Atupri: Test Automation and Quality Assurance Across Systems

Atupri is an established Swiss health insurer whose digital services must meet the highest quality and security standards. Since September 2024, we have been supporting Atupri in sustainably embedding software quality assurance across system boundaries. The challenge lies in testing a heterogeneous system landscape with targeted, pragmatic automation – from smoke and health checks to integration, performance, and load tests, as well as accessibility and security tests.

Simple Postman requests already existed at the API level. Because new tests also needed to be executable by Agile Testers via Postman, a solution was sought that would meet this requirement while simultaneously improving maintainability, reusability, and the developer experience.

We rely on Newman, the open-source test runner from Postman, and extend it with data-driven concepts, robust retry mechanisms, and secure secret handling – all without expensive enterprise licenses. A custom stack of Bash scripts and Node.js extensions allows Postman exports to be transformed into executable JavaScript tests, enabling developers to continue developing in their familiar IDE.

Seamless integration was established for VS Code, allowing developers to run tests in the open tab or specific tests in the Project Explorer using a shortcut. The same technique was used to run the tests in a Jenkins-based CI pipeline. For the Agile testers, the JavaScript files were regularly converted into Postman JSON and imported into Postman.

Over time, the requirement to use Postman was dropped, and we switched to Kotlin with Playwright, JUnit, Variist, and Atrium. Based on Playwright, we developed a framework that implements secure secret handling, offers the agile testing team enhanced features such as improved error messages and a convenient selection of test combinations, and runs tests in the background during every test run. This allows us to not only check individual fragments of the user interface but also automatically detect unexpected errors: page errors such as JavaScript errors, logged console errors, failed requests, dead links, and even missing security headers.

A specially developed error crawler also systematically scans existing websites for these vulnerabilities as well as accessibility issues. For load testing, we combine Gatling with parallel Playwright instances to verify real-world browser behavior under simulated load.

We centralize and version the configuration for different environments using gt (Git Tools), an open-source tool developed by Tegonal that allows for the targeted retrieval of files and directories from Git repositories. In addition to the technical setup, we train Atupri employees in the execution and maintenance of automated tests, ensuring that this expertise is integrated into the company.

The collaboration is characterized by a high degree of trust and autonomy. We identify problems early, propose suitable solutions, and implement them directly and independently wherever possible. We consciously reduce complexity and always select the appropriate tool for each task.

"Tegonal supported us in a pragmatic way and was thus able to quickly improve our software quality assurance through the targeted use of suitable tools and procedures." The continuous integration of test automation and the introduction of technical and security tests guarantee consistently high quality across all systems."
Billy Bregy, Test Manager, Atupri

Technical implementation: Playwright · JUnit · Variist · Atrium (Kotlin) · Gatling (Kotlin) · Newman · Node.js · Bash · JavaScript · Jenkins · gt (Git Tools)