Abstract:
A system for centralized testing of web-based agent desktops has been devised. The invention uses a test control portal. The test control portal acts as the interface between the client interaction software systems testing system and analyst controlled test device, executes an extensive set of robust test directive commands with underlying routines to be used to specify test conditions without the use of programming ability on the part of the analyst, uses a robust set of report item and format choice designators to allow easy selection of a range of report content and styles.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/083,259 titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED END-TO-END WEB INTERACTION TESTING”, filed on Mar.28, 2016, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/854,023, titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED CHAT TESTING”, filed on Sep. 14, 2015, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No, 14/141,424 titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED CHAT TESTING”, filed on Dec. 27, 2013, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,137,184 on Sep. 15, 2015, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/936,186 titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED CHAT TESTING”, filed on Jul. 6, 2013, and is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/644,343 titled “INTEGRATED TESTING PLATFORM FOR CONTACT CENTRES”, filed on Dec. 22, 2009, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,625,772 on Jan. 7, 2014, and is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/567,089 titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED ADAPTATION AND IMPROVEMENT OF SPEAKER AUTHENTICATION IN A VOICE BIOMETRIC SYSTEM ENVIRONMENT”, filed on Aug. 6, 2012, and is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/140,449 titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED CHAT TESTING”, filed on Dec. 24, 2013, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,137,183 on Sep. 15, 2015, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/936,147 titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED CHAT TESTING”, filed on Jul. 6, 2013, the entire specifications of each of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. This application is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/157,384 titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED VOICE QUALITY TESTING”, filed on May 17, 2016, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/709,252 titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED VOICE QUALITY TESTING”, filed on May 11, 2015, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,344,556 on May 17, 2016, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/140,470 titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED VOICE QUALITY TESTING”, filed on Dec. 25, 2013, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,031,221 on May 12, 2015, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/936,183 titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED VOICE QUALITY TESTING”, filed on Jul. 6, 2013, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/644,343 titled “INTEGRATED TESTING PLATFORM FOR CONTACT CENTRES”, filed on Dec. 22, 2009, the entire specifications of each of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Art 
         [0003]    The disclosure relates to the field of system testing, and more particularly to the field of automated quality assurance testing of thin client contact center agent desktop functionality. 
         [0004]    2. Discussion of the State of the Art 
         [0005]    As web-browser based customer relationship management solutions used by contact centers, whether a single monolithic service or a set multiple service offerings from a number of vendors which together perform all needed tasks, have become more complex so have systems and techniques to needed monitor and test them. The ability to qualify new software versions and variants on the entire range of hardware types expected to be deployed, to qualify new hardware or software combinations as they arise, or to monitor functional efficiency during events of unacceptable responsiveness under conditions mimicking the actual live usage, has become much more important. These types of test software, running on either dedicated equipment or on live equipment under instances of low live traffic are now available, but are currently inflexible in deployment, requiring significant preplanning and hardware resources, have little modification capability while running, lack the ability to run unobtrusively, and thus can not be used to diagnose problems encountered during actual call center use, have inflexible result reporting abilities and require a significant amount of programming knowledge to administer. 
         [0006]    What is needed are computer service package testing suites that are easy and flexible to deploy, that accept modifications without the use of complex procedures while running, that have highly configurable and easily specified reporting formats and that can be controlled through a centralized gateway using simplified runtime commands instead of programmatic changes to the suites themselves. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    Accordingly, the inventor has conceived and reduced to practice, a system and method for automated thin client contact center agent desktop testing which has a single interface, does not need significant programming ability to operate, automates many types of testing and allocates resources and pre-loads test payloads. 
         [0008]    According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, a system and method for conducting centrally controlled, robust and easily customized usage testing of web-based customer relationship manager systems (CRM) has been created. This centralized test suite may execute testing of both voice and chat interaction software in conjunction with any support software frequently used by the contact center to accomplish customer relationship management tasks using cloud service based, thin client agent desktops. Use of servers each executing multiple headless virtual web-browsers allows many iterations of each programmed test plan to be run concurrently without the need for large number of actual workstations. Results of each test may be categorized and information depth dictated by the test analysts. Test setup is accomplished using a robust set of simple test directive commands and modifying parameters which insulates the analyst from the underlying programming. Commands and parameters can be strung together to form more complex test conditions. The suite is such that stopping or modifying a test under execution can be accomplished without catastrophic test disruption of programming knowledge of test execution. 
