scripts for execution in QTP or Selenium and for creation of reusable models.
I HAVE A WEB APPLICATION AND WE USE A HOME-GROWN AUTOMATION TOOL. CAN YOU INTEGRATE WITH IT IF I SEND YOU THE API? I’M LOOKING FOR A TOOL TO AUTOMATICALLY DESIGN MY TEST CASES BUT I ALSO WANT THESE TEST CASES TO BE EXPORTED OR TRANSLATED TO MY EXECUTION ENVIRONMENT. CAN YOU DO THAT?
Yes. The external Conformiq APIs are designed from scratch to interface with almost any automation framework. Our earliest customers all used proprietary frameworks, so this flexibility is built into our software from its inception. The APIs are open, documented, and supported. We can create the interface for you or we can support you doing it.
MY SYSTEM IS NON-GUI. IS YOUR PRODUCT IS STILL A GOOD FIT?
Absolutely yes. GUI modeling is often discussed and demonstrated since that is a common way of testing Enterprise and IT software. But Conformiq supports many layers of operation below the GUI, such as web services, middleware, backend operation, and even down to the protocol level and embedded software such as you will find in automotive and networking equipment.
WE DO NOT HAVE TEST AUTOMATION FRAMEWORK IN PLACE. CAN YOU STILL HELP?
Yes. Conformiq can help in two ways. First, our software can generate test cases for manual execution, not just for automation. Second, we can get you started on a Selenium and QTP test automation framework if you are doing testing of web applications.
DO I NEED TO MODEL THE SYSTEM FROM SCRATCH OR DO YOU SUPPORT TOOL INTEGRATIONS THAT CAN HELP ME JUMP-START MY MODELING EFFORTS?
Conformiq does support use of existing assets that might jump-start your modeling. These assets could include business process models and flowcharts specified in Microsoft Visio™, ARIS, and IBM RSA™, and/or test steps and data in Microsoft Excel™, and/or HP QTP™ and/or Selenium recorded tests, and/or even manual test cases.
WHAT ARE THE LICENSE OPTIONS?
Conformiq offers several license types: time-based and perpetual license terms for named user (NUL), Local Area Network (LAN), and Wide Area Network (WAN) operation.
WHAT IS THE CONFORMIQ TOOL ARCHITECTURE?
Conformiq is client-server based. The Conformiq engine (aka the computation server) can be hosted on the same computer as the client for access by a specific user or on a shared server for use by a local team sequentially on a check-in/check-out basis. The client-server model allows users to run the Conformiq test generation engine also on a different more powerful machine or even in the cloud. Multi-core test generation engine support is standard. For very large model needs, we offer Conformiq Grid which is an option that utilizes a server farm or cloud.
CAN I GET A TRIAL VERSION OF YOUR SOFTWARE?
WHAT TYPE OF TRAINING AND SUPPORT DO YOU PROVIDE?
Conformiq offers a 2 day on-site Creator training class, with a personalized exercise. We also offer virtual training via video conferencing. A training completion certificate is available for all students. Additionally deployment best-practices workshops are available on request.