In enterprise software, testing is everyone's right and responsibility, according to iTKO, Inc. And "only (iTKO's) LISA automated testing solutions offer unmatched breadth and depth in software testing across multiple platforms, for everyone on the team," the company says. "With LISA, developers, QA testers, business analysts, and even your end users can get involved in testing throughout the development lifecycle."

The company's LISA Complete SOA Test Suite, for example, was built from the ground up for the distributed service-oriented architectures (SOAs) businesses are adopting today. Unlike other point testing solutions that are based on specific client platforms, code-level coverage or user “screen testing” paradigms, LISA natively talks to multiple technologies and exercises every application layer, the company says.

There are no test scripts in LISA, and the software functions as a “pre-emptive client” to multiple technologies, meaning developers don’t have to wait for a user interface to discover, connect to and directly test web services, databases, J2EE layers, messaging queues and other formerly murky enterprise software objects.

Developers thus save countless hours otherwise wasted writing throwaway test clients, the company says, and non-developers get involved in testing components much earlier in the development process, when problems are much less costly to fix.

LISA can capture browser-based web tests like other tools. But for developers who must deliver dynamic web applications (such as any eCommerce solution), understanding the context of the data presented on the screen becomes a critical issue. Most testing tools are built around a paradigm of validating what you see on the screen, and not what it means, according to iTKO. When LISA tests a web page, on the other hand, developers can flexibly check the business logic both at the presentation layer and behind the scenes in the services, meaning tests last longer and provide relevant information.