         [0009]    According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, a system for automated thin client contact center agent desktop testing, comprising: a control portal module stored in the memory of and operating on a processor of a computing device and configured to: accept runtime commands and parameters directing the operation of a thin client contact center consumer relationship manager test; and incorporates the runtime commands and parameters entered into a system resident test programming framework to produce a custom system executable thin client contact center agent desktop test plan; a test control module stored in the memory of and operating on a processor of a computing device and configured to: retrieve the custom system executable thin client contact center agent desktop test plan from the control portal module; assign each custom system executable thin client contact center agent desktop test plan prescribed interaction between a system generated virtual call center agent and a a system generated virtual customer to an available virtual headless web browser; direct execution of all custom system executable thin client contact center agent desktop test plan prescribed tasks within each interaction between a system generated virtual call center agent and a system generated virtual customer; collect pre-defined run-time data that results from execution of all custom system executable thin client contact center agent desktop test plan prescribed tasks within each interaction between a system generated virtual call center agent and a system generated virtual customer; an output module stored in the memory of and operating on a processor of a computing device and configured to display result data in a format pre-defined by the custom system executable thin client contact center agent desktop test plan is disclosed. 
         [0010]    According to another embodiment of the invention, a system for automated thin client contact center agent desktop testing has been developed wherein the runtime commands and parameters may come from a test command and parameter data store, wherein the runtime commands and parameters may come from interactive entry by an analyst using an attached interactive device, wherein at least two runtime commands and parameters are strung together to form more complex, customized test suites where the test control module flags any incompatible combinations should they arise, wherein results from several iterations of at least one test is stored to allow for retrospective analysis of efficiency changes over long periods of time, and wherein at least one of the runtime commands and its parameters commands is graphically represented and selected by a pictogram. 
         [0011]    According to another embodiment of the invention, a method for automated thin client contact center agent desktop testing, comprising the steps of: receiving test analyst directive commands and parameters and result report specifications from a human interface device using a control portal which is stored in a memory and operating on a processor of a network-connected computing device, developing a system executable test plan from the test analyst directive commands and parameters using a control portal, allocating virtual web browser instances for web based agent desktop testing based upon either pre-programmed parameters retrieved from the control portal using a test control module which is stored in a memory and operating on a processor of a network-connected computing device, running web based agent desktop testing plan directives on allocated virtual web browser instances using the test control module; and presenting the results data in a format best suited to goal of a study or desires of the analyst using preprogrammed specifications using an output module which is stored in a memory and operating on a processor of a network-connected computing device is disclosed. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES 
         [0012]    The accompanying drawings illustrate several embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention according to the embodiments. It will be appreciated by one skilled in the art that the particular embodiments illustrated in the drawings are merely exemplary, and are not to be considered as limiting of the scope of the invention or the claims herein in any way. 
           [0013]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary system architecture for a system for improved deployment of automated web-based agent desktop testing services, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. 
           [0014]      FIG. 2 . is a system diagram illustrating exemplary use a plurality of headless web browsers to run specially developed web versions of the end-to-end voice and end-to-end chat test software, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. 
           [0015]      FIG. 3  is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method for using a plurality of headless web browsers to run specially developed web versions of the end-to-end voice and end-to-end chat test software, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. 
           [0016]      FIG. 4  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary hardware architecture of a computing device used in an embodiment of the invention. 
           [0017]      FIG. 5  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary logical architecture for a client device, according to an embodiment of the invention. 
           [0018]      FIG. 6  is a block diagram showing an exemplary architectural arrangement of clients, servers, and external services, according to an embodiment of the invention. 
           [0019]      FIG. 7  is another block diagram illustrating an exemplary hardware architecture of a computing device used in various embodiments of the invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0020]    The inventor has conceived, and reduced to practice, in a preferred embodiment of the invention, a system and method for automated contact center agent desktop testing. 
         [0021]    One or more different inventions may be described in the present application. Further, for one or more of the inventions described herein, numerous alternative embodiments may be described; it should be appreciated that these are presented for illustrative purposes only and are not limiting of the inventions contained herein or the claims presented herein in any way. One or more of the inventions may be widely applicable to numerous embodiments, as may be readily apparent from the disclosure. In general, embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice one or more of the inventions, and it should be appreciated that other embodiments may be utilized and that structural, logical, software, electrical and other changes may be made without departing from the scope of the particular inventions. Accordingly, one skilled in the art will recognize that one or more of the inventions may be practiced with various modifications and alterations. Particular features of one or more of the inventions described herein may be described with reference to one or more particular embodiments or figures that form a part of the present disclosure, and in which are shown, by way of illustration, specific embodiments of one or more of the inventions. It should be appreciated, however, that such features are not limited to usage in the one or more particular embodiments or figures with reference to which they are described. The present disclosure is neither a literal description of all embodiments of one or more of the inventions nor a listing of features of one or more of the inventions that must be present in all embodiments. 
         [0022]    Headings of sections provided in this patent application and the title of this patent application are for convenience only, and are not to be taken as limiting the disclosure in any way. 
         [0023]    Devices that are in communication with each other need not be in continuous communication with each other, unless expressly specified otherwise. In addition, devices that are in communication with each other may communicate directly or indirectly through one or more communication means or intermediaries, logical or physical. 
