Testing

Author: Shradha Mishra

  • The Agile Way – A Strategic Move of Planning by Subex

    The Agile Way – A Strategic Move of Planning by Subex

    Why Agile?

    Agile methodology is based on 4 values and 12 principles.

    Agile values: It explores better ways of developing software

    • Individual interactions over processes and tools
      • People and interactions are valued.For instance: In estimation work, we value interaction and conversation more than the actual estimate.
    • Working software over comprehensive documentation
      • Create a shared understanding by having more conversations with the stakeholders
    • Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
      • Collaborate more with the customer. Work with the customer and client throughout the project to create a win-win situation.
    • Responding to change over following a Plan
      • We need to be able to respond to change as they happen in complex situations.

    What are the 12 principles of Agile project management?

    Agile

    SCRUM | KANBAN|SCRUMBAN

    The framework follows different AGILE Methodologies which can continuously improve the product, team, and working environment.

    1. SCRUM- Framework which lets us execute different AGILE Processes, SCRUM can continuously improve the product, team, and working environment. SCRUM framework consists of associated roles, artifacts, events, and rules.
    2. KANBAN– It works on lean principles; it helps deliver orders continuously with efficient use of resources. It is simply whiteboards, paper cards, or post-it notes.
    3. SCRUMBAN– It’s a hybrid of Scrum and Kanban. Scrumban is an Agile management methodology that is a hybrid of Scrum and Kanban. The name Scrumban comes as a combination of [Scrum + (Kan)ban]. Scrumban was developed to make it easier for existing Scrum teams to transition to Kanban and explore lean methodologies.
    4. Scrumban combines the structure of Scrum with the flow-based methods and visualization of Kanban.

    Features of the methodologies

    Features SCRUM KANBAN SCRUMBAN
    Rule Very descriptive Not descriptive Descriptive
    Board Reset of each sprint Used Continuously Used Continuously
    Role Scrum Master, Product Owner & the team Specialized team Specialized team
    Iteration 1-4 weeks sprint Need based Need based
    Planning Sprint Planning On-demand & release planning On-demand & release planning
    Task estimation Done before each sprint During planning (Optional) Optional
    Task assignment Assigned to the team Taken by team members Taken by team members
    Prioritization By Refining Backlog By priority columns By Priority Columns
    Task Limits Limited by Sprints Limited by WIP Limited by WIP
    Meeting Planned & Mandatory On-demand & Optional On-demand & Optional
    Performance Metrics Burndown Chart Lead & Cycle time Cumulative flow Lead & Cycle time Average Cycle time

    Waterfall and Agile: The key differentiators

    Waterfall methodology has been followed for ages where project deliverables occurred in succession. In the waterfall development project, each of these represents a distinct stage of software development, and each stage generally finishes before the next one can begin.

    There is also typically a stage gate between each; for example, requirements must be reviewed and approved by the customer before design can begin.

    The key differentiators:

    Waterfall Agile
    Deliver result only at end of the project Deliver result early & often continuously
    Perfect for long term projects Perfect for IT & SW Projects
    Change must be managed & controlled; it impacts projects negatively Enable Change more easily on projects
    End project is defined & fixed Support changing request either in market or technologies
    Deliver by task in succession Deliver in sprints

    The benefits of Agile methodology

    We all are aware by now AGILE delivers value on an incremental basis. It does match the dynamic business requirement. However, it does come with certain challenges. The possible challenges with respect to using AGILE include:

    1. It changes the Org Structure
    2. Teams need to be reframed
    3. It works heavily on collaboration and needs less documentation

    The key Agile metrics

    Although the specific criteria to look for will vary depending on the size, maturity, and goals of your organization, be sure that your Agile software solution includes the following aspects:

    1. Visual management
    2. Lean and Agile metrics
    3. Hierarchical structure
    4. Ability to integrate with existing tools
    5. Enables communication
    6. Easy to update and interact with

    The flow of Agile Methodology

    Agile

    How Subex uses the Agile process to drive customer success?

