Modern business applications predominantly rely on web technology, enabling software vendors to efficiently provide them as a service, removing some of the complexity of the traditional release and update process. While this facilitates shorter, more efficient and frequent release cycles, it requires continuous testing. Having insight into application behavior through explicit models can largely support development, testing and maintenance. Model-based testing allows efficient test creation based on a description of the states the application can be in and the transitions between these states. As specifying behavior models that are precise enough to be executable by a test automation tool is a hard task, an alternative is to extract them from running applications. However, mining such models is a challenge, in particular because one needs to know when two states are equivalent, as well as how to reach that state. We present Process Crawler (ProCrawl), a tool to mine behavior models from web applications that support multi-user workflows. ProCrawl incrementally learns a model by generating program runs and observing the application behavior through the user interface. In our evaluation on several real-world web applications, ProCrawl extracted models that concisely describe the implemented workflows and can be directly used for model-based testing.

The transition to cloud computing offers a large number of benefits, such as lower capital costs and a highly agile environment. Yet, the development of software engineering practices has not kept pace with this change. Moreover, the design and runtime behavior of cloud based services and the underlying cloud infrastructure are largely decoupled from one another.This paper describes the innovative concepts being developed by CloudWave to utilize the principles of DevOps to create an execution analytics cloud infrastructure where, through the use of programmable monitoring and online data abstraction, much more relevant information for the optimization of the ecosystem is obtained. Required optimizations are subsequently negotiated between the applications and the cloud infrastructure to obtain coordinated adaption of the ecosystem. Additionally, the project is developing the technology for a Feedback Driven Development Standard Development Kit which will utilize the data gathered through execution analytics to supply developers with a powerful mechanism to shorten application development cycles.

Today's web applications demand very high release cycles--and consequently, frequent tests. Automating these tests typically requires a behavior model: A description of the states the application can be in, the transitions between these states, and the expected results. Furthermore one needs scripts to make the abstract actions (transitions) in the model executable. However, specifying such behavior models and writing the necessary scripts manually is a hard task. We present ProCrawl (Process Crawler), a tool that automatically mines (extended) finite-state machines from (multi-user) web applications and generates executable test scripts. ProCrawl explores the behavior of the application by systematically generating program runs and observing changes on the application's user interface. The resulting models can be directly used for effective model-based testing, in particular regression testing.

Today's enterprise web applications demand very high release cycles---and consequently, frequent tests. Automating these tests typically requires a behavior model: A description of the states the application can be in, the transitions between these states, and the expected results. Furthermore one needs scripts to make the abstract actions (transitions) in the model executable. As specifying such behavior models and writing the necessary scripts manually is a hard task, a possible alternative could be to extract them from existing applications. However, mining such models can be a challenge, in particular because one needs to know when two states are equivalent, as well as how to reach that state. We present ProCrawl (PROcess CRAWLer), a generic approach to mine behavior models from (multi-user) enterprise web applications. ProCrawl observes the behavior of the application through its user interface, generates and executes tests to explore unobserved behavior. In our evaluation of three non-trivial web applications (an open-source shop system, an SAP product compliance application, and an open-source conference manager), ProCrawl produces models that precisely abstract application behavior and which can be directly used for effective model-based regression testing.

Maintaining semantic consistency of data is a significant problem in distributed information systems, particularly those on which a business may depend. Our current work aims to use Event-B and the Rodin tools to support the specification and design of such systems in a way that integrates well into existing development processes. This paper presents Event-B patterns that may be used to represent recovery from time-bounded inconsistency and illustrates their use in a model derived from industrial applications.

Distributed information systems are critical to the functioning of many businesses; designing them to be dependable is a challenging but important task. We report our experience in using formal methods to enhance processes and tools for development of business information software based on service-oriented architectures. In our work, which takes place in an industrial setting, we focus on the configuration of middleware, verifying application-level requirements in the presence of faults. In pilot studies provided by SAP, we used the Event-B formalism and the open Rodin tools platform to prove properties of models of business protocols and expose weaknesses of certain middleware configurations with respect to particular protocols. We then extended the approach to use models automatically generated from diagrammatic design tools, opening the possibility of seamless integration with current development environments. Increased automation in the verification process, through domain-specific models and theories, is a goal for future work.