         [0024]    A description of an embodiment with several components in communication with each other does not imply that all such components are required. To the contrary, a variety of optional components may be described to illustrate a wide variety of possible embodiments of one or more of the inventions and in order to more fully illustrate one or more aspects of the inventions. Similarly, although process steps, method steps, algorithms or the like may be described in a sequential order, such processes, methods and algorithms may generally be configured to work in alternate orders, unless specifically stated to the contrary. In other words, any sequence or order of steps that may be described in this patent application does not, in and of itself, indicate a requirement that the steps be performed in that order. The steps of described processes may be performed in any order practical. Further, some steps may be performed simultaneously despite being described or implied as occurring non-simultaneously (e.g., because one step is described after the other step). Moreover, the illustration of a process by its depiction in a drawing does not imply that the illustrated process is exclusive of other variations and modifications thereto, does not imply that the illustrated process or any of its steps are necessary to one or more of the invention(s), and does not imply that the illustrated process is preferred. Also, steps are generally described once per embodiment, but this does not mean they must occur once, or that they may only occur once each time a process, method, or algorithm is carried out or executed. Some steps may be omitted in some embodiments or some occurrences, or some steps may be executed more than once in a given embodiment or occurrence. 
         [0025]    When a single device or article is described herein, it will be readily apparent that more than one device or article may be used in place of a single device or article. Similarly, where more than one device or article is described herein, it will be readily apparent that a single device or article may be used in place of the more than one device or article. 
         [0026]    The functionality or the features of a device may be alternatively embodied by one or more other devices that are not explicitly described as having such functionality or features. Thus, other embodiments of one or more of the inventions need not include the device itself 
         [0027]    Techniques and mechanisms described or referenced herein will sometimes be described in singular form for clarity. However, it should be appreciated that particular embodiments may include multiple iterations of a technique or multiple instantiations of a mechanism unless noted otherwise. Process descriptions or blocks in figures should be understood as representing modules, segments, or portions of code which include one or more executable instructions for implementing specific logical functions or steps in the process. Alternate implementations are included within the scope of embodiments of the present invention in which, for example, functions may be executed out of order from that shown or discussed, including substantially concurrently or in reverse order, depending on the functionality involved, as would be understood by those having ordinary skill in the art. 
       Conceptual Architecture 
       [0028]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary system architecture  100  for a system for improved deployment of automated web-based agent desktop testing services, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. End-to-end contact center testing systems are invariably quite complex and may greatly benefit from a deployment system that allows scheduling, initiation, specification management and allocation of resources for a wide range of analyses without the need for extensive programming knowledge on the part of the analyst.  110  is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the invention, illustrating a system for automated chat testing incorporating common contact center elements and running in parallel to actual contact center operations. As illustrated, a contact center  110  may implement a test case management (TCM) platform  111 , which may serve as the beginning or origin of a test case. TCM platform  111  may operate automatically or optionally may accept human interaction at a test system portal  150 , in some cases via a local test control terminal with a graphical user interface  151  for manipulation of test cases using runtime commands and parameters rather than modification of test function code and viewing  152  of both interim and final test result reports which may also be stored in a testing database  112 . Other embodiments may employ a networked test deployment terminal and output module (not shown) which may connect from a great distance using a virtual private network or similar secure long distance connection familiar to those skilled in the art. When a test is run, TCM platform  111  initiates a test case with chat cruncher  113  and contact center manager (CCM) platform  114 , which may each then begin their respective automated testing processes. Chat cruncher  114  may simulate a plurality of virtual customers  120  which operate via a web server  119  to send and receive data via internet or other data communications network  125 , while CCM platform  114  may similarly simulate virtual contact center agents  115  which may receive and respond to data requests on each of plurality of virtual agent desktop instances as shown in  FIG. 2 . Data requests sent by simulated customers  120  via a data network  125  may be forwarded to an interaction server  116  and requests from agents to customers via a data network  125 . Interaction server  116  may verify data requests with a chat classifier  117 , which may identify requests as part of a test case or actual contact center operations, to determine handling protocol as the embodiment is capable of running embedded in the customer&#39;s live contact center infrastructure. If a request is determined to be a part of a test case, interaction server  116  may then proceed with test case handling. If a request is inbound from data network  125 , it may be forwarded to CCM platform  114  for handling by virtual agents  115 , or if it is an outbound request from a virtual agent  115  it may be sent to data network  125  for transmission to a virtual customer  120 . Virtual agents  115  may operate by interacting directly with interaction server  116  or by automatically interacting with a simulated agent desktop environment according to the specific nature of a test case. During and/or after the execution of a test case, data may be stored in a data store  112  by CCM platform  114  or chat cruncher  113 , for the formulation of test reports to be stored for later viewing by a user via TCM platform  111 . In this manner it will be appreciated that the flow of data requests within a test case is bidirectional, i.e. requests may continually and asynchronously be sent from simulated customers  120  to simulated agents  115  and vice-versa, without necessitating a strict pattern or rhythm of data flow. 
