Project 2045: Overcoming QA Challenges in Multi-Platform Advertising
By Swati
Project 2045 is a unified advertising platform designed to streamline the process of ad creation across multiple marketing channels. Testing it presented unique QA challenges.
What is Project 2045?
A platform that unifies ad creation and management across DV360, TTD, XANDR, and other programmatic advertising platforms. The complexity of multi-platform integration created significant QA challenges.
Challenge 1: Writing JSON Files for API Requests
Each platform has its own API schema and documentation. Researching and correctly formatting JSON payloads for each platform required deep technical knowledge and careful attention to detail.
Challenge 2: Balancing Multiple Responsibilities
QA engineers juggled JSON composition, API testing, GitHub uploads, and README documentation simultaneously. This multi-tasking made it difficult to maintain quality across all areas.
Challenge 3: Inadequate Requirement Clarity
Clear communication about what was tested and how became essential. We developed detailed reporting templates specifying test coverage and results.
Challenge 4: Testing After Every PR Merge
Each PR merge triggered 1-2 hour end-to-end testing cycles including New Relic log analysis and verification across 6-7 database tables. This was time-intensive but critical.
Challenge 5: Better Approach to API-Heavy Testing
We evolved our testing strategy to include:
- Unit-level testing for individual API calls
- Progressive integration testing across platforms
- Regression testing for existing functionality
- API automation with Postman and Playwright
Key Learnings
- New Relic monitoring for production observability
- Database debugging across multiple tables
- Platform expertise across DV360, TTD, and XANDR
- Client management and communication skills
Conclusion
Testing a multi-platform advertising system requires a combination of technical depth, systematic processes, and strong communication. The challenges we overcame made our QA practice significantly stronger.