LokeshKumar - PeerSpot reviewer
CEO, Founder at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Top 5
Enables us to have a single test run across multiple sets of data
Pros and Cons
  • "If you use the PowerBuilder application, do choose AscentialTest without thinking twice."
  • "I would like to see an improvement in the User Interface."

What is our primary use case?

We have an insurance application where the tests need to be executed in both a testing and production environment (the difference between the two is the database).

Each of the tests should be developed to address different sets of data (Data Driven Testing). A large volume of data is analyzed by comparing multiple Excel worksheets.

How has it helped my organization?

Zeenyx AscentialTest is well known for data-driven testing with its inbuilt data tables, which help in having a single test run across multiple sets of data. The drag and drop feature to develop tests/plans has helped in executing the test much easier and faster. 

The regression suite was built much faster and helped in realizing our ROI within six months.

What is most valuable?

The feature that we find most valuable is the 'Restricted String', used for objects which have a variable number of items. This helps in selecting the input into the data table because it appears as a dropdown box. Another feature is the Plan creationit is very easy to create and execute an arbitrary number of similar tests that differ only in the data.

What needs improvement?

I would like to see an improvement in the user interface. UI looks to be more trendy and attractive .

I am looking forward to API testing and mobile testing with Snapshot technology allowing drag and drop capabilities that are similar to Windows and the web.

Buyer's Guide
Zeenyx AscentialTest
March 2024
Learn what your peers think about Zeenyx AscentialTest. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
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For how long have I used the solution?

Five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a very stable solution. The test maintenance is low, where one change in objects/steps will cause the change to be made in the entire project automatically.

Tests are solid when working in two different environments, as every step is reusable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

In terms of the scalability, there is a change in the requirements every three months, but the performance is still the same and it works absolutely fine.

How are customer service and support?

Excellent always reachable and solutions are immediate almost all time.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We have worked with other solutions. We were not satisfied with the data-driven testing support in the PowerBuilder app, which led us to try a POC with AscentialTest. We were really happy with the capability to identify custom objects, as well as support for the huge number of items in the list views.

How was the initial setup?

It was straight forward like any other normal installer

What about the implementation team?

Implemented through an in house team and level of expertise is good in test automationa nd AscentialTest

What was our ROI?

The ROI was quick, and is based on the following: 

  1. Developed fifteen regression tests in less than four months, executing the same tests twice per week.
  2. Manual testers took three days of effort to perform testing on a huge volume of data in Excel, whereas with automation was achieved in an hour.
  3. ROI was realized from the sixth month, onwards.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Setup is very easy. It's just like any normal installer.

The pricing is reasonable at first. Once it starts generating ROI, which for us took between three and six months, one will not even think about the investment.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated a few tools but there was a lot of coding required. Since it was an application with limited requirements and budget, our customer preferred AscentialTest. Using it requires minimal coding knowledge, and it is easy to develop tests with very good support for custom and dynamic data from the PowerBuilder app.

What other advice do I have?

If you use the PowerBuilder application, do choose AscentialTest without thinking twice.

It is the best choice, with capabilities to identify custom classes.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Matryxsoft is a Zeenyx partner and has been working for 3 years with a number of their clients.
PeerSpot user
it_user593523 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Programmer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Consultant
It has the ability to take a snapshot of a form, and the controls on that page are dynamically recognized.

What is most valuable?

Our web site is dynamically generated to each user, so much so that the only testing solution we found was AscentialTest. The unique ability to take a snapshot of a form, have controls on that page dynamically recognized, combined with being able to store all our form variables in a SQL database helped us automate repeatable testing.

How has it helped my organization?

Automated repeatable tests that can be compared to a control, help find and keep bugs from being released into our live system.

What needs improvement?

I would like to see a debugger added.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used it for two years.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

We have not encountered any deployment issues.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We have not encountered any stability issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have not encountered any scalability issues.

How is customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

It is the best support I have ever worked with.

Technical Support:

It is the best technical support I have ever worked with.

How was the initial setup?

I spent some time with the staff at Zeenyx, helping me understand how things worked. Once I had this under my belt, I found AscentialTest to be easy to work with.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Zeenyx AscentialTest
March 2024
Learn what your peers think about Zeenyx AscentialTest. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
768,886 professionals have used our research since 2012.
it_user313374 - PeerSpot reviewer
Works with 11-50 employees
Real User
It allows us to create Application Objects by interacting with snapshots in a visual drag-and-drop environment.

What is most valuable?

  • Zeenyx AscentialTest provides excellent support for PowerBuilder applications.
  • Object recognition is very powerful and flexible.
  • Application Objects are created by interacting with snapshots in a highly visual drag and drop environment.
  • It is easy and quick to manage and maintain tests.

How has it helped my organization?

Zeenyx AscentialTest has been an essential part of our product testing

For how long have I used the solution?

Since 2011

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

No

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

Excellent

Zeenyx is very responsive and easy to work with

Technical Support:

Excellent

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

SilkTest

It stopped supporting PowerBuilder applications

How was the initial setup?

Initial setup was straightforward and smooth

What about the implementation team?