         [0029]    It will be appreciated that in such a manner it is possible to simulate a customer sending multiple chat requests while an agent waits to send a response, or for an agent to send multiple requests while a customer waits. Such occurrences are commonplace in practice, and in this manner a test case may more accurately simulate actual contact center operations for more relevant and reliable testing data. 
         [0030]    As illustrated according to the embodiment, normal operations may continue uninterrupted within a contact center  110  while a test case is being performed. Customers  127 ,  128  may continue to operate a chat interface  126  or call interface  186  as normal without any impact on their customer experience from a test case, sending chat requests and calls to contact center agents  118 ,  178  according to the flow illustrated. Chat requests may be sent from a chat interface  126  via a data network  125 , requests may then be received and handled within a contact center. There the requests may then travel to an interaction server  116 , which may then verify requests with a chat classifier  117  to determine their nature as legitimate customer interaction. Requests may then be sent to agents  118 , and return requests follow an opposite path through interaction server  116 , and then outward from contact center  110  via a data network  125  to a customer&#39;s chat interface  126 . In this manner it will be appreciated that normal contact center operations may be running in parallel to test cases, without any impact on customer experience. 
         [0031]    Contact center voice interaction with customers may place significantly more load on an agent&#39;s workstation and web-based CRM client software running upon it as many such packages employ soft-phones and voice requires a wider bandwidth to present, and there may be speech to text transcription functions to perform. There is also some pressure to provide a faster response during voice interaction which may lead to increased concurrent use of a wide range of software resources in a voice interaction environment.  170  is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the invention, illustrating a system for automated voice calls testing incorporating common contact center elements and running in parallel to actual contact center operations. As illustrated, a contact center  170  may implement a test case management (TCM) platform  171 , which may serve as the beginning or origin of a test case. TCM platform  171  may operate automatically or optionally may accept human interaction at a test system portal  150 , in some cases via a local test control terminal with a graphical user interface  151  for manipulation of test cases and viewing  152  of both interim and final test result reports which may be stored in a testing database  172 . These results may be initially displayed using dashboard or carrousel type format or agent workstation and CRM client functional parameters and may include additional windows which may include, current applications open, or streaming screenshots from the test agent client to show current window activity timing. Subsequent display of specific detailed information of interest may then be available on demand. When a test is run, TCM platform  171  initiates a test case with call generator  173  and contact center manager (CCM) platform  174 , which may each then begin their respective automated testing processes. Call flow generator  173  may simulate a plurality of virtual customers  180  which operate via a web server  179  and may send voice data requests pre-stored in a call flow testing data store  181 . In the embodiment, all outbound and inbound voice data is transmitted through a data communications network  185  to the call interface  186  where they may be converted to PSTN transmission or may enter the internet based upon the test being run, while CCM platform  174  may similarly simulate virtual contact center agents  175  which may receive and respond to voice data requests by exercising various features of the contact center&#39;s customer relationship management software (CRM) in response to the test parameters. Data requests sent by simulated customers  180  arriving at the call interface  186  may be forwarded to an interaction server  176  and requests from agents to customers also via a call interface  186 . Interaction server  176  may verify data requests with a call classifier  177 , which may identify requests as part of a test case or actual contact center operations, to determine handling protocol. If a request is determined to be a part of a test case, interaction server  176  may then proceed with test case handling. If a request is inbound from call interface  186 , it may be forwarded to CCM platform  174  for handling by virtual agents  175 , or if it is an outbound request from a virtual agent  175  it may be sent to call interface  186  for transmission to a virtual customer  180 . Virtual agents  175  may operate by interacting directly with interaction server  176  or by automatically interacting with a real or simulated agent desktop environment according to the specific nature of a test case. During and/or after the execution of a test case, data may be stored in a data store  172  by CCM platform  174  or call generator  173 , for the formulation of test reports to be stored for later viewing by a user via TCM platform  171 . In this manner, it will be appreciated that the flow of data requests within a test case is bidirectional, i.e. requests may continually and asynchronously be sent from simulated customers  180  to simulated agents  175  and vice-versa, without necessitating a strict pattern or rhythm of data flow. It will be appreciated that in such a manner it is possible to simulate a customer uttering multiple voice requests, requiring further CRM interaction while an agent attempts to fulfill a prior task, or for an agent to have to wait a customer produces needed data. Such occurrences are commonplace in practice, and in this manner, a test case may more accurately simulate actual contact center operations for more relevant and reliable testing data. 
