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Case Study

How T-Plan Helped the Bank of England Deliver a Time-Sensitive, High-Value Financial System on Budget

Financial QA in the 'Square Mile'

The Bank of England is the UK’s central bank and a key pillar of the nation’s financial system. It oversees financial stability, manages large-value transactions, and ensures the safe operation of the country’s monetary infrastructure.

At the time, T-Plan was recognised as the leading software quality management tool by industry analysts Ovum Ltd. Its proven approach to structured testing made it a natural fit for a project of this scale and regulatory importance.

Market

Finance & Banking

The Challenge

Serious vulnerability in physical settlement processes

Solution

Bank launched the Central Money Markets Office (CMMO) project

The Challenge:

In 1990, a City of London messenger carrying £291.9 million in certificates of deposit and treasury bills was robbed in transit. Although the documents were recovered, the incident highlighted a serious vulnerability in physical settlement processes.

In response, the Bank launched the Central Money Markets Office (CMMO) project. Its objective was to develop a secure, electronic platform capable of handling up to £80 billion in daily transactions. The project required stringent quality assurance to ensure accuracy, security and stability.

The Bank selected T-Plan to help implement a robust QA framework of testing and establish rigorous controls across the quality lifecycle.

Key challenges included:

Delivering a high-value, high-compliance system under tight budget and time constraints.
Adapting to a 36% change in requirements during the development phase.
Reducing testing overheads while maintaining confidence in system performance.
Implementing a robust QA strategy to ensure traceability and control.

The Solution:

T-Plan was used to define and manage every aspect of the Bank’s QA strategy, providing full traceability from requirements through to test execution. It allowed the QA team to:

Build a structured test plan aligned with the Bank’s governance and delivery framework.
Manage test cases, progress and coverage through a centralised platform.
Reduce the originally planned QA headcount from 15 to just 11, improving efficiency.
Maintain full oversight and control even as the project scope changed significantly.

The tool helped ensure the entire QA process remained accountable, efficient and fully auditable.

Conclusion:

The Bank of England’s CMMO project was a pivotal step forward in modernising the UK’s financial settlement infrastructure. Despite significant pressures around time, budget and scope, the project was delivered successfully. A result made possible through structured planning, disciplined QA and the effective use of the T-Plan platform.

"The CMMO was delivered on time and within budget and it has been operating successfully for some six months. In a project of this size and complexity, this is no small achievement; it is something in which the Bank as a whole can take some pride."

Bank of England QA success using T-Plan test automation

Deputy Chief of the Banking Department, Bank of England.

Why The Bank Chose T-Plan

Application agnostic. Automation of any application – legacy or new.
GUI level automation meant no API interaction – security sensitive.
User-friendly interface requiring minimal on-site programming expertise.
Management control of scheduled tasks.

Results

Delivered under budget – Final QA costs came in at £600,000, saving £300,000.
Reduced testing effort – Smaller QA team achieved full coverage.
Managed major scope change – 36% requirements change absorbed without impact to delivery.
Long-term value – The system operated successfully for years after launch.
Tool longevity – The Bank continued using T-Plan more than a decade later.
Community leadership – The Bank of England became Chair of the T-Plan User Group.

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