In-house

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Yes

AscentialTest was the best among serval testing tools supporting PowerBuilder applications

What other advice do I have?

I strongly recommend Zeenyx AscentialTest

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Senior Test Consultant at MatryxSoft Tech
Consultant
AT has got Unique features like snapshot technology, drag and drop. Easy to work and develop

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use case of AscentialTest is for automating Powerbuilder application. We have two environments (Dev and Prod) which points to different databases where we need to verify the expected data with actual data. These data's are huge and are present in excel format. Needed a single test framework which works across all the environment. AT perfectly suited for these kind of environment as a single object , step and test worked across both environment tests. AT has a very simple way of handling both the application tests.

How has it helped my organization?

We used AscentialTest tool for one of our clients, where we needed to automate their test cases where we had to compare two excel sheets which had huge data with respect to each cell. 

The application was built on PowerBuilder application. By using AscentialTest, we were able to automate the test scenarios with ease as each and every element were supported by AT and also the powerful path statements helped in identifying the element and the support from the AT team was excellent and saved a lot of time and effort which was required by manual tester

Productivity increased by almost 10 times after using AT for test automation as manually it was taking almost a day or three days (sometimes a week) effort to do data verification of expected and actual excel files with huge no of columns and rows (Approx 50 columns and 1000's of rows)

What is most valuable?

Almost all the features are very good. They have unique features: the snapshot technology, and the drag and drop. By using the above two features, you save a lot of time and effort in development and maintenance. There are some more features which are unique, render image and rendertext concept did help us to identify the element uniquely.

What needs improvement?

The product can be improved a little bit with regards to the UI as the panels are too many. This is the area where I feel improvement is needed. 

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

AT , everything we develop is reusable and with the snapshot technology we can easily find the changes of the element with screenshots, hence the stability on the project is high and very high indeed.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It can be scaled 10 out of 10 for the application we have worked on as we all know Object identification is the heart of test automation and AT has identified each and every element on this application. Hence scalability is 10 from my end.

How are customer service and technical support?

It was excellent in all ways from simple to complex solutions. Impressed!

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We started with ascentialtest and it perfectly suited for our application.

How was the initial setup?

Very easy and it is staright forward!

What about the implementation team?

Vendor team, The level of expertise is next to the prodcut owners.

What was our ROI?

ROI was generated within the first year as we developed the test cases within a short period of time. Months effort was brought to few days effort.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Setup is easy and at zero cost. Just like a standard installer click on next next and AT is set up for you.

Pricing is comparatively okay for the development time it saves and the maintenance effort which is reduced drastically because of the tool features.

Licensing it's a floating and it works good for the organization.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

NA

What other advice do I have?

AT stands out as best test automation tool for powerbuilder application for sure !

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: I work for Matryxsoft , from here we work for our client .
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Software Engineering Senior Analyst at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
We're able to reuse steps when developing our tests, but the Web Tables and Siebel Tables should be readily available and simpler while automating apps.

What is most valuable?

Reusability of the steps was something that we (our team members) found the most valuable. That helped in saving a lot of time we spend on developing our tests.

How has it helped my organization?

Zeenyx team did provide us with a very reliable support throughout the automation of Siebel as we were unable to find a good automation solution for an older version of Siebel app.

What needs improvement?

It would be better if the support for Web Tables and Siebel Tables are readily available and made more simpler as they are encountered quite often while automating the apps.

For how long have I used the solution?

2 Years

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

We did not find any issues whatsoever with the deployment of AT on our Windows XP machines and later in Windows 7 as well. The deployment was indeed an hassle-free experience.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The tool is pretty stable and we never encountered any stability issues with the new version of the application.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

With respect to scalability also AT is a reliable option. We had generated a Regression Suite of more than 600 Test Cases and we didnt notice any issues during the execution of the same.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

Zeenyx team provides a wonderful customer support for any kind of issues we face and they worked along with us and provided solutions as early as possible too.

Technical Support:

Zeenyx has got a quality tech support team who are always there to help you out. Especially, their support to find out a solution for a complicated scroll table issue in Siebel was outstanding.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

In fact we couldnt use another solution previously as we were working on an old version of Siebel that was not been supported by many solutions out there in the market.

How was the initial setup?

Initial set-up was pretty straightforward and also their installtion package comes with all the prerequisites and hence we did not face any problem in the set-up phase.

What about the implementation team?

We implemented through the Zeenyx vendor team itself. And I would rate their level of expertise and the support highly.

What was our ROI?

We had a pretty decent ROI for this venture of investing in AscentialTest. We were able to find out many crucial bugs in our regression tests developed using AscentialTest, which improved the quality of the software decently.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing and license cost is decent considering the features we have got from AscentialTest and the support they provide throughout. We are in fact using the Enterprise version of the solution.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Yes, we did evaluate some other options like Routine Boat, EggPlant etc., but we were unable to get a satisfactory solution. Finally we ended upon AscentialTest which proved very helpful.

What other advice do I have?

The scripting time required is less compared to other solutions. In fact not much scripting is required as most of the actions are readily available on the Actions Panel of the solution.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user