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Insurance Application Testing: Guide & Best Practices

The insurance industry was once deemed reluctant to change due to its outdated, heavily regulated system. However,the expectations for insurance software have changed. We are witnessing a digital transformation in the industry. Insurance companies now improve customer experience and stay competitive through top-notch insurance software quality. The adoption of these new tech brings in the need for rigorous insurance application testing.

P&C Insurance Application Testing

Importance Of Insurance Application Testing

The insurance industry itself is vast, including P&C insurance, health, car, life, etc. No matter which area, a software bug or system failure can potentially result in significant financial losses, damage to reputation, and even legal liabilities.

Insurance application testing is a critical step in the insurance software development process. Rigorous software testing ensures that the applications function as intended and meet the needs of customers. It also identifies vulnerabilities early in the development cycle, allowing insurers to address them before they become major issues.

Automation testing further boosts the insurance software’s performance, reliability, and security. When app-breaking bugs are quickly found and resolved, your insurance software becomes more stable, gaining for itself a unique competitive edge in the marketplace.

Why Centralized Test Automation For Insurance Domain

Many automation testing tools available on the market do streamline the testing effort. However, in reality, many teams struggle with the extensive configuration to connect those tools. This is why teams need software quality management platform, not just tools, for several reasons

Comprehensive Quality Management:We need end-to-end quality management, ensuring that all test activities, from test planning, test creation, test execution, to test management, and test analytics are covered.
Unification of Testing Activities: insurance applications, especially P&C insurance systems, are complex, consisting of web, mobile apps, policy management systems, and embedded devices. Each of them requires a different testing tool, leading to bloated techstack, fragmented and inefficient testing processes. With a centralized insurance application testing platform, teams can test web, mobile apps, API, even GUI, in 1 single place.
Reduced Maintenance and System Configuration: with everything under 1 roof, maintenance efforts become more concentrated. This opens up resources to be re-allocated to other critical quality assurance areas.
Centralized Reporting: business leaders need comprehensive actionable insights across the entire STLC to make data-driven decisions and provide visibility for multiple stakeholders. An end-to-end testing platform brings exactly that thorough kind of insight.
Centralized Planning and Scheduling: testing platform provides integration with popular DevOps tools, connecting teams involved in the project for better coordination, speeding up the feedback loop, allowing for continuous testing.

Adopting a software quality management platform is how insurance companies add another competitive edge to their services.

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How SAGA Achieved Greater Software Quality Management

SAGA, a UK-based insurance firm, has successfully transitioned into Agile, adopting software testing best practices, and tripled their testing capacity in a few months.

SAGA - a leading UK-based insurance company achieved better software quality management with Katalon

SAGA’s Challenges With Their Insurance Application Testing

Serving over 2.7 million customers, SAGA must prioritize its software quality, performance, and security. In 2016, the company decided to migrate all of its operations, including internal and customer-facing systems, onto Guidewire.

That decision put SAGA’s testing team under immense pressure. The number of test cases skyrocketed, and this new Guidewire-based system calls for a new test strategy.

In addition, SAGA releases monthly for their 2 main products: car and home insurance. Realizing that this is not the best way to do insurance software testing, they chose a software quality management platform - Katalon - to boost efficiency.

How SAGA solved the roadblock with Katalon Platform

Before adopting Katalon, SAGA could only manually test around 30 scenarios. After adopting Katalon, SAGA is able to run up to at least 100 scenarios per product, per development release. Not just that, Katalon gave SAGA a tailored P&C insurance testing experience:

Functional testing across critical front-end journeys within Guidewire
No-code and full-code scripting, so both non-technical and technical testers can contribute to test automation
API testing for third-party quote aggregators
Custom keywords and object recognition

The top-notch collaboration and scheduling capabilities of Katalon also play a major role in boosting SAGA’s test efficiency. Each testing cycle previously taking 2 days is now reduced to only 2 hours.

How To Test Insurance Domain Application

An insurance domain application consists of many subsystems, each performing a specific task. To achieve comprehensive quality, companies must check if these subsystems function well individually and as a unified entity.

Framework of an Insurance Application

An insurance application is built on a framework including components, data flows, and communication protocols. This framework facilitates the connection between individual modules in the application. Below is an example of a typical framework for an insurance app:

test cases for insurance application testing

Let’s examine how each framework of a P&C insurance software should be tested.

Module	What to be tested
New Business	Accuracy and completeness of data entry for new policyholders and their policies. Verification of policy information, including premium amount, coverage limits, and effective date. Verification of underwriting decisions and compliance with eligibility requirements. Verification of the generation of policy documents and the correct application of discounts or promotions.



