Future-proof teststrategy for an innovative project: the people of Valori are true visionairies

Transavia Airlines considers the following approach as their main priority: ‘Making the connection by giving control to our passengers and making every passenger feel special’. To fully implement this vision it was time to merge the commercial and operations disciplines.

Angelo Fentener van Vlissingen, Product Owner at Transavia, is responsible for the optimization of the customer experience & customer journey in the operation: “After research we realized that for an optimal travel experience, our passengers have the need for control. Flying can be stressful, and in addition, it can bring up certain emotions. One has to be at the airport on time and deliver their luggage at the check-in counter… All together it’s quite a complex process before passengers can actually take their flight. In addition, when one thing in the process goes wrong, the passenger loses the control over their journey. When passengers know exactly what’s going on and what it means for them, then they keep feeling that they are in control, which reduces the level of stress considerably. This is why we want to provide our passengers with unambiguous and accurate information at the right moment in time, both digitally and physically. The latter was our biggest challenge because of the separation between our commercial and operations departments from an IT standpoint. We wanted to fill this gap, and that is why we chose Pega.”

“Valori brought us a Lead Tester and several Test Automation Experts with refined knowledge of Pega”

Angelo: “Our vision and way of thought are unique in the world of flying. We therefore wanted to roll it out perfectly. We already knew Valori, so when we came to the conclusion that we had shortage in our testing department, we immediately contacted Valori. They brought us a Lead Tester and several Test Automation Experts with refined knowledge of Pega.”

Bas van Opstal, Lead Tester at Valori: “When we entered Transavia they were already well on their way with their Pega-implementation. There were three teams working on development and innovation. These teams each had their own approach. One of our goals was to standardize the way of working. We created a generic framework that’s now being used in the same way by all teams. We also used the functionalities of the Pega platform, such as the Pega API. The teams can now jointly create an optimal framework, share experiences, successes and losses, and no one has to separately reinvent the wheel. In this way, the quality and quality awareness within the teams are consequent and high.”

“The vision and knowledge of our Valori colleagues elevated our test strategy to a higher level”

Angelo: “Bas is a true visionary. With his quick scan on the current test framework, he took very concrete steps in a short timeframe, to ensure that our test strategy is executed perfectly. His colleague, Job, completed our development team. With his strong technical background and experience Job has enough skills to really challenge our IT and business teams. The vision and knowledge of our Valori colleagues elevated our test strategy to a higher level.”

Bas: “As a tester, you shouldn’t sit still in a corner. To provide added value, you have to actively be a part of an (AGILE)-team! In addition to the implementation of the generic test framework, we also tackled the readability of the tests. All stakeholders now understand what the results are and everyone can contribute constructive solutions. We are also looking at applying PegaUnit in a better way. The latter is already being used within the teams, and the next step is to develop a PegaUnit-strategy that will be integrated within the DevOps pipeline. Together with the whole Transavia team, we have worked on a scalable process. Will a new team join? Then the framework, working method and knowledge are already there!”

“We will absolutely keep Valori hooked on when scaling up our project!”

Angelo: “In the meantime we have together developed a great customer journey in which all of our passengers can arrange more themselves online and receive relevant information that strengthens their sense of control! Of course we are going to develop this further, so there is a good chance that we will work with more teams in the future. Valori absolutely remains connected to us for the test automation part to guarantee the quality in order to support us in our future ambitions.”