ACORD is currently working on a replacement of the existing “Testing and Certification Facility” (TCF). The newly enhanced system, now called the “ACORD Test Harness,” will build upon all of the existing functionality used to test and certify ACORD messaging, but with updated capabilities designed to move the insurance industry into the future.
Some highlights of the enhanced capabilities include:
- Test scenarios will be published to the Test Harness as soon as they are available for early adoption testing
- New user interface that will allow users to initiate more robust test scenarios, view detailed reports of the message flows, detailed step-by-step validation results, and raw message content
- Scenario tests including multiple steps within a business process
- Ability to test messaging protocols in addition to business payloads
- Connect directly to the Test Harness or via a central electronic hub
An important consideration of the new Test Harness is that it enables implementation communities to move between versions in a reasonable timeframe. This is achieved by allowing organisations to test changes directly with the ACORD Test Harness. The enhanced testing minimises the testing effort required for individual organisations as they roll out ACORD messaging to increasing numbers of trading partners.
Another exciting possibility that has been discussed in implementation communities is to consider the use of the Test Harness for centralised testing, hence removing some or all of the need for individual organisations to test with every one of their business partners.
ACORD’s new Test Harness roadmap includes an initial production implementation for the London Market Write‐Back process using DRI (Document Repository Interface). The target release for this implementation is the second quarter of 2015. The GRLC community will migrate to the new system during the fourth quarter of 2015, with the other ACORD programs rolling out during 2016.
For more details please contact Technical Architect Matt Finch (mfinch@acord.org).