Methods and systems for monitoring quality assurance

#The present invention relates generally to the field of computer software, and more particularly, methods and systems for testing and monitoring quality and performance of systems. The systems may include loosely coupled systems, such as web-based systems and business-to-business (B2B) systems.

#The advent of the Internet has led to the proliferation of loosely coupled systems.

#These systems use the connectivity provided by the Internet to collaborate to achieve a common business goal. Many businesses rely on such systems to make their products available to existing as well as potential customers over the Internet. For example, web-based systems offer businesses the ability to reach a large audience and offer new services with reduced time-to-market, while B2B systems allow several businesses to collaborate to achieve common business objectives. To stay competitive, businesses strive to develop and offer new services faster than their competitors. As the time-to-market for these businesses shorten, the data as well as the software that implements these systems may change frequently. Unfortunately, such frequent changes may introduce new defects or software bugs. These defects or software bugs may cause certain services to be inaccessible or fail, resulting in loss of sales and revenue for businesses.

#In the Figures:

#FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

#FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a client monitor, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

#Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiment of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts.

#In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a monitoring system is provided for monitoring a loosely coupled system, such as a web-based system and/or a business-to-business (B2B) system. The loosely coupled system may include, for example, a first process running on a first computer and a second process running on a second computer. The first and second processes may communicate with each other by exchanging hierarchically structured data (HSD) using a predefined protocol. An example of a web-based system may include a web server and a web browser exchanging HyperText Markup Language (HTML) messages using a HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP). An example of a B2B-based system may include two business processes exchanging Extensible Markup Language (XML) messages via a direct Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) socket. An example of a wireless-based system may include a wireless application server and a wireless client exchanging Wireless Markup Language (WML) messages using a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP).

#The monitoring system may include a client monitor and a server monitor, which may communicate with each other over a network to monitor the loosely coupled system. In the case of a web-based system, the monitoring system may monitor exchanges between a web client and a web server to determine quality and performance of the web-based system. The exchanges may include objects and other associated information about the objects, such as attributes of the objects along with information about actions performed on the objects. An object may include any item that may be selected and/or manipulated, such as text, shapes, pictures, books, documents, software, etc. In a web-based system, an object may include, for example, a link displayed on a web page, a search field in a form, a radio list in a form, a check box in a form, a form, text on a web page, or an entire web page.