OpenText UFT Developer Reviews

We use UFT Pro together with other test organization tools. There are many testers or developers that are not used to UFT. They haven't been using it in many other places. But when they've been working with it for a while and they see the complexity when you're doing real and tough test situations, then they see that this kind of tool is very, very good.

The benefit is the ability to find and create different objects.

The tool is not the problem. The problem is that we can't get the tool working, because there are other issues. We had a meeting with all the banks and several customers had the same problems. There should be a smarter and quicker way to upgrade UFT Pro.

It must be on the roadmap now, because they really lost with Mobile Center when they released a new version and it was not backwards compatible. It's not very easy for big companies to provision new versions. We have 38,000 PCs in organization, and we're not allowed to do anything on them. Everything has to be taken step-by-step. It does have a learning curve.

The stability of UFT Pro is much better now. It was a little bit slow with hanging on with your techniques, with your browsers and all of that. Very often, they opened a browser, and suddenly UFT didn't work. 

We are not allowed to be admin on our machines. We have to distribute out applications and that's a problem every time there is a new version of UFT. How do we do an MSI patch and what are they writing in that register? What is needed to be opened in that directory? And so on.

We bought small, five-license versions of Test Director from Mercury in 2007 and it has continuously grown since then. Today, we have 600 users and 130 active projects. The environment gets bigger and bigger all of the time.

The first time we installed was a long, long time ago. It's complicated to upgrade.

The most valuable feature is that we have a test automation solution that is really developer friendly. So, you have Java as a programming language. You have Eclipse or the Intel HAS IDE and you can really use the development tools. That's the best part out of it. You can also have this with Selenium or any other developer friendly solution, but UFT Pro also supports different technologies. So, you can test web applications, you can test Java applications, you can test Windows applications. And, most other tools, at least the free-ware solutions, only cope with one specific technology.

Another big feature is the integration with ALM. It's quite easy to start the test cases from ALM and to have the results in ALM. And it's also possible to make business process tests with Lean FT or UFT Pro. And I think all these parts together make it the best possible solution.

For example, we had just recently had the new release of our web page, and there we had a lot of test cases for small tools like a calculator for tax savings when you invest in different products, or whatever. There were a lot of little pieces on the website which needed testing. And we had an agile methodology to develop the new website and from time to time a new tool got released on the test system. And then we needed little effort to automate it and do the tests. And also, we could redo all the tests when a new version was released. So, we always had the security that nothing important changed or nothing which already worked was destroyed with the new release.

There are still some stability issues. Also, the integration with ALM is not perfect. There issues with parameter parsing.

We don't have ALM Octane now and I've never used it, so I don't know whether it would beneficial. But I think we're too big to easily switch to another test management solution.

Now stability is quite good. At the beginning, we had a bit of trouble with our company environment because the browser or the Java version is specifically configured and we had to fight a little bit to make it work correctly. Right now, we are very happy. Also, with the integration into ALM, it works quite good. We had some issues with special characters from ALM, to bring them to UFT Pro and backwards, but this is the biggest pain point right now, so it's not really a big deal.

We have around three and half thousand employees. It is quite scalable. It depends how you do it. You can make automated scripts which do not scale at all. But since it's a developer friendly tool, you have the ability to cut it in the right way to make modules, and then it is very nice to handle it with multiple applications with a lot of test cases.

Right now, we have a good experience with support because we quickly get to developers with issues. When we contact the support, if it is a bigger problem, we have a call or a session with the developers themselves and that's quite nice. They have also been at PostFinance twice. And this gives you a good feeling about being important and you think they care about you and they want you to have a product that works.

Since I used to use a lot of other automation tools, it was very straightforward. It is quite simple if you know Selenium or if you know IBM Rational Functional Tester.

Compared to IBM Selenium, LeanFT or UFT Pro is more stable. They have better object recognition functionalities and more support technologies. Maybe they have a bit less browser support than Selenium, but that's okay.

Compared to any of the competitors that I’ve looked at, the HPE tool is a bit smaller. So, it makes it more fun to use it because you don't have such a large application as the Rational test suite or the Functional Tester. And I think it was more stable. So, even at the beginning, we had fewer problems than with Functional Tester and object recognition. But, I think both tools are not bad.

The major advantage of LeanFT or UFT Pro is that it is easier to integrate it into ALM. So, with Functional Test we always had these space scripts in ALM, and then we had to call Functional Tester somehow and bring the results back to ALM. It's easier with LeanFT.

Try to build a test automation framework so that part of it could be managed by the development teams. And at least the page objects should be released together with the software to test. This makes everything easier for the test automation team. And makes the test automation solution faster.

The most valuable feature is the possibility to code the test framework with C# and Java and therefore, use the development teams.

The technical part of test automation does not need a separate technology for developing test suites for end-to-end testing, regression testing and user acceptance testing.

Improvement is still needed for stability and performance. Still, it is at the beginning of a technological shift for HP test automation. The tool would be best if HP made the OR functionality and performance similar to the HP UFT one.

