Rational® Integration Tester user profiles

Systems Administrator / Architect

The Architect has overall technical knowledge about the components within the system and needs a way to share this information with the rest of the team. This knowledge needs to be shared early on rather than through "ad hoc" questions (for example, where services are deployed, the database to be used).

Software Engineer

A software engineer (developer) has a technical background and needs to unit test the individual classes that they develop for services and processes. Developer testing can also mean integrating with other services that are supplied by another team that might or might not be external to the organization. Typically, a software engineer uses automated tests that are produced by the QA team rather than writing a test harness and spending an extensive amount of time on testing and unit testing.

Software QA Engineer

The focus of a Software QA (SQA) Engineer is on integration and system testing within a controlled environment. The SQA engineer has a traditional testing background in GUI testing, but now needs to take on more SOA implementations that progress from simple web services that integrate with existing applications to complex distributed service-oriented architectures.

The SQA engineer needs to develop more technical skills, particularly in the underlying SOA technologies and network security. The SQA engineer needs an automated test tool that lets them focus on test design and test coverage rather than on managing the tool or message payload syntax (which is handled by using the numerous message formatters available in Rational® Integration Tester).

Testing that is moved forward for SOA projects and an agile approach is vital to help meet business expectations around delivery timeframes. By using this approach, software testing is carried out in parallel to other project activities (that is, development), which means that a time-saving solution is needed to ramp-up testing as quickly as possible.

Software Test Manager

The Software Test Manager is concerned with the effectiveness of the testing process, test design, test coverage, test execution, and the timely generation of comprehensive reports that provides guidance to the project team and business users. The top concern is the testing strategy for SOA projects and finding ways to reduce effort on manual tasks that distract from test design. A risk-based approach to testing is becoming increasingly more important, and reports need to reflect this approach so that business users can make informed decisions quickly.

Consultant

Consultants have extensive knowledge of SOA testing and the Rational® Integration Tester application, and they can be used to kickstart a project in its first few days. A consultant would use the skills and knowledge of the customers (for example, architects and system administrators) to help guide key users in setting up a deployment so that testers can start constructing tests. A consultant leaves the customer with a preconfigured project structure and staff that is trained in the use and application of Rational® Integration Tester.