    Subex has adopted a hybrid model of delivery to assess the requirements and deliver the project on or before the stipulated duration. A significant benefit Subex is experiencing on account of the transition from Waterfall to Agile is Revenue Realization into the corresponding Sprints. Here are some of the key benefits:

    1. More Focus
    2. Reduced Cost
    3. More Transparency
    4. Better Quality
    5. High Productivity

    Agile methods generally allow for faster iteration and more frequent releases with subsequent user feedback that can be worked into future development. Waterfall methods tend to greatly lessen the number and severity of errors that will affect the end-user.

    So, in many cases, the optimum project combination incorporates significant planning and QA input early in the development process to mitigate errors while introducing Agile processes to the release schedule and user feedback opportunities, allowing for faster and more controlled improvements.

    At Subex, our customers are at the heart of everything we do, and we utilize every opportunity to empower them to succeed. Our agile approach enables our customers with the speed, agility, and rapid innovation required to get the desired business results. With a structured and iterative agile approach, we, at Subex are committed to delivering winning solutions that inspire trust and help our customers succeed.

    Want to know how we empower leading telecom operators to drive growth? Get in touch with us!

    Connect with us here

  • Agility, Tools & Best Practices of ETL

    Agility, Tools & Best Practices of ETL

    What is ETL and why do we need it?

    ETL is an advanced & mature way of doing data integration. We need to extract the data from heterogeneous sources & turn them into a unified format. In the subsequent steps, data is being cleaned & validated against a predefined set of rules.

    ETL projects a considerable performance boost with the ability to stream input from arbitrarily large XML, CSV, and FLF files and relational databases, and stream output to equally large XML, CSV, and FLF files or insert it into a database.

     ETL/ELT Process -Getting into few more Details

    Extraction:

    The first step of the ETL process is extraction. It is important to extract the data from various source systems and store it in the staging area first and not directly into the data warehouse. The extracted data is in multiple formats and can be corrupted.

    Fig: Four Steps of Staging Operation

    Transformation:

    The second step of the ETL process is transformation. In this step, a set of rules or functions are applied to the extracted data to convert it into a single standard format. It may involve the following processes/tasks:

    Filtering – loading only specific attributes into the data warehouse.

    Cleaning – filling up the NULL values with some default values, mapping USA, United States, and America into the USA.

    Joining:  Joining multiple attributes into one.

    Splitting:  Splitting a single attribute into multiple attributes.

    Sorting: Sorting tuples based on some attributes (generally key attribute).

    Loading:

    The third and final step of the ETL process is loading. In this step, the transformed data is finally loaded into the data warehouse.

    Need Agility in ETL Process & Tools to cope up In Current Business World:

    Scenario:

    With social media, IoT, and other Big Data drivers taking center stage, ETL has become imperative in consolidating transactional data in Hadoop (or equivalent) environments and transforming it into data warehouses that handle massive data scales. Posts on social media can contain videos, audios, images, maps, and other types. In addition, when integrating, data from social media (blogs, tweets, posts) is unstructured & it becomes a challenge to extract useful information. Business applications and connected devices produce continuous flows of data. ETL had to evolve from batch processing of predictable and well-structured data to handle semi-structured and nested data objects, such as JSON and XML, in micro-batches and in real-time.

    • ETL has evolved to support schema detection, as well as the ability to handle schema changes automatically to some extent.
    • When used with an enterprise data warehouse (data at rest), ETL provides a deep historical context for the business.
    • By providing a consolidated view, ETL makes it easier for business users to analyze and report on data relevant to their initiatives.
    • Organizations need both ETL and ELT to bring data together, maintain accuracy, and provide the auditing typically required for data warehousing, reporting, and analytics.

    Following best practices would ensure a successful design and implementation of the ETL solution.

