Case Study - Compunnel.com

Case Study
Case Study
Performance Testing of Medical Association Builder Portal
US-based Non-profit Medical Association (Healthcare)
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© 2014 Compunnel Software Group
Successful Web 2.0 Platform Launch with Compunnel’s Performance Testing Services Case Study
Our Customer
Our customer is a non-profit professional healthcare membership organization with a total of five
regional chapters representing more than 3,500 members across the United States.
The customer implemented a collaborative portal that brings an entirely new level of “Web 2.0”
interactivity to individuals enabling them to collaborate and communicate their interests into a broader
community of thought. The collaborative Web 2.0 is based on the framework of association builder
that enables Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) to invite and establish peer-to-peer connectivity, drive
bidirectional exchange of content, and foster stronger peer-to-peer engagement to accelerate
diffusion and learning around emerging science.
With the release of the first association builder installation, the customer and its community of 3,500
interdisciplinary medical specialists achieved the first critical milestone in the quest to deploy a
medical workspace on the internet, tailored to the needs of lipid experts worldwide.
The Customer’s Challenges
Starting with a peer-to-peer collaboration model, the customer wanted to extend the portal to an
association-to-association collaboration mode. To deliver a seamless experience to members using
this portal, the customer identified that performance testing is critical to the success of the application.
Key challenges that the customer faced were:
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Unavailability of a central team dedicated to testing business critical applications
Lack of proficiency in testing leading to many test iterations and hence high resource costs
Strict timelines due to aggressive launch dates
Extended association-to-association model led to inability in predicting the volume of users
Application was expected to be integrated with disparate external systems and hence very
low platform predictability
Approach to Performance Testing
Compunnel defined a holistic phase-by-phase approach ensuring a standardized testing framework
to deliver predictability and consistency. Our framework took a predictive approach with emphasis on
detailed analysis and planning before starting the actual testing. Key milestones of our approach
were:
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Discovery Stage - Tool identification, test bed definition, and establish performance
scenarios
Test Environment Setup Stage - Test bed setup, performance test script development, and
baseline benchmarking
Script Execution – Stress and load test with incremental load
Reporting - Analysis and final recommendations
Best practices adopted were:
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Traceability from test requirements, test cases, and defects were managed in a traceability
matrix
Quality, productivity, effort, and schedule metrics were monitored at all stages
Periodic reviews and regular customer feedback was gathered
© 2014 Compunnel Software Group
Customer at a glance:
- A multi-disciplinary
medical society focused
on enhancing the practice
of lipid management in
clinical medicine.
- Specialty society
including physicians (MD
and DO), as well as allied
health clinical team
members including PhD
researchers, nurses,
physician assistants,
pharmacists, and
dietitians.
- Total of five regional
chapters representing
more than 3,500 members
from across the United
States.
Compunnel’s Performance Testing Solution
Compunnel’s Performance Testing Solution:
Compunnel used HP LoadRunner 9.1 as an automated performance testing tool. After a preliminary
analysis, Compunnel’s test team set up a test environment for emulating concurrent users to put the
application through user-loads.
Key aspects of the Web 2.0 application that were considered during the performance testing were:
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The ability of the application to integrate platform services using APIs developed in-house
The website was designed to be cross-browser compatible
That several APIs were developed for communication with various spin-off second generation
platform applications such as Client/Society Sandbox Toolbar, widgets, and mobile access
Key milestones covered during the design and execution stages were:
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Test Bed Setup & Test Scripting
Creation of Test Scenarios Selection for Performance Testing
Script Development for Individual and Mixed Scenarios
Script Execution with 5,000 concurrent users
Analysis and report preparation
Final recommendation and performance report shared with the client
The application was tested for:
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Response time of API calls with varied applications
Concurrent user-load simulated from 200 to 5,000 users
Time for page load at different load levels
Application environment optimization and re-tests for post-optimization results
Results
After detailed testing and analysis, observations were shared around Average Transaction Response
time, CPU: Controller and Database Server, and Memory Usage: Controller and Agent Machines.
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© 2014 Compunnel Software Group
Case Study
Application Specifications:
- Programming Language:
PHP 5.0
- Third Party Tools: FCK
editor, Dolphin CMS,
PhpBB, Wiki
- Payment Gateway:
Authorize.net
- Database: MySQL 5.0
- OS: Linux Redhat,
Apache
- Test Tool: HP
LoadRunner 9.1
Predicting system behavior and application performance to accelerate medical
community partnerships
Case Study
- Simulated performance
testing with a user-load of
200 through 5,000 users.
- Accelerating API
response time by an
average of 22%.
- Extended Web 2.0 to the
realms of online medical
workspace through
performance testing.
Test results and corrective measures were recommended to the customer for optimizing application
performance.
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© 2014 Compunnel Software Group
Case Study
Business Benefits
The association builder Web 2.0 portal was a complex application. The application was intended to
perform well in a peer-to-peer model and also in an association-to-association model. As a result of
Compunnel’s holistic performance testing solution, the customer was able to identify critical
application performance bottlenecks and fine tune the application to overcome such areas. Key
business benefits realized by the customer are:
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Due to the application performance recommendations, the customer was able to deliver a
seamless experience and productive platform to its KOLs and association members
The optimized application was able to support the customer’s plans of expansion for regional and
national chapters
The customer was able to integrate with additional medical communities and establish a
transparent and seamless level of exchange among scientific communities
The Web 2.0 association builder collaborative portal was a huge success in the customer’s quest
in deploying a medical workspace on the internet
Early performance testing of the association builder portal proved catalytic in transforming the idea of
a strategic model to accelerate healthcare advocacy, education, and engagement into reality.
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© 2014 Compunnel Software Group
- Predicting the system
behavior and
performance, led to
optimization of the
complete Web 2.0 portal.
- Transformed the
reputation of the medical
association as thought
leaders by delivering a
seamless user experience
and productivity results.
- Reduced costs through
zero downtime and ability
to fix issues early.
Case Study
The Compunnel Difference
Compunnel – The Right Choice
Compunnel has been providing successful customer outcomes to global organizations for almost 20
years. Backed by deep domain expertise in multiple industries, we offer specialized quality assurance
solutions along with exceptional project management based on processes perfected over the duration
of Compunnel’s existence.
Compunnel provides consultative advice on the most effective approaches and ways to save on
costs. We explain how we will ensure that each project is primed for success. We provide roadmap
assessments and consultative guidance, discovery, design, building, deployment and operational
support. Compunnel works from a foundation focused on data governance and architecture. We
provide highly specialized and cost-effective teams–drawing from our expert IT resources of 1,000+
worldwide. We help organizations significantly reduce costs, typically up to 40% less, with our flexible
onsite and offshore model.
For more information about Compunnel’s
Quality Assurance Services,
visit www.compunnel.com, call (800) 696-8128 or email us at
[email protected].
Compunnel Software Group is a leading global business technology services company. Recognized
for our comprehensive portfolio of technology services and outsourcing solutions, we combine
extensive industry knowledge with highly tailored application development and information
management services.
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Development
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© 2014 Compunnel Software Group
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Intelligence
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Compunnel is a leading
provider of Independent
Quality Assurance and
Software Testing services.
For almost 20 years, we
have been helping our
esteemed customers,
improve IT quality
management and
deployment, maintain
control over constant
changes and reduce
delivery costs with our
combined onsite and
offshore model.