How CITIC Bank Achieved Top‑Tier DevOps Platform Certification and Boosted Delivery Efficiency

Large enterprises have shown that standardization and tool empowerment are key to success. The DevOps standards and the DevOps continuous delivery pipeline platform can significantly improve quality and efficiency, enhancing market competitiveness.

On December 26, 2022, the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) announced the latest batch of DevOps and AIOps standards assessment results.

CITIC Bank participated with its Test Service Cloud Platform and the WuYueTian Quality Control Platform, both passing the "System and Tool Platform – Excellent" level of the R&D Operations Integration (DevOps) Capability Maturity Model assessment.

CITIC Bank is the first enterprise to pass the platform‑level assessment, achieving evaluation in seven modules: performance testing, UI testing, mobile automation testing, test data management, interface/service testing, test case management, and test plan management, demonstrating a leading domestic capability in DevOps.

Currently, CITIC Bank has three projects that passed the DevOps continuous delivery standard assessment, two of which passed the platform‑level assessment across seven modules, and one passed the module‑level assessment.

Interview

Q: Please introduce your organization and the projects evaluated.

Liu Liangjun: CITIC Bank’s Software Development Center is a direct subsidiary of the head office, responsible for global application system development, functional testing, and maintenance. It follows the “Five‑Three” strategy, builds core capabilities in wealth management, asset management, and comprehensive financing, and drives digital transformation through technology innovation.

The Test Management division builds a quality management standard, creates a professional testing ecosystem, and implements data‑driven quality control, supporting high‑quality agile delivery.

The Test Service Cloud Platform and WuYueTian Quality Control Platform are enterprise‑level quality control platforms that integrate testing management, implementation, and operation processes to support bank‑wide agile delivery.

Q: How does passing the DevOps system and tool platform assessment feel?

Liu Liangjun: Since early 2019, CITIC Bank has been practicing DevOps and agile transformation, passing four standards assessments, which greatly improved our maturity in continuous delivery and system tools. We aim to expand DevOps practices across other domains.

The Test Service Cloud Platform includes test case management and test plan management modules, providing online testing services for the entire bank.

The WuYueTian platform includes interface/service testing, UI testing, mobile application testing, performance testing, and test data management modules, offering a layered automated testing system and a digital performance map.

Through the assessment, we benchmarked against industry best practices and identified areas for improvement.

Q: Why are system and tool empowerment critical for enterprise success?

Liu Liangjun: Systems and tools are like the engine of a car, driving development forward on the agile track. Mature tools expand quality management dimensions, double productivity, and increase delivery speed by 150%.

Challenges and Solutions

Key challenges included coordinating multiple systems and tools across two platforms and seven modules, rapid response to ad‑hoc requirements, and overcoming entrenched thinking. Solutions involved standardizing interfaces, prioritizing requirements, strong team support, and integrating diverse automation tools.

Platform Overviews

Test Service Cloud Platform – provides one‑stop test case and test plan management, test execution statistics, and automated scheduling.

WuYueTian Quality Control Platform includes modules for interface testing (covering 252 business systems), UI testing (StarWeb tool), mobile testing with OCR, performance testing with intelligent load scheduling, and test data management offering over 600,000 data constructs.

DevOps Capability Maturity Model

The R&D Operations Integration (DevOps) Capability Maturity Model, jointly developed by CAICT, cloud computing open‑source alliance, leading internet companies, and major financial and telecom enterprises, is the first comprehensive DevOps standard worldwide and was adopted as an international standard by ITU‑T in July 2020.

The model covers agile development management, continuous delivery, technical operations, application design, security and risk management, system and tool, business value management, collaborative development and operations, and continuous testing.

For more information, contact CAICT or the Efficient Operations Community.