The test automation library built during a Finnish Tax Administration giant project will be published for open source

In 16^th of March 2021, Qentinel will release QWeb for open source at the RoboCon conference. The release is a significant step for Qentinel in opening its own IPR up to the open source development community.

A larger group of developers means more security

Qentinel’s decision to publish their QWeb library for open source means that the Qentinel Pace test automation tool gains more developmental power.

“I am happy to see an increasing number of companies releasing their open source technology for further development. However, it’s important to underline that choosing to go with an open source solution doesn’t mean going for a “free” solution. Naturally, developers always need to be compensated for their efforts,” Jarkko Levasma, Chief Development and Information Officer at the Finnish Tax Administration emphasizes, having worked as a developer himself.

According to Levasma, open source is an advantage for the Tax Administration, for instance, when it comes to adding new features on top of test automation. Another important factor is security, especially for a party like the Tax Administration, dealing with critical systems.

“In the world of open source, it’s easier to audit the source code because there is a whole community looking at it, as opposed to commercially developed software where you have to rely on the company that provides it to have their own testing processes. ”

According to Janne Suortti, Product Owner of Quality Assurance for Software Production at the Tax Administration, the use of open source technologies in the Gentax solution has been really beneficial for the Tax Administration.

“Ever since the beginning, we’ve wanted to ensure that our test automation is as flexible as possible. For instance, when we add new software updates to our system, it’s enough to simply update the test automation libraries. We don’t need to touch the test cases — that would be a significantly bigger hassle.” says Suortti.

The Finnish Tax Administration is a forerunner moving to cloud

For years, the Finnish Tax Administration has already been a pioneer in the way they run their public administration IT projects. The goal is always clear and defined: to ensure that taxation runs smoothly and without errors.

A few years ago, the Finnish Tax Administration made the decision to approach all new projects and systems from a “cloud-first” perspective.

“Running test automation in two environments requires fast scaling, which is only possible in the cloud”, says Levasma.

Test automation is a critical function for the Tax Administration when it comes to the development of their entire system landscape. It is not enough for the solution to be implemented once, but it will be updated continuously in line with legislative changes, thus creating a need for continuous development and testing.

“It’s been a real pleasure to see how well the QWeb library is suited for different test automation needs.”, says Kalle Huttunen, a consultant at Qentinel.