Towards model-based testing of electronic funds transfer systems

We report on our first experience with applying model-based testing techniques to an operational Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) switch. The goal is to test the conformance of the EFT switch to the standard flows described by the ISO 8583 standard. To this end, we first make a formalization of the transaction flows specified in the ISO 8583 standard in terms of a Labeled Transition System (LTS). This formalization paves the way for model-based testing based on the formal notion of Input-Output Conformance (IOCO) testing. We adopt and augment IOCO testing for our particular application domain. We develop a prototype implementation and apply our proposed techniques in practice. We discuss the encouraging obtained results and the observed shortcomings of the present approach. We outline a roadmap to remedy the shortcomings and enhance the test results.