US 7,607,045 B2Granted

System and method for testing a modification to a process using a simulator

AssigneeAmerican Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc.

InventorsRandy S. Mills, Ronald E. Dressler, Kevin D. Sagis, Rajesh Sugumaran, Jayjit Das

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Abstract

A method of testing a process that has undergone modification. The process consists of multiple steps, and execution of the process involves interaction with multiple interfacing systems. A step consists of, e.g., sending a transmission to an interfacing system. The process is executed in normal fashion by sending transmissions to interfacing systems and obtaining responses to the transmissions from the interfacing systems. The transmissions and the responses thereto obtained from the interfacing systems are stored in a simulator. After the process is modified by modifying a step of the process, the modified process is executed in such a manner that transmissions are sent to the simulator rather than to the interfacing systems. The simulator sends responses to the transmissions. It is determined whether the responses received from the simulator are the expected responses, based on the modification made to the process.

Claims21

Dependent claims

A method of testing a process that has undergone modification, comprising:

(A) performing a first step in the process by transmitting a first transmission from an application to a first interfacing system, and obtaining a first response to the first transmission from the first interfacing system;
(B) performing a second step in the process by transmitting a second transmission from the application to the first or a second interfacing system, and obtaining a second response to the second transmission from the interfacing system to which the second transmission was transmitted;
(C) storing the first transmission or data based on the first transmission, the second transmission or data based on the second transmission, the first response or data based on the first response, and the second response or data based on the second response in a simulator adapted to transmit a response in response to a transmission, based on content of the transmission, so as to simulate transmission of a response from an interfacing system;
and
(D) after the first transmission or the data based on the first transmission, the second transmission or the data based on the second transmission, the first response or the data based on the first response, and the second response or the data based on the second response have been stored in the simulator and the process has been modified by modifying the second step of the process, testing the modified process by (i) performing the first step in the modified process by retransmitting the first transmission from the application to the simulator, and performing the modified second step in the modified process by retransmitting the second transmission from the application, and (ii) determining whether a response from the simulator to the retransmission of the first transmission and/or a response to the retransmission of the second transmission are expected responses, based on the modification made to the second step.

2 more elements

A computer program product comprising a computer-usable medium having control logic stored therein for causing a computer to test a process that has undergone modification, the control logic comprising:

first computer-readable program code for causing the computer to perform a first step in the process by transmitting a first transmission from an application to a first interfacing system, and obtaining a first response to the first transmission from the first interfacing system;
second computer-readable program code for causing the computer to perform a second step in the process by transmitting a second transmission from the application to the first or a second interfacing system, and obtaining a second response to the second transmission from the interfacing system to which the second transmission was transmitted;
third computer-readable program code for causing the computer to store the first transmission or data based on the first transmission, the second transmission or data based on the second transmission, the first response or data based on the first response, and the second response or data based on the second response in a simulator adapted to transmit a response in response to a transmission, based on content of the transmission, so as to simulate transmission of a response from an interfacing system;
and
fourth computer-readable program code for, after the first transmission or the data based on the first transmission, the second transmission or the data based on the second transmission, the first response or the data based on the first response, and the second response or the data based on the second response have been stored in the simulator and the process has been modified by modifying the second step of the process, causing the computer to test the modified process by (i) performing the first step in the modified process by retransmitting the first transmission from the application to the simulator, and performing the modified second step in the modified process by retransmitting the second transmission from the application, and (ii) determining whether a response from the simulator to the retransmission of the first transmission and/or a response to the retransmission of the second transmission are expected responses, based on the modification made to the second step.

2 more elements

A system for testing a process that has undergone modification, comprising:

a recording unit for:
(A) performing a first step in the process by transmitting a first transmission from an application to a first interfacing system, and obtaining a first response to the first transmission from the first interfacing system;
(B) performing a second step in the process by transmitting a second transmission from the application to the first or a second interfacing system, and obtaining a second response to the second transmission from the interfacing system to which the second transmission was transmitted;
and
(C) storing the first transmission or data based on the first transmission, the second transmission or data based on the second transmission, the first response or data based on the first response, and the second response or data based on the second response in a simulator adapted to transmit a response in response to a transmission, based on content of the transmission, so as to simulate transmission of a response from an interfacing system;
and
a simulation unit for:
(D) after the first transmission or the data based on the first transmission, the second transmission or the data based on the second transmission, the first response or the data based on the first response, and the second response or the data based on the second response have been stored in the simulator and the process has been modified by modifying the second step of the process, testing the modified process by (i) performing the first step in the modified process by retransmitting the first transmission from the application to the simulator, and performing the modified second step in the modified process by retransmitting the second transmission from the application, and (ii) determining whether a response from the simulator to the retransmission of the first transmission and/or a response to the retransmission of the second transmission are expected responses, based on the modification made to the second step.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.