         [0032]    As illustrated, according to the embodiment, normal operations may continue uninterrupted within a contact center  170  while a test case is being performed. Customers  177  may continue to be served through the call interface  186  as normal without any impact on customer experience from a test case, calling to contact center agents  118  according to the flow illustrated. Calls may be sent from a call interface  186 , and the calls may then be received and handled within a contact center. There the requests may then travel to an interaction server  176 , which may then verify requests with a chat classifier  177  to determine their nature as legitimate customer interaction. Calls from real customers  187  may then be sent to agents  178 , and voice responses follow an opposite path through interaction server  176 , and then outward from contact center  170  via the call interface  186  to a customer&#39;s phone not shown. In this manner, it will be appreciated that normal contact center operations may be running in parallel to test cases, without any impact on customer experience. 
         [0033]    Centralized deployment of all test set-up, initiation and status review is afforded by logically connecting the test system portal  150  and user interface  151  to the TCM Platforms  111 ,  171  of the test system. Remote review of test status as well as review of test results is also afforded by test system portal&#39;s  190  network connection  195 . 
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS 
       [0034]      FIG. 2  is a system diagram illustrating exemplary use a plurality of headless web browsers to run specially developed web versions of the end-to-end voice and end-to-end chat test software, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. The ability to reduce the number of software packages which must be monitored for changing hardware requirements, kept present and up-to-date in corporate workstation images and which must first be conflict as well as function tested and then deployed to workstations within a corporate department on disruption minimizing schedules has made web-browser based cloud CRM software-as-a-service offerings  210  such as but not limited to Salesforce and its many available add-ons for use in a contact center is extremely desirable. The invention allows a central module  100  to load and monitor multiple copies of specially developed web versions of end-to-end voice system test suite from storage  206 ,  207 , which may be run continuously to test for time dependent issues such as race conditions and memory leaks, or an end-to-end chat and call contact test suite which may run continuously via a network  215  for the same reasons. In this embodiment  200  web versions of the test software  100  and the web-browser based cloud CRM software packages  210  may be loaded onto a plurality of workstations  220 ,  225  each running multiple instances of headless web browsers, as an example awesomium although the underlying headless web browser is not of consequence to invention function. Each of the workstations would then execute several iterations of the cloud-based CRM software of interest and the loaded thin client specialized test suite  220   a,    220   b,    220   c,    220   d,    220   e,    220   f,    220   g,    225   a,    225   b,    225   c,    225   d,    225   e ,  225   f,    225   g.  Such a configuration allows businesses to test the performance of web-based, thin client CRM solutions  210 , as configured at their contact centers, under a variety of incoming and outgoing test loads of both customer chat and customer voice requests using an easy to configure and modify  151  command and parameter interface based test suite system that runs on a compact hardware platform  220 ,  225 . The test suite may also be used to rapidly and thoroughly determine root cause of difficulties encountered by the call center while using the particular thin client CRM service  210  for accurate, informative defect reporting to the web-based CRM service provider without the expenditure of significant human or equipment resources. Results such as but not limited to web browser load on workstation resources, initial customer information screen presentation, proper operation of all support functions and windows can be easily monitored through dashboard of carrousel display formats allowing rapid recognition of outlying elements both during and post test run. 
         [0035]      FIG. 3  is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method  300  for using a plurality of headless web browsers to run specially developed web versions of the end-to-end voice and end-to-end chat test software according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. There are several aspects of the operation of a call center that relies upon web-browser based cloud-service provided CRM that may affect the overall function of that call center. Embodiments of the test suite may thus commands and parameters to be specified during set-up  301  which direct the levels of such items as, but not limited to customer call load level  301   a,  customer email load level  301   b,  number of active agents  301   c,  customer chat message load level  301   e,  number of call center agents active (web-browser based CRM instances active and accepting customer requests) and the resources which may include information windows, database accesses and soft-phone communication connections open, just to name a few in use per customer  301   d  among other parameters known to those skilled in the art. Upon initial set-up of a test plan  301 , that test may be run using a system of servers each running a target web-browser based, cloud service CRM  302  on multiple instances of headless, remotely controlled, web browsers  303 , instances possibly representing workstations with different underlying capabilities  FIG. 2 . Items reported during runtime may include proper and timely web-browser client app responses to simulated agent actions  303   a,  call center network load during differing customer request profiles  303   b,  resource requirements on the web-browser based CRM host workstation during varying customer request and customer service profiles  303   c  and measurement of the response times of the cloud service during 24 hour cycles  303   d  among other parameters known relevant to one skilled in the field. Both interim, near real time, results of these individual analyses may be displayed  304  in an easy to rapidly recognize and comprehend format such as dashboards or carrousel formats with the ability to inspect more detailed representations available in many cases, during data acquisition  304 . Interim results may be checked for usefulness  306 , and if not useful  307  test parameters may be modified  308  so that operation repeats  301  with new parameter definitions. Both customized commands and parameters as well as pre-designated test results may be permanently stored  305 . Stored commands and parameters  305  may be re-called and used as a basis of subsequent tests, either as-is, or modified with novel runtime commands or parameters as needed, to make the creation of test suites simple and time efficient for analysts having little or no programming knowledge or experience. 
