The Next Level of Software Testing

When you log in to your computer or mobile phone to check information, pay bills, or order online, you expect flawless service, every time. The same holds true for government digital channels.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) wanted to make sure its digital offerings were built and rigorously tested to meet the expectations of their customers—lawful immigrants on the path to citizenship and green card holders. Booz Allen’s experts revamped the agency’s manual software testing with Agile and DevOps processes.

The agency’s Office of Information Technology knew its manual software testing was tedious and time consuming. It was also prone to human error. And every time the source code changed, the testing had to be repeated.

On an average day, USCIS employees have their hands full, processing 24,000 applications for immigration benefits, 6,500 permanent resident cards, 183 refugee applications, and granting asylum to 55 individuals already in the U.S. Add to that the more than 325,000 people who visit the agency’s website daily.

With that volume of traffic, a new approach to building and testing effective digital services was needed, one that would increase the success rate of digital service delivery.

In September 2014, Booz Allen was awarded an Agile Engineering and Test Automation Services (AETAS) joint venture agreement through the Department of Commerce National Technical Information Service.

The AETAS team integrated automated testing using modern DevOps processes into USCIS programs. Our experts designed the system to perform a sequence of actions simultaneously across multiple browsers on a regular schedule. That way, the tester could identify potential problems more quickly and efficiently.

We established a Test Center of Excellence (TCoE) to promote successful test automation practices. The TCoE has a central “knowledge repository” for test automation best practices and support from subject-matter experts.

We also designed and developed automated test training programs, test automation tools, and the Test Community of Practice forum to push test automation adoption across USCIS IT programs. The TCoE website stores case studies, video demos, automated testing models, and industry standards. For personalized support, it links to experts on our team.

USCIS looks to the AETAS team for Agile and test automation guidance for both transformation efforts and legacy work. For the National Appointment Scheduling Service (NASS) program, we decreased testing time from 3 days to 12 minutes by creating the NASS pipeline and an integrated test automation framework. We’ve also implemented training programs on test automation tools. There are now 12 instructor-led training courses and links to additional training videos and online courses.

Looking to modernize and transform your organization? Booz Allen’s technology experts are up to the challenge. We help government leaders think through their mission challenges strategically, developing leading digital solutions to meet them.