Policy Admin	The ability to update and modify policy information, including policyholder and agent information. Verification of premium adjustments, renewals, cancellations, and endorsements. Verification of policyholder requests and correspondence, including the correct updates to policy information.


Claims	Verification of the claims process, including the ability to record and track claims. Verification of claimant identity and policy coverage, including proper authorization and documentation. Verification of claim validity and the appropriate payout of claims, including compliance with policy terms and limits.


Underwriting	Verification of the proper evaluation of potential policyholders and risk assessment. Verification of compliance with regulations and underwriting guidelines. Verification of underwriting decisions and the resulting policy terms, including verification of data sources and accuracy of risk assessment models.


Product Life Cycle Management	Testing the product development process, including product design, pricing, and distribution. Verification of product performance and identification of opportunities for improvement, including market research and analysis.

Error Handling	Testing for any possible error scenarios and ensuring that the system can recover from them, including data recovery and backups. Proper error messaging and escalation procedures, including detailed error logs and reporting.

Printing	Verification of the ability to generate and print policy documents accurately and efficiently. Verification of formatting and layout of documents, including branding and regulatory requirements, and the ability to print to different types of printers.

Security	Verification of system security and access controls to ensure the confidentiality and integrity of data, including user authentication and authorization. Monitoring and preventing potential cyber threats, such as hacking or data breaches, including regular security audits and penetration testing.

Document Management System	Verification of the functionality of the document management system, including storage, retrieval, and sharing, version control and access controls. Verification of the system's ability to organize and classify documents, such as policies or claims, and the ability to search and retrieve them efficiently.

Sample Test Cases For Insurance Application Testing

Test Case	Test Steps	Expected Results
User Registration	Enter valid data in all mandatory fields and submit the form	User account is created successfully
Login Functionality	Enter valid username and password and click on the login button	User is logged in successfully
Policy Creation	Enter valid data in all mandatory fields and submit the form	Policy is created successfully
Policy Cancellation	Select a policy to be canceled, enter reason and submit the form	Policy is canceled successfully
Policy Renewal	Select a policy to be renewed, enter payment details and submit the form	Policy is renewed successfully
Endorsement Processing	Select a policy, make changes and submit the endorsement form	Endorsement is processed successfully
Claim Submission	Enter valid claim details and submit the form	Claim is submitted successfully
Claim Processing	Select a claim, review the details and approve or reject the claim	Claim is processed and status is updated accordingly
Premium Calculation	Enter policy details and verify the calculated premium amount	Premium amount is calculated correctly
User Roles	Verify that different user roles have appropriate access and permissions	User roles have correct access and permissions
Data Validation	Enter invalid data in mandatory fields and verify the error messages	Error messages are displayed correctly
Integration Testing	Test the integration of the insurance application with external systems	Integration with external systems is seamless
Performance Testing	Test the application performance under different load conditions	Application performance is acceptable and stable
Security Testing	Test the application security measures to ensure data protection	Application data is secure and protected
Compatibility Testing	Test the application compatibility with different browsers and devices	Application is compatible with different browsers and devices
Mobile App Testing	Test the mobile app version of the application	Mobile app version is functioning correctly with no major discrepancy in the visual aspects
Localization Testing	Test the application language support for different regions	Application supports different languages and regions. No major layout impact when changing to other languages
Reporting Functionality	Verify that the application can generate reports for various aspects of the insurance process	Reports are generated accurately with all of the fields required
Document Management	Test the application document management system for policy documents and other important files	Documents are uploaded and managed correctly

Quality Assurance For Insurance Best Practices

1. Leverage data-driven automated testing to validate the accuracy of premium calculations

Premium in P&C insurance is defined by 2 factors: the frequency of claims and the severity of claims. There are many variables involved in premium calculation, and considering the vast possibilities of cases that may alter the final value of the premium, testers have a lot of work to take on.

Data-driven testing is essentially a technique that involves using data sets as input to test cases. The data sets are designed to cover a range of possible scenarios and test the application's ability to handle each one. Below is a quick step-by-step guide on how you can perform premium calculation testing:

Identify the inputs required for the premium calculation, such as the insured's age, gender, location, and coverage amount.
Create a data set for each test case that includes the input values and the expected output, which is the calculated premium amount.
Develop a test script that reads the data sets and executes the premium calculation for each set.
Compare the calculated premium amount with the expected output for each data set. If they match, the test case passes. If they don't match, the test case fails.
Collect and analyze the test results to identify any issues or discrepancies.
Make any necessary adjustments to the premium calculation algorithm or application code based on the test results.