       Hardware Architecture 
       [0036]    Generally, the techniques disclosed herein may be implemented on hardware or a combination of software and hardware. For example, they may be implemented in an operating system kernel, in a separate user process, in a library package bound into network applications, on a specially constructed machine, on an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or on a network interface card. 
         [0037]    Software/hardware hybrid implementations of at least some of the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented on a programmable network-resident machine (which should be understood to include intermittently connected network-aware machines) selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in memory. Such network devices may have multiple network interfaces that may be configured or designed to utilize different types of network communication protocols. A general architecture for some of these machines may be described herein in order to illustrate one or more exemplary means by which a given unit of functionality may be implemented. According to specific embodiments, at least some of the features or functionalities of the various embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented on one or more general-purpose computers associated with one or more networks, such as for example an end-user computer system, a client computer, a network server or other server system, a mobile computing device (e.g., tablet computing device, mobile phone, smartphone, laptop, or other appropriate computing device), a consumer electronic device, a music player, or any other suitable electronic device, router, switch, or other suitable device, or any combination thereof. In at least some embodiments, at least some of the features or functionalities of the various embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented in one or more virtualized computing environments (e.g., network computing clouds, virtual machines hosted on one or more physical computing machines, or other appropriate virtual environments). 
         [0038]    Referring now to  FIG. 4 , there is shown a block diagram depicting an exemplary computing device  10  suitable for implementing at least a portion of the features or functionalities disclosed herein. Computing device  10  may be, for example, any one of the computing machines listed in the previous paragraph, or indeed any other electronic device capable of executing software- or hardware-based instructions according to one or more programs stored in memory. Computing device  10  may be configured to communicate with a plurality of other computing devices, such as clients or servers, over communications networks such as a wide area network a metropolitan area network, a local area network, a wireless network, the Internet, or any other network, using known protocols for such communication, whether wireless or wired. 
         [0039]    In one embodiment, computing device  10  includes one or more central processing units (CPU)  12 , one or more interfaces  15 , and one or more busses  14  (such as a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus). When acting under the control of appropriate software or firmware, CPU  12  may be responsible for implementing specific functions associated with the functions of a specifically configured computing device or machine. For example, in at least one embodiment, a computing device  10  may be configured or designed to function as a server system utilizing CPU  12 , local memory  11  and/or remote memory  16 , and interface(s)  15 . In at least one embodiment, CPU  12  may be caused to perform one or more of the different types of functions and/or operations under the control of software modules or components, which for example, may include an operating system and any appropriate applications software, drivers, and the like. 
         [0040]    CPU  12  may include one or more processors  13  such as, for example, a processor from one of the Intel, ARM, Qualcomm, and AMD families of microprocessors. In some embodiments, processors  13  may include specially designed hardware such as application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), electrically erasable programmable read-only memories (EEPROMs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and so forth, for controlling operations of computing device  10 . In a specific embodiment, a local memory  11  (such as non-volatile random access memory (RAM) and/or read-only memory (ROM), including for example one or more levels of cached memory) may also form part of CPU  12 . However, there are many different ways in which memory may be coupled to system  10 . Memory  11  may be used for a variety of purposes such as, for example, caching and/or storing data, programming instructions, and the like. It should be further appreciated that CPU  12  may be one of a variety of system-on-a-chip (SOC) type hardware that may include additional hardware such as memory or graphics processing chips, such as a QUALCOMM SNAPDRAGON™ or SAMSUNG EXYNOS™ CPU as are becoming increasingly common in the art, such as for use in mobile devices or integrated devices. 
         [0041]    As used herein, the term “processor” is not limited merely to those integrated circuits referred to in the art as a processor, a mobile processor, or a microprocessor, but broadly refers to a microcontroller, a microcomputer, a programmable logic controller, an application-specific integrated circuit, and any other programmable circuit. 
         [0042]    In one embodiment, interfaces  15  are provided as network interface cards (NICs). Generally, NICs control the sending and receiving of data packets over a computer network; other types of interfaces  15  may for example support other peripherals used with computing device  10 . Among the interfaces that may be provided are Ethernet interfaces, frame relay interfaces, cable interfaces, DSL interfaces, token ring interfaces, graphics interfaces, and the like. In addition, various types of interfaces may be provided such as, for example, universal serial bus (USB), Serial, Ethernet, FIREWIRE™, THUNDERBOLT™, PCI, parallel, radio frequency (RF), BLUETOOTH™, near-field communications (e.g., using near-field magnetics), 802.11 (Wi-Fi), frame relay, TCP/IP, ISDN, fast Ethernet interfaces, Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, Serial ATA (SATA) or external SATA (ESATA) interfaces, high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI), digital visual interface (DVI), analog or digital audio interfaces, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) interfaces, high-speed serial interface (HSSI) interfaces, Point of Sale (POS) interfaces, fiber data distributed interfaces (FDDIs), and the like. Generally, such interfaces  15  may include physical ports appropriate for communication with appropriate media. In some cases, they may also include an independent processor (such as a dedicated audio or video processor, as is common in the art for high-fidelity A/V hardware interfaces) and, in some instances, volatile and/or non-volatile memory (e.g., RAM). 
