Simplifying Functional TestAutomation For Electronic TradingPlatforms at Nasdaq : Model Design And Proof of ConceptImplementation

Abstract: Noways the majority of all trading with financial assets are committed via electronictrading platforms (ETP). Nasdaq is a major ETP provider and powers over 100markets worldwide. Because operational disruptions and software bugs can causesignificant economic losses, software testing is a key part of Nasdaqs operations. Thefirst part of this project was to analyze how Nasdaq works with software testing of itsETP called Genium Inet Trading. Based on this analysis a system aimed at simplifyingand streamlining the process of automating functional tests was developed. Functionaltests are a vital part of Nasdaqs quality assurance efforts. The project resulted in a overall conceptual model and a ”proof of concept”implementation called Scenario Runner. The conceptual model describes howfunctional tests specifications can be represented in an abstract level that isindependent of which techniques that are used for implementation. Scenario Runnerwas developed as a plugin to Nasdaqs internal ETP testing software called NeXTWorkstation and uses MS Excel as input format for the functional test specifications.Scenario Runner reads and executes tests in the MS Excel document and presents theresults both in the NeXT Workstation GUI and as an output MS Excel file. Theproject was successful and Scenario Runner can be used to run simple functionaltests, but more importantly, to demonstrate how the conceptual model can be usedfor automating functional tests in practice.