In this early success story, we explore how U.S. Venture leveraged automation to reduce testing times, improve release quality, and empower its team.

With a legacy spanning over 70 years and a presence in more than 100 locations across the United States, U.S. Venture is driven by a simple yet powerful mission: to find a better way to do everything.

Faced with mounting pressure from Microsoft quality updates and releases, U.S. Venture turned to automation to streamline its quality assurance (QA) process. 

Here, Derick Hall, Business Systems Analyst at U.S. Venture, shares insights into their early wins, process improvements, and growth plans for test automation.

The manual testing bottleneck

Testing vast, interconnected systems, including Microsoft Dynamics 365 (D365) F&O modules and integrations including Azure DevOps and Azure Data Factory, is a big lift, particularly when done manually.

U.S. Venture faced an enormous testing burden, as they were manually performing thousands of tests for critical system upgrades multiple times a year. 

“With over 3,000 test cases and 5,000 steps, testing was an uphill battle for our team,” says Hall. “We had 30-50 people involved in manual testing, often working extra hours to keep up with release schedules.” 

On top of this, quality issues were emerging as bi-monthly releases were deployed with minimal testing, resulting in bugs reaching production and affecting customers. Quality issues that impact the customer experience are a big concern, as they can damage relationships and erode trust in a brand over time.

Setting clear goals for automation

U.S. Venture outlined three main goals for test automation:

1. Improve customer experience

Through automation, U.S. Venture saw an opportunity to catch issues earlier in the development process. Leapwork’s test automation platform allows for faster updates, enabling Hall’s team to quickly address issues without impacting ongoing operations. 

“This isn’t just about saving time—it’s about catching problems before they affect our customers,” he adds.

2. Reduce internal disruption

By making it easy to build and execute test cases through automation, U.S. Venture aimed to reduce the testing burden on its team. 

“One of our top priorities was to build out a comprehensive test suite, so we’re not pulling Business Analysts away from other critical work to manually test everything,” Hall notes. 

“We’re focused on automating as much as possible so that our people can spend time on projects that actually drive innovation and value.”

3. Boost employee satisfaction

By reducing testing times and overtime, U.S. Venture aimed to give team members a healthier work-life balance. “Our goal is to save people time, plain and simple,” Hall explains. 

“When upgrades are looming, everyone knows it means long weekends and extra hours. With Leapwork, we’re hoping to eliminate that stress so our team can focus on meaningful work and enjoy more of their own time.”

Early gains from automation

The journey with Leapwork started quickly. In less than 45 days, U.S. Venture had built its first automated test cases. 

“The Leapwork team was fantastic—they helped us build reusable building blocks for common steps in our critical business workflows,” says Hall. These modules create efficiencies across the board: “Now, if something changes in a common process, like a login update, we just modify it once, and it’s instantly applied to all relevant test cases.”

This reusable framework not only saves time but also makes automation accessible for non-technical team members. “Leapwork is simple to use,” Hall explains. “I trained a colleague from finance in just five days. She’s not handling complex tasks, but it’s enough to cover the work her department needs.”

“We’ve already started to see fewer people pulled into testing, and cost savings from cutting down on overtime are significant,” says Hall. “It’s not just about budget—it’s about respect for our team’s time.”

By building a reusable, modular framework, U.S. Venture is set for long-term success. “Now that Leapwork integrates smoothly with our CI/CD pipeline, we’re able to keep up with fast-paced releases and still get them out without sacrificing quality. Ultimately, we’re releasing more frequently to prioritize stability, which is a win-win for us and our customers.”

Laying the foundation for future success

With Leapwork’s support, U.S. Venture is on track to have 80% of its test cases automated in the first eight months, laying the foundation for an agile and efficient testing practice. 

As Hall puts it, “Automation lets us focus on doing things better and faster. For us, success means keeping up with our releases without pulling our people into endless testing cycles. If you care about your team’s time and their ability to do impactful work, automation is something you can’t ignore. Leapwork has given us that opportunity.”