    • Analyzing Source Data
    • Validation
    • Optimizing the ETL Solution
    • Error Handling, Logging and Alerting
    • Scheduling, Auditing & Monitoring ETL Jobs
    • ETL Auditing

    ETL Auditing in an extract, transform, and load process is intended to satisfy the following objectives:

    • Check for data anomalies beyond simply checking for hard errors
    • Capture and store an electronic trail of any material changes made to the data during transformation

     What is the comparison criteria for ETL tools?

    The ETL criteria underlying the categories have a direct relationship with the business and technical requirements for selecting ETL tools.

    Infrastructure Functionality Usability
    Platforms supported Debugging facilities Data Quality /profiling
    Performance Future Prospects Reusability
    Scalability Batch vs Real-time Native connectivity

    Conclusion:

     The quick takeaway from ETL Study is that consumer focus is based on the Agility of the ETL Tool/Process.

    The main trade-off is the performance keeping in consideration the continuous streaming of data from disparate lines of sources.

    Depending on the applicable Use Cases, ETL or ELT gets executed since both encompass Data transformation but in different Order.

    However, to choose the best pick, it is recommended to select ETL Tool Specific to Business needs, Data Requirements & commercial aspect of ETL Technologies. es.

    Want to create the right analytics strategy to transform your business.

    Explore More

  • The growing interest in big data technologies for Fraud Management & Revenue Assurance

    The growing interest in big data technologies for Fraud Management & Revenue Assurance

    The telecommunications sector is no stranger to big data. As a premier vendor for Revenue Assurance and Fraud Management solutions, Subex is no stranger to big data too. Traditionally, our RA & FM applications process billions of transactions every single day. The past few years have been particularly demanding – with the proliferation of 4G, LTE and the upcoming 5G, data has exploded and continues to. Change seems to be the only constant.

    The bid management team, I’m part of, is a witness to the change. We are at the helm of affairs in serving our customers needs that come via an RFP.  Over the past year, we are witnessing a key ask in the RFP —

    “Does your tool comply with big data technologies like Hadoop”?

    The Trend

    Request for proposals (RFXs), are one of the modes, through which Subex periodically receives the customer requirements. A key component in Subex RA & FM solution is the database. For many years, RDBMS like Oracle, MYSQL, Vertica, have been the preferred choice for telcos. There is a new trend now – Hadoop.

    Telcos are now considering big data technologies like Hadoop. Looking into the trend of RFPs over the past years, gives an understanding of the future. The requirement for big data technologies have gone up two times in the past 2 years.

    GROWTING TREND IN BIG DATA ASK

    GROWTING TREND

    A further drill-down of the requirements is also a testimony to the changing face of RA & FM functions. Few of the key requirements taking shape are:

    • Data lake: Data lake is becoming de-facto ask. With the explosion of data volumes and data types (structured and un-structured), telcos are increasingly preferring to set-up a common data lake to feed multiple downstream systems
    • Data quality: Given the importance telcos are now placing for the quality of data, expectation is to procure systems that provide high level of data integrity and sanctity of the underlying data
    • Analytics & Machine Learning: Clearly, RA & FM functions are now including analytics, insights and pattern recognitions to their repertoire of tools at disposal to combat fraud and leakages. The RFPs are now focusing beyond transaction monitoring and entering the realm of business intelligence and machine learning

    Subex Big Data Solution

    Recognising the importance of big data and its’ relevance to the RA & FM teams, Subex started offering Hadoop as a platform of choice a few years back. Today, we are hosts to many live implementations around the world, processing billions of transactions every single day.

    Subex RA & FM solutions with Hadoop as a technology, delivers value on the 4-fronts:

    • Volume: Capability to handle large volumes of data loads and deliver at scale
    • Velocity: Forget the days of “T+n” monitoring. Real-time assurance is becoming the norm
    • Variety: Gleam insights from the good old structured to semi-structured and un-structured data, using traditional rule engines and new age ML & AI capabilities
    • Veracity: Highest quality of output with high integrity

    Big data is empowering RA & FM teams with big possibilities. To learn how you can benefit, talk to us.