Test Case Reuse in Enterprise Software Implementation -- An Experience Report

Organizations are making substantial investments in Enterprise Software Implementation (ESI). IT service providers (ITSP) execute a large number of ESI projects, and these projects tend to have severe cost and schedule constraints. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is an ITSP that has developed a reusable test case repository with an objective of reducing the cost of testing in ESI projects. We conducted a study of the reuse program to analyze its impact. A set of metrics were defined and relevant data was gathered from users of the repository. In this paper, we document the findings of the study. Users of this repository have reported cost savings of up to 14.5% in their test design efforts. We describe the repository structure, reuse metrics and experience gained through reuse. We motivate the need for further research on test notations/meta-models for transaction-oriented business applications and variability management within these models.