         [0043]    Although the system shown in  FIG. 4  illustrates one specific architecture for a computing device  10  for implementing one or more of the inventions described herein, it is by no means the only device architecture on which at least a portion of the features and techniques described herein may be implemented. For example, architectures having one or any number of processors  13  may be used, and such processors  13  may be present in a single device or distributed among any number of devices. In one embodiment, a single processor  13  handles communications as well as routing computations, while in other embodiments a separate dedicated communications processor may be provided. In various embodiments, different types of features or functionalities may be implemented in a system according to the invention that includes a client device (such as a tablet device or smartphone running client software) and server systems (such as a server system described in more detail below). 
         [0044]    Regardless of network device configuration, the system of the present invention may employ one or more memories or memory modules (such as, for example, remote memory block  16  and local memory  11 ) configured to store data, program instructions for the general-purpose network operations, or other information relating to the functionality of the embodiments described herein (or any combinations of the above). Program instructions may control execution of or comprise an operating system and/or one or more applications, for example. Memory  16  or memories  11 ,  16  may also be configured to store data structures, configuration data, encryption data, historical system operations information, or any other specific or generic non-program information described herein. 
         [0045]    Because such information and program instructions may be employed to implement one or more systems or methods described herein, at least some network device embodiments may include nontransitory machine-readable storage media, which, for example, may be configured or designed to store program instructions, state information, and the like for performing various operations described herein. Examples of such nontransitory machine-readable storage media include, but are not limited to, magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape; optical media such as CD-ROM disks; magneto-optical media such as optical disks, and hardware devices that are specially configured to store and perform program instructions, such as read-only memory devices (ROM), flash memory (as is common in mobile devices and integrated systems), solid state drives (SSD) and “hybrid SSD” storage drives that may combine physical components of solid state and hard disk drives in a single hardware device (as are becoming increasingly common in the art with regard to personal computers), memristor memory, random access memory (RAM), and the like. It should be appreciated that such storage means may be integral and non-removable (such as RAM hardware modules that may be soldered onto a motherboard or otherwise integrated into an electronic device), or they may be removable such as swappable flash memory modules (such as “thumb drives” or other removable media designed for rapidly exchanging physical storage devices), “hot-swappable” hard disk drives or solid state drives, removable optical storage discs, or other such removable media, and that such integral and removable storage media may be utilized interchangeably. Examples of program instructions include both object code, such as may be produced by a compiler, machine code, such as may be produced by an assembler or a linker, byte code, such as may be generated by for example a JAVA™ compiler and may be executed using a Java virtual machine or equivalent, or files containing higher level code that may be executed by the computer using an interpreter (for example, scripts written in Python, Perl, Ruby, Groovy, or any other scripting language). 
         [0046]    In some embodiments, systems according to the present invention may be implemented on a standalone computing system. Referring now to  FIG. 5 , there is shown a block diagram depicting a typical exemplary architecture of one or more embodiments or components thereof on a standalone computing system. Computing device  20  includes processors  21  that may run software that carry out one or more functions or applications of embodiments of the invention, such as for example a client application  24 . Processors  21  may carry out computing instructions under control of an operating system  22  such as, for example, a version of MICROSOFT WINDOWS™ operating system, APPLE OS X™ or iOS™ operating systems, some variety of the Linux operating system, ANDROID™ operating system, or the like. In many cases, one or more shared services  23  may be operable in system  20 , and may be useful for providing common services to client applications  24 . Services  23  may for example be WINDOWS™ services, user-space common services in a Linux environment, or any other type of common service architecture used with operating system  21 . Input devices  28  may be of any type suitable for receiving user input, including for example a keyboard, touchscreen, microphone (for example, for voice input), mouse, touchpad, trackball, or any combination thereof. Output devices  27  may be of any type suitable for providing output to one or more users, whether remote or local to system  20 , and may include for example one or more screens for visual output, speakers, printers, or any combination thereof. Memory  25  may be random-access memory having any structure and architecture known in the art, for use by processors  21 , for example to run software. Storage devices  26  may be any magnetic, optical, mechanical, memristor, or electrical storage device for storage of data in digital form (such as those described above, referring to  FIG. 4 ). Examples of storage devices  26  include flash memory, magnetic hard drive, CD-ROM, and/or the like. 
