Is there a way to control time so I can accelerate testing of time-based workflows?
I have a bunch of workflows that have an element of time.
For example, I send a proposal for approval, and it needs to be approved within 5 days. If it isn't approved in 3 days, I send them a daily reminder. If after 5 days it isn't approved, I look up the person's manager and send them the escalation request.
I want to be able to test these kind of workflows rapidly to see if the logic is working right (and ultimately automate testing for regression purposes).
I would like to be able to control time in system test so I can verify that the whole thing works end-to-end. It would go something like this
I have a bunch of workflows that have an element of time.
For example, I send a proposal for approval, and it needs to be approved within 5 days. If it isn't approved in 3 days, I send them a daily reminder. If after 5 days it isn't approved, I look up the person's manager and send them the escalation request.
I want to be able to test these kind of workflows rapidly to see if the logic is working right (and ultimately automate testing for regression purposes).
I would like to be able to control time in system test so I can verify that the whole thing works end-to-end. It would go something like this
- <start on day = 0>
- create workflow
- send for approval to X
- verify approval is pending X
- <advance to the next day: day = 1>
- verify approval is still pending X
- <advance to the next day: day = 2>
- verify the approval is still pending X
- <advance to the next day: day = 3>
- verify reminder is sent to X
- verify approval is still pending X
- <advance to the next day: day = 4>
- verify reminder is sent to X
- verify approval is still pending X
- <advance to the next day: day = 5>
- verify notification is sent to X telling them the issue has been escalated
- verify escalation is sent to X's manager
- etc.
Does anyone know of a good way to accomplish this? I want to be able to do this 5 day test in 5 minutes or 5 seconds.
This seems like the kind of thing that a lot of applications would want to do - I know I could use it in many places inside my application.
Thanks in advance for the help.
Jack
Updated: 30 Oct 2020 2:42 EDT
Rulesware LLC
CA
Hi Jack,
There are two approaches you can use. The first, could be a utility that could be used force the assignment into a state that will trigger the SLA. This is more of a tactical solution and does not necessarily test the business problem per say.
The second approach would be to calculate the service level based on the value of a property. This would be more of a declarative approach based on a data page structure that at runtime fetches a switch, perhaps a DSS or System Setting that indicates the unit to measure on (im sure this can be a little more elegant too). In production it would be days and in lower environments it could be measured in hours or minutes. This approach is part of the process and would unit test it accordingly thus giving you the confidence that it will work correctly and give you what you want, which is the ability to test this faster.
-D