Web FASTest: Payment Testing Demands Faster Releases

Just like all the other components in the global payments ecosystem, the NonStop platform has been hugely impacted by change.  In fact, unrelenting change has become the “new normal”, with both businesses and consumers expecting immediate responses to changes that used to take days, weeks, months or even years to accomplish.  With NonStop’s long history as the premier engine for driving payments, many NonStop shops developed their own customized payment test tools that are unique to their own environments.

Unfortunately, that old adage, “you build it, you own it” holds true here.  As the pace and scope of change increases, it becomes increasingly difficult to “own’ proprietary test tools, i.e. to keep them current with technology, as well as functional, legal, regulatory and security mandates.

In addition to keeping Web FASTest current with market requirements, Paragon has made it super easy to upgrade the product so users can take advantage of the very last enhancements.

Following is our latest blog highlighting these features:

Our recent press release included the summary line: “Advanced capabilities meet market demands for ease of use, automation, integration”. But what does that truly mean for our customers and prospects? Let’s unpack the key Web FASTest enhancements announced:

Multiple Data Element Dictionary Support – Allows developers to reduce code redundancies and increase coverage by testing different versions of a message format or test scheme.

Certification/Progress Tracking – Makes it easier to monitor the activities of member or user certifications in real time via a color-coded graphical representation of progress toward completion and printable reports summarizing the results.

SSO Integration with SAML (2.0) – Facilitates secure and efficient integration with modern SSO environments to increase productivity, reduce risk, minimize help desk costs and promote the adoption of company-sponsored applications.

Performance Testing Improvements – Enables users to configure multiple performance tests to run from multiple test schemes and save the configuration settings from these sessions for future tests.

New Formats Supported – Presto!, Instant Cash® and BUYPASS® were added to the long list of regional, national and global message formats supported by Paragon.

Web FASTest enhancements make it easier for our customers to manage their test environments, improve efficiency and deal with whatever changes happen to be at the top of their priority queue. Considering the rapid pace of change within the payments industry that we all deal with every day, how do you stay on top of it all?! Paragon can and does.

What sets Paragon apart?

An essential component of Paragon’s value proposition is that we stay current with card scheme mandates, legal and regulatory requirement, technology upgrades, etc. in an effort to relieve some of the overwhelming and accelerated process staying current has become.

I recall, back in the day, it used to a monumental task to apply a software release. It could take a company 2 years (or more) to produce a new release of software and then might take their clients just as long to implement it. That’s a four-year cycle!

Organizations today simply demand faster and better. No matter the change required, our customers depend on us to deliver software releases that work every time on regular and dependable schedule.

What does a release look like?

For most customers, we deliver a new release of our Web FASTest and VirtualATM products every month. The added bonus here is that Paragon manages our software  so users can consume new release quickly and easily.

Here are the Web FASTest release upgrade instructions from our online help:

1. Upgrade Web FASTest by going directly to the Paragon Customer Portal
2. From the System Maintenance page, scroll to the “Upgrade from Customer Portal” section
3. Type in your Customer Portal login information and the system will display the latest release files that are available for download
4. Select which files to download and click “Download”
5. When the files are downloaded, they are listed under the heading “Ready for Installation”
6. Select the files you want to install and click “Install”
7. Perform an “Application Restart” and the new release will be in place
8. Check the “What’s New” tab to see the Release Notes and the latest updates

Given this simple process, most customers can deploy a new release of software in a matter of minutes, not days or months or years. I say most customers because we do have some clients that want software delivered more quickly than monthly. So, for customers with a “need for speed” we are also able to deliver releases every two weeks. And, not to spoil any potential 2020 announcements, we are steadily working to deliver even faster than that.

We know we won’t have press release worthy enhancements with every delivery. Sometimes we are “just” delivering card scheme mandates on time or tweaking the user interface to improve productivity or even fixing a problem that a customer has reported. But if you happen to be waiting for these seemingly minor changes, they become critically important to your business.

Paragon works hard to keep up with the relentless pace of change in order to ensure that all our customers have the functionality, flexibility and control they need to stay current, compliant, and competitive in today’s complex and rapidly changing payments landscape.

Written by the Paragon Team

Steve Gilde | Director, Global Product Marketing | Paragon Application Systems

Direct: +1 919 741 4422 | Mobile: +1 404 844 7893