The solution has been used in a pilot alpha testing project.

Yes – deployment was not yet production ready.

For several browsers it needed some special settings which affected the stability of the product.

Scalability was not an issue for the pilot, and it's not expected to be an issue in the future, as all development resources can be used on an as needed basis.

The support in the alpha/beta test phase was especially good.

The technical support was perfect as we could talk directly to architects developers and product managers.

Previously we used HP UFT and Selenium because there was actually no alternative products at the market.

The setup was well-prepared, but quite complex. When related to our environment, there have been setup problems. These problems could be resolved by an intimate technical customer service.

The implementation happened in-house.

You could cut the technical part of the test automation processes by about 50%.

Setup cost was around €10,000. Day-to-day processes would be 0 as the technical part of test automation will be integrated completely into development. This will save the extra part of technical test automation, which sums up to the yearly license costs.

All options in the test automation market are evaluated at all times. Rational Robot, Tosca, Soap UI, etc.

Make sure that you have test management at the same level as test automation otherwise money will be lost.

Basically, before LeanFT was introduced by HPE, I was looking at a solution similar to Selenium to integrate some scenarios that UFT was doing well for us; we had to look for other solutions with LeanFT-like leverage. The most important thing about LeanFT is that it gives us the opportunity to introduce developer testing. Initially, because UFT was VBScript based and because of the infrastructure, developers wanted to contribute toward testing, but could not, so they used VBScript and went to eLanguages, which they can use with their development like Java or C#.

They can use the same language that they're using for their unit testing, so they can contribute to that in the very beginning of the lifecycle instead of after the application has been fully developed, at which point it is tested and comments are made on the features.

That is the main aspect: we can put the developer into the testing scenario.

Initially, although they developed some in-house tools, we were looking for a third party to lower the speed provided. With LeanFT, we are trying to create a kind of hybrid infrastructure where we can use our existing scripting and in the same infrastructure we can use LeanFT.

I think the one thing we're basically asking for should be JavaScript support, but I think they will start adding JavaScript support in the future. We haven't moved into that; we’re still into LeanFT. We're still finding out what's in there. Once we know what we can really do in LeanFT, then I think we can start providing feedback regarding enhancements we want to see in the solution.

LeanFT is very new to us (we started six months ago). We are still in the process of using it and converting our scripts with it. That means we still need to see all of the built-in capabilities, but it is getting better and better.

Obviously, we are planning to scale in the future because with LeanFT via the service pack, we can do user checking with continuous integration tools, which was initially not possible with the UFT, so we are trying to convert as many scripts from UFT to LeanFT. It will give us the most flexibility with more ways of working with the CPU.

Technical support has been good so far. Sometimes it takes minutes, sometimes they take more time, but most of the time they're good.

We are doing a lot of testing and there are some scenarios where UFT does not fit into the scenario. Since then, we have been looking for a solution. Initially, we were looking at an open-source solution such as Selenium or some third-party tool to learn. We also wrote some of in-house processes, but they are not getting combined with ALM into the single repository, so we are looking for a sub-solution. We kept telling HP that we needed a solution; otherwise, we had to move from UFT and ALM. Ultimately, they told they came up with LeanFT and you can use it with either Eclipse or Visual Studio code.

I won't say initial setup was complex, but it was not clear how to setup because there was an issue with the licensing. The same licensing was not working with UFT that used to work before, but we got in touch with HP customer support, they got back to us and since then it has been very smooth sailing.

It depends on whether you already have a testing tool that is based on a different infrastructure, such as UFT or Selenium. Then, see how smooth the transition will be. However, to start from scratch, start with LeanFT as opposed to another solution because it can give you the power of managing your tests in ALM and the single repository so you don't have to worry about it. Once you install it, it is kind of the best tech with web-based infrastructure, so you don't have to worry about quality control and so on.

I believe the main feature for using it is the flexibility across different platforms. For example, I can use it whether it's Eclipse using any of the programming languages. The multi-platform usage of LeanFT is really useful.

It's still in the early days, but still I see that we'll move over to it fore the effort savings once the LeanFT roadmap comes into place.

It needs to be able to be used on Chrome, Firefox, and other browsers on Macs and not just Safari. That's a very key requirement for my organization.

It's very scalable. Given the power that it provides in terms of any programming language and any development platform you can use it on, such as Eclipse or any ID platform. So definitely it's more scalable but still there will be room for improvement in terms of the Mac browsers compatibility/support.

We hardly have incidents. There hasn't been much activity as compared to UFT. We will see how it goes in the future.

The complexity was pretty much okay, it's acceptable, so that was good. Once you implement the infrastructure within the organization, the complexity is pretty much similar to any other automation tool.

We didn't actually choose it. Our customers provide LeanFT, so we started using it.

We're still early on with our use but there are a lot of good things that have been promised. Those results have to be realized now. What has been told so far as well as the roadmap which I have been told should come into place pretty quickly.