         [0047]    In some embodiments, systems of the present invention may be implemented on a distributed computing network, such as one having any number of clients and/or servers. Referring now to  FIG. 6 , there is shown a block diagram depicting an exemplary architecture  30  for implementing at least a portion of a system according to an embodiment of the invention on a distributed computing network. According to the embodiment, any number of clients  33  may be provided. Each client  33  may run software for implementing client-side portions of the present invention; clients may comprise a system  20  such as that illustrated in  FIG. 5 . In addition, any number of servers  32  may be provided for handling requests received from one or more clients  33 . Clients  33  and servers  32  may communicate with one another via one or more electronic networks  31 , which may be in various embodiments any of the Internet, a wide area network, a mobile telephony network (such as CDMA or GSM cellular networks), a wireless network (such as WiFi, WiMAX, LTE, and so forth), or a local area network (or indeed any network topology known in the art; the invention does not prefer any one network topology over any other). Networks  31  may be implemented using any known network protocols, including for example wired and/or wireless protocols. 
         [0048]    In addition, in some embodiments, servers  32  may call external services  37  when needed to obtain additional information, or to refer to additional data concerning a particular call. Communications with external services  37  may take place, for example, via one or more networks  31 . In various embodiments, external services  37  may comprise web-enabled services or functionality related to or installed on the hardware device itself. For example, in an embodiment where client applications  24  are implemented on a smartphone or other electronic device, client applications  24  may obtain information stored in a server system  32  in the cloud or on an external service  37  deployed on one or more of a particular enterprise&#39;s or user&#39;s premises. 
         [0049]    In some embodiments of the invention, clients  33  or servers  32  (or both) may make use of one or more specialized services or appliances that may be deployed locally or remotely across one or more networks  31 . For example, one or more databases  34  may be used or referred to by one or more embodiments of the invention. It should be understood by one having ordinary skill in the art that databases  34  may be arranged in a wide variety of architectures and using a wide variety of data access and manipulation means. For example, in various embodiments one or more databases  34  may comprise a relational database system using a structured query language (SQL), while others may comprise an alternative data storage technology such as those referred to in the art as “NoSQL” (for example, HADOOP CASSANDRA™, GOOGLE BIGTABLE™, and so forth). In some embodiments, variant database architectures such as column-oriented databases, in-memory databases, clustered databases, distributed databases, or even flat file data repositories may be used according to the invention. It will be appreciated by one having ordinary skill in the art that any combination of known or future database technologies may be used as appropriate, unless a specific database technology or a specific arrangement of components is specified for a particular embodiment herein. Moreover, it should be appreciated that the term “database” as used herein may refer to a physical database machine, a cluster of machines acting as a single database system, or a logical database within an overall database management system. Unless a specific meaning is specified for a given use of the term “database”, it should be construed to mean any of these senses of the word, all of which are understood as a plain meaning of the term “database” by those having ordinary skill in the art. 
         [0050]    Similarly, most embodiments of the invention may make use of one or more security systems  36  and configuration systems  35 . Security and configuration management are common information technology (IT) and web functions, and some amount of each are generally associated with any IT or web systems. It should be understood by one having ordinary skill in the art that any configuration or security subsystems known in the art now or in the future may be used in conjunction with embodiments of the invention without limitation, unless a specific security  36  or configuration system  35  or approach is specifically required by the description of any specific embodiment. 
         [0051]      FIG. 7  shows an exemplary overview of a computer system  40  as may be used in any of the various locations throughout the system. It is exemplary of any computer that may execute code to process data. Various modifications and changes may be made to computer system  40  without departing from the broader scope of the system and method disclosed herein. Central processor unit (CPU)  41  is connected to bus  42 , to which bus is also connected memory  43 , nonvolatile memory  44 , display  47 , input/output (I/O) unit  48 , and network interface card (NIC)  53 . I/O unit  48  may, typically, be connected to keyboard  49 , pointing device  50 , hard disk  52 , and real-time clock  51 . NIC  53  connects to network  54 , which may be the Internet or a local network, which local network may or may not have connections to the Internet. Also shown as part of system  40  is power supply unit  45  connected, in this example, to a main alternating current (AC) supply  46 . Not shown are batteries that could be present, and many other devices and modifications that are well known but are not applicable to the specific novel functions of the current system and method disclosed herein. It should be appreciated that some or all components illustrated may be combined, such as in various integrated applications, for example Qualcomm or Samsung system-on-a-chip (SOC) devices, or whenever it may be appropriate to combine multiple capabilities or functions into a single hardware device (for instance, in mobile devices such as smartphones, video game consoles, in-vehicle computer systems such as navigation or multimedia systems in automobiles, or other integrated hardware devices). 
         [0052]    In various embodiments, functionality for implementing systems or methods of the present invention may be distributed among any number of client and/or server components. For example, various software modules may be implemented for performing various functions in connection with the present invention, and such modules may be variously implemented to run on server and/or client components. 
         [0053]    The skilled person will be aware of a range of possible modifications of the various embodiments described above. Accordingly, the present invention is defined by the claims and their equivalents.