The process is made easy thanks to Katalon’s support for data-driven testing using a variety of data sources, including Excel, CSV, XML, and databases. Test data can be loaded from these sources and passed to test scripts using data binding.

2. Identify breaking points leading to system crashes and downtime with performance testing

There are periods where the number of people accessing the system abnormally surges, leading to system crashes or instability. For example, during open enrollment, a large number of users will be accessing the system simultaneously to enroll in a new policy or make changes to an existing one. The application must be able to handle the increased traffic and still perform at an acceptable level.

Performance testing can simulate this increased traffic and help identify any bottlenecks or performance issues that need to be addressed before the actual peak period. With performance testing, insurance companies can also ensure that their applications are ready to handle the increased demand and provide a positive user experience for their customers.

3. Leverage integration testing to discover data inconsistencies and operational inefficiencies

The policy administration system (PAS), claims management system (CMS), and the customer relationship management (CRM) system are among the most critical parts of an insurance software. Even if they work perfectly fine individually, bugs may still arise when they are integrated. Errors lie in the touchpoints between them, leading to data inconsistencies and operational inefficiencies.

For example, if a claims adjuster updates the claim status in the claims processing module but the billing module is not updated with the new information, the customer may receive an incorrect bill, causing confusion and frustration.The resources it takes to reverse these errors have bottom-line impacts. Integration testing verifies these interactions to ensure a smooth communication between modules.

4. Strategically Employ Test Automation

Start by identifying which parts of the testing process to be automated. Repetitive tasks, such as regression testing or performance testing, as well as tasks that require a large number of test cases, are great candidates. After that, organizations should start evaluating available automation testing tools and frameworks to determine which is best suited.

Approach this from the build vs buy perspective: ask yourself if you should invest in building an automation testing framework from scratch or buying an automation testing tool with pre-built features. No matter which approach you chose, you should integrate your test automation suite with the existing CI/CD pipeline to ensure that tests run smoothly as part of the software development process.

5. Foster A Culture of Quality

The insurance industry's culture is characterized by a strong focus on risk management, regulatory compliance, and customer service. Quality management acts as another strong pillar of the industry, ensuring that insurance companies provide a positive in-app experience for their end users.

Create a shared understanding of quality across the organization. Not just the QA team, but all members involved in the software development process should be aware of the expectations. Invest in a techstack that supports this culture, including automated testing, code reviews, and other quality assurance processes.

At the same time, encourage feedback from users to make customer-centric, data-driven decisions with a view to achieve continuous improvement. For the leaders, this means making a commitment, encouraging the continuous improvement mindset, and giving recognition to individuals who demonstrate it.

Insurance Application Testing With Katalon Platform

As a comprehensive software quality management platform, Katalon is the solution for P&C Insurance Software Companies wanting to upgrade their testing activities.

Katalon Software Quality Management Platform

Cover all aspects of insurance software testing

With Katalon Platform, testers can perform test planning, test authoring, organization, execution, and analysis, all in 1 single place, no additional installations needed. Effortlessly test insurance websites, mobile apps, APIs, and policy management platforms thanks to the low-code test creation capabilities. Team members with varied programming expertise can contribute to the testing efforts.

Katalon also supports visual testing. Instead of spending hours manually reviewing screens and spot tiny visual bugs with our own eyes, testers can now leverage AI-driven visual testing to accurately detect visual changes that impact user experience.

Improved execution speed and agility

Katalon speeds up testing with self-healing, data-driven testing, parallel testing, and test artifact sharing across multiple teams and product lines. The Platform also supports CI/CD pipeline integration for faster and more efficient deployment. After testing, you can export detailed reports, view analytics dashboard, and actionable insights to make timely data-driven decisions.

Global customer support

Katalon provides global customer support through various channels to help its customers through a ticket system. Customers can easily gain access to a large knowledge base at the Katalon Blog and product documentation.

At Katalon Community, you can find many quality professionals around the world discussing technical-related topics about testing on the Katalon Platform. Engagement level is high among community members, who are ready to offer support and provide answers to any questions you may have. Katalon has a dedicated Community team to regulate the forum, maintaining a healthy and collaborative culture.

Pay-as-you-go

Scale your business however you need thanks to Katalon’s flexible pricing and test as much or as little as your business requires. This means that you can test only a few critical features or scale up to test complex insurance systems with thousands of test cases without any restrictions. With Katalon, you will find the perfect custom pricing plan tailored to your business needs and stay ahead of the competition.

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