I would say the most valuable is that we can get people started off really quickly on solutions because we've been partners with HPE for a long time and it helps us tailor the product to ours needs. When we have issues with something we can get support directly from HPE since we paid for it.

The fact that it works with a vast number of technologies works for us because our internal customers use the tool for testing a lot of different applications. That's probably the best feature that it has for us.

There's a lot of centralized testing from some perspectives and our main goal is to provide for a bunch of different groups at a lower cost so we centralize licensing and distribute it to various people. The biggest benefit of that is that it allows us to empower the people that need the solutions instead of manually having them develop the solutions on their own.

LeanFT could support additional technologies because we use it for a lot more than just web and Java and some Windows apps. Further support for other technologies would be nice. I can't rattle any off the top of my head but ones that we use internally.

We don't scale it out on as large of a basis as ALM.

Our biggest issue was in the switch over from HP Inc. to HPE. I think we had some trouble getting in touch with higher level support so we spent a lot of time going through basic support where the people that work with the tools have a lot of experience with the tools. We think that it would be better if we could bypass the lowest levels of support on some issues. I can understand the process that we usually have to go through but more recently our reps have been helpful in getting us to the people that we need quicker so we can get a resolution.

I'd say to set it up it's pretty easy. Defining a standardized way that everyone could use it is a little bit harder. It's a very complex tool, there's a lot of ways to use it so I don't know if it's a limitation of the tool per say as just a common industry problem. I wouldn't say that there's anything that made it hard to get to the customers and to start utilizing it.

It's newer so it doesn't support as many technologies which makes the investment a little bit harder for us to absorb more licenses than we currently have or to justify buying any more licenses than we currently have because it only supports a certain subset of our customers.

LeanFT is used a lot more by our less experienced testers and developers who want to get more point-and-click type automation. Then obviously I also manage the automation team, so we use UFT for a ton of all of our XLC automation as well as anything with a UI. So we also bring it into our business functions as well. If we need to do clean-up, data entry, management of manual tasks where you're putting yourself in a UI scenario, we'll run scripts for that for productivity.

We pretty much use that to streamline workflow and enable productivity in a business context in our business unit as well as in our IT shop, so just reducing workload on IT people as well as testing. It's used pretty extensively beyond that.

I'd like to not have to use Selenium. I'd like to be able to do headless scripting and not just always be UI serving.

It's stable.

We're already at enterprise scale, so it's used across the enterprise. I would say that we're at that point.

I have an entire team, so I'm a director and I have an entire tools team that does that. I did get involved in the planning and the strategy of how we're going to do it. My team said that first installation is relatively easy. When we go to upgrade and migrate, that's where there's pain.

We're still trying to get the adoption on that for the user community. It's very usable though. I rate adoption pretty high, so when people are using it, for instance, UFT, I'd definitely give that a ten because we use that a lot. I'd like to see some enhancements in the product, and we're working with HPE on that.

Have a well-defined process, have a strong reporting structure, meaning in your process you want a lot of measurability. If you define your output, the reports and the questions you need to answer from what you're doing, which your process should be managing for you. In our company, we are very specific about what our executives and stakeholders want.

We have a very well-defined set of measurements that we have to take. We then put a process designed to ensure those measurements are always taken. That then allows you to deal with your outputs and your reporting structure, which then allows you to properly architect your tooling. The technology is very flexible. You have to decide as a client area how you really want to use it and that's going to start with what your business needs are the values that you're trying to get out of it.

That's the biggest advice that I have, it's not even on the technology. The technology will do great things for you if you have a plan and a structure and you know what you want it to do for you. Half the time they don't know, they want the tool to do it for them and it's the other way around. So that's what I advise people to do.

Think about it, have a vision, have a plan, tie that to outcomes, and measure those outcomes. If you're answering the right questions and asking the right questions, your technology will really enable you. You've got to look at it from that standpoint.

LeanFT's been very good. It's a little more complex than standard testing products like the standard UFT. It's a little more developer oriented. I'm not really a developer per say, but I was able to pick it up fairly quickly.

I think the biggest issues that I've seen, and this is a personal view of mine, is that most of the HPE products have a common look and feel to them. I'd really like to see it be a little more customizable to a use and user standpoint. For example. I happen to be colors blind, so I'd like to see more vivid colors on the UI, and things like that. It would make it a little more flexible from the customer standpoint.

I was formally an HP employee, so I've used the HP products in the past. I also was a former Mercury Interactive employee who was acquired by HP.

It's been extremely scalable as far as the testing that we've done with our customers. They've all been really satisfied with the scalability of the HPE products.

We've gone through the standard customer support and it’s been good. It's not quite to the level that an R&D would be, because they really get really under the covers to fix things.

Since it was a slightly different way of doing things, it was a little complex. It was just the idea of ... this is something new that we have to understand. It wasn't like we're building on a product that already existed, it was right out of the box. It's fairly new, so it was a little more complex that way but R&D made it very easy.