Testing before rollout, monitoring during operation

Un enterprises across all industries depend on optimal service quality for business-critical applications to ensure smooth business processes. Every day, IT managers are responsible for ensuring that application services are available to users worldwide in a stable manner and with high performance. Many companies use a monitoring solution to identify and quickly correct errors that occur during ongoing application operation. Less established is the use of solutions for automated software testing to eliminate bugs and eliminate performance problems before application services go live, in short: to avoid errors. Companies that methodically follow the principle of error prevention in the quality assurance of applications gain a clear economic advantage by a noticeable reduction in error costs. In most cases, software is tested manually, if at all, and this requires a great deal of time and personnel. Automated software testing not only conserves human resources, but also eliminates human error in the execution of the tests. The investment in an appropriate test automation tool is therefore worthwhile. Comprehensive quality assurance of business-critical applications must methodically integrate the aspects "testing before rollout" and "monitoring during operation". Ideally, companies use an application performance management solution that covers both error prevention and error correction.

Application Performance Management solutions - what the market offers
The study "Vendor Selection Matrix - Next Generation Application Performance Management" by the analyst firm "Research in Action" provides guidance on the current situation on the market for application performance management solution providers. ServiceTracer software also made it into the top 10 APM solution providers worldwide. The ServiceTracer software is based on the concept of a "virtual user" who operates applications like a real user and precisely and objectively records their functionality, availability and performance from the user's perspective. The software is used for quality assurance of business-critical applications in both their test and live environments. In this way, IT management can implement preventive and sustainable quality assurance of business-critical applications around their service lifecycle with little effort.

Test Automation, Application Performance Monitoring, Service Reporting
Even before the rollout to global live operation, the virtual user performs functional software tests, system integration tests, load tests and predeployment tests, thus ensuring the required functionality, scalability and performance at regionally and globally distributed locations and thus supporting a fast, clean and quality-checked handover of the application services to live operation (continuous delivery). In this way, the APM solution promotes optimal collaboration between development and operations (DevOps). Once the applications have gone live, ServiceTracer monitors the quality of service for users around the clock by measuring the availability and response times of business-critical transactions, such as logging into the SAP system, calling up a Citrix terminal session or loading a web shop. Application managers have an overview of the service quality at all user locations at all times and receive immediate notifications when critical performance values are reached. Automatically generated and sent reports inform customers, management, departments or other addressees about the delivered service quality in a defined period of time with clear graphical representations.

Universal, safe, simple
The software can be used universally for all applications, regardless of whether they are SAP, Office programs, web-based applications, services in Citrix terminal environments or on-premise solutions. The application performance measurements run as hidden Windows sessions, safe from unauthorized access, and deliver valid measurement data even if exceptions to the measurement routine occur, such as popups when updates and patches are applied or failures of a monitored application. Even complex processes for automated software tests or application monitoring are set up simply and intuitively as graphical workflows, so that no special programming or scripting knowledge is required. Key users from the specialist departments can set up the workflows for software tests and monitoring themselves in line with their own business processes and adapt them to changes in the applications or business processes with just a few clicks (IT business alignment). A central, web-based and multi-client capable administration enables a simple transfer of the workflows from the development and QA to the live environment of the application services.