BUSINESS CHALLENGE

The University operated on several core enterprise systems – Dynamics CRM, PeopleSoft, and ServiceNow each supporting critical academic, administrative, and student functions. Over time, these systems evolved independently with distinct testing practices, inconsistent regression coverage, and limited integration visibility across platforms. With major transformation programs planned, the university faced growing challenges in assuring quality across interdependent systems:

• Absence of a unified test strategy, leading to inconsistent approaches and duplicated effort.
• Limited automation maturity, resulting in long regression cycles and delayed releases.
• Inadequate visibility into test coverage and defect trends across platforms.
• No single source of truth for test assets, making traceability to business requirements difficult.
• Manual effort dependency, increasing the risk of human error during frequent release cycles

Given the scale and complexity of the ecosystem, the university sought to establish a comprehensive automation test strategy that could bring structure, efficiency, and risk transparency across its enterprise testing operations.

STRATEGIC SOLUTION

Adactin was engaged to design and implement an enterprise-grade automation test strategy that would align with the university’s digital roadmap, governance model, and delivery cadence. The engagement aimed to provide a structured and scalable approach to test automation while integrating seamlessly into the university’s existing DevOps ecosystem.

The solution followed a four-phase consulting and implementation methodology, combining risk-based prioritisation, cross-platform assessment, and future-ready automation enablement.

Assessment & Discovery

Adactin conducted in-depth discovery workshops across business, functional, and technical stakeholders to baseline current testing practices and pain points. The activities included:

• Reviewing existing test artefacts and understanding automation maturity across Dynamics CRM,
  PeopleSoft, and ServiceNow.
• Identifying business-critical user journeys and workflows essential for student enrolment, HR, finance,
  and service operations.
• Mapping testing processes, environments, and toolchain dependencies.
• Assessing test data management practices and environment stability constraints.
• Performing a readiness assessment to evaluate skills, tools, and infrastructure required for automation
  scale-up.

Framework Design & Tool Integration

Building on the assessment findings, Adactin designed a unified automation framework to standardise testing across UI and API layers. The framework was architected for reusability, maintainability, and ease of integration with the university’s CI/CD environment. Key design elements included:

• Centralised test repository integrating Tricentis Tosca with qTest and GitHub Actions.
• Reusable test component libraries for Dynamics CRM, PeopleSoft, and ServiceNow.
• API-level test suites to validate integration points between systems.
• Integration with GitHub Actions pipelines for automated nightly and on-demand regression runs.
• Unified reporting layer using open-source dashboards (Power BI, Grafana) for real-time visibility

This framework enabled cross-platform test consistency, significantly reducing duplication and manual effort while establishing a foundation for scalable regression automation.

Risk-Based Test Prioritisation

Recognising that full automation coverage was neither immediate nor cost-effective, Adactin applied its proven Risk-Based Testing (RBT) methodology to define automation priorities.

The RBT model quantified risk using three dimensions – Business Impact, Failure Probability, and Complexity of Recovery – allowing the university to focus automation efforts where they deliver the highest value.

Activities included:

• Categorising all processes and user journeys by business criticality and risk exposure.
• Mapping test cases to risk categories (High, Medium, Low) to drive sequencing and resource focus.
• Prioritising early automation for high-impact workflows – e.g., student enrolment, admissions, payroll,
  and service requests.
• Leveraging risk metrics to guide ongoing regression selection and continuous test optimisation.

This structured approach ensured early automation benefits, reduced time-to-value, and maximised return on investment.

Governance, Reporting, & Continuous Improvement

To ensure long-term sustainability, Adactin established a governance framework that defined roles, reporting cadence, and continuous improvement mechanisms. Key governance deliverables included:

• Test automation operating model covering ownership, standards, and maintenance procedures.
• Execution dashboards providing end-to-end visibility of results, coverage, and defect leakage.
• Continuous learning framework enabling the university’s internal QA teams to independently extend
  automation.
• Defined metrics and KPIs to measure automation success – including coverage %, reusability index,
  defect turnaround time, and cycle time reduction

Through knowledge transfer and capability uplift, the university’s QA teams were empowered to manage and scale automation within their delivery streams.

BUSINESS OUTCOMES

The engagement delivered measurable improvements in testing efficiency, governance, and release confidence:

• Unified Strategy – A single, enterprise-wide automation strategy aligning all three platforms under a
  consistent delivery and governance model.
• Accelerated Regression – Regression execution time reduced by up to 45% in early iterations.
• Risk Visibility – RBT-driven prioritisation improved transparency into business-critical coverage.
• Cross-Platform Validation – End-to-end business process coverage across CRM, PeopleSoft, and
  ServiceNow.
• Actionable Insights – Real-time reporting and dashboards enabled data-driven release decisions.
• Knowledge Transfer – The QA teams trained and equipped to own and expand automation
  independently.

References

• Frameworks: Adactin Automation Framework, Risk-Based Testing (RBT) Model
• Tools: Tricentis Tosca, qTest, GitHub Actions, Power BI, Grafana
• Technologies Covered: Microsoft Dynamics CRM, PeopleSoft, ServiceNow
• Governance Model: Continuous Integration (CI/CD) with test data and results management
• Methodology Alignment: Risk-Informed Automation and Continuous Quality Enablement