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VKB Group: Driving consistent standardization and increasing testing efficiency
Technology Category
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Database Management & Storage
Applicable Functions
- Quality Assurance
- Product Research & Development
Use Cases
- Regulatory Compliance Monitoring
- Predictive Quality Analytics
Services
- System Integration
- Software Design & Engineering Services
The Challenge
VKB Group, Germany’s largest public insurer, was facing challenges in optimizing its software testing. The company's software development teams were experiencing slow test runs when evaluating new features for their mission-critical core insurance applications. The large volumes of data used for testing often resulted in incomplete test runs that had to be restarted, causing delays in productivity and potentially delaying the release of new functionalities. VKB Group aimed to streamline its internal workflows and enable software development teams to test new features and fixes with a smaller set of standardized data, helping to speed up cycle times and improve the agility of development processes.
About The Customer
Versicherungskammer Bayern is part of the VKB Group, Germany’s largest public insurer. The company is among the nation’s top ten primary insurers, and collected EUR7.6 billion (USD8.9 billion) in premiums in 2015 (provisional data). Its regional subsidiaries operate in Bavaria, Palatinate, Saarland, Berlin and Brandenburg. In conjunction with other public insurers, the firm offers health insurance nationwide. VKB Group has earned recognition as a family-friendly company, and employs around 6,800 people including more than 350 apprentices.
The Solution
VKB Group deployed IBM InfoSphere Optim Test Data Management and IBM InfoSphere Optim Data Privacy to streamline its software testing workflows. The solutions were connected to its main IBM DB2 for z/OS database running on an IBM z Systems server, to IBM DB2 for Linux, UNIX and Windows, and also to some other database instances. The new solution has streamlined testing at VKB Group, enabling testers to work with smaller, standardized data sets that can accelerate testing. The implementation of the test data management solution has enabled VKB Group to introduce more self-service capabilities for testers and drive more automated test data management, saving time and improving testing quality.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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