FinCheck Project Initiation & Banking Domain Understanding

Welcome!

You are joining the FinCheck project as a Database Tester in a banking system.

On your first day, your manager highlights a serious issue: customers are reporting wrong account balances after transactions like UPI payments, salary credits, and ATM withdrawals.

The system processes thousands of transactions daily, and even a small error can lead to incorrect balances or duplicate money entries.

Before you start testing the database, your manager clearly says:-

If you don’t understand how money moves in banking, you cannot test the data correctly.

Topic: SQL for Testers

1)Database Basics, DDL/DML Commands
2)Joins, Aggregates, and Data Validation with SQL

Understand Debit

What is Debit?

Debit means money goes OUT from a customer account.

Whenever a customer :

• Withdraws money

• Makes payment

• Transfers funds

• The account balance decreases

In banking systems, debit transactions are extremely important because they directly affect customers' money.

Types of Debit Transactions

• ATM Withdrawal- Customer withdraws money using ATM. 

• UPI Payment-Customer sends money through UPI apps.

• Online Shopping Payment - Money is deducted at the time of purchase.

• Utility Bill Payment: Electricity, gas, and mobile recharge.

• Bank Transfer - Money transferred to another account

​Types of Debit Transactions

• ATM Withdrawal - Customer withdraws money using an ATM.

• UPI Payment - Customer sends money through UPI apps.

• Online Shopping Payment - Money is deducted at the time of purchase.

• Utility Bill Payment - Electricity, gas, and mobile recharge payments.

• Bank Transfer - Money transferred to another account.

How Debit Works

When a customer performs a debit transaction:

• Customer initiates transaction.

• System validates:1. Account number, 2. PIN/password, 3. Available balance 

• The transaction request is processed.

• Amount is deducted from the balance.

• Updated balance is stored in the database.

• Transaction history is recorded.

​Real Life Example

Rahul has ₹10,000 in his account.

He withdraws ₹2,000 using an ATM.

Calculation

Previous Balance = ₹10,000
Debit Amount = ₹2,000

New Balance = ₹8,000

Database Representation

Understand Credit

What is Credit?

Credit means money comes INTO a customer account.

Credit transactions increase customer balance.

Types of Credit Transactions 

• Salary Credit - Monthly salary added to account. 
• Cash Deposit - Money deposited into a bank. 
• Refund - Refund received from the merchant. 
• Interest Credit - Interest added by the bank. 
• Fund Transfer Received - Money received from another customer. ​

How Credit Works 

• The customer receives money.

• System validates the receiving account.

• Transaction gets processed.

• Amount added to the balance.

• Updated balance stored in the database.

• Transaction history updated.

​Real Life Example

Rahul has ₹10,000 in his account.

He deposited ₹2,000 in his account using Self UPI Transfer

Calculation

Previous Balance = ₹10,000
Credit  Amount = ₹2,000

New Balance = ₹12,000

Understand Balance

Database Representation

What is Balance?

Balance is the total amount of money currently available in the customer account.

Balance changes after every debit and credit transaction.

Types of Balance?

• Available Balance - Money that the customer can use immediately.

• Current Balance - Total account amount.

• Ledger Balance - Balance maintained by bank records.

• Minimum Balance - Minimum required balance. 

How Balance Works

Balance changes based on transactions.

Formula

New Balance=Previous Balance+Credit−Debit

Real Life Example

A customer performs:

• ATM withdrawal

• UPI payment

• Salary credit

System recalculates balance after each transaction.

Database Representation

Understand Transaction Lifecycle

What is Transaction Lifecycle?

The transaction lifecycle represents the complete flow of transaction processing within the banking system.

Types of Transactions

• Debit Transaction - Money goes out.

• Credit Transaction - Money comes in.

​

​How Transaction Lifecycle Works

• Customer starts transaction.

• System validates: 1. Account Number 2. Balance 3. Account Status

• Transaction request processed.

• Balance updated in the accounts table.

• Transaction saved in the transactions table. 

Real Life Example

Customer performs a UPI payment of ₹500.

Flow:-

• User initiates payment

• System validates balance

• ₹500 deducted

• Updated balance stored

• Transaction history create

​

Database Representation

​​

Understand Account Number

What is the Account Number?

An account number is a unique identity assigned to every customer account.

It helps the system identify ownership of money.

Types of Account Numbers

• Savings Account

• Current Account

• Salary Account

• Joint Account

​How Account Number Works

System uses account number to:-

• identify customer

• process transaction

• maintain balance

• track history  

Real Life Example

Rahul sends ₹500 to Priya.

System transfers money using:

101001 → 101002

The database uses account numbers instead of names.

Database Representation

Understand the Amount Field 

What is the Amount Field?

The amount field stores the transaction money value.

Types of Amounts

• Debit amount

• Credit amount

• Refund amount

​

How the Amount Field Works

Whenever a transaction occurs :

• Amount gets validated

• Amount stored in the database

• Balance calculation uses the amount.

Understand the Amount Field 

Real Life Example

The customer pays ₹500 online.

Database stores:

amount = 500

Database Representation

Transaction Table Representation

Understand Timestamp Field

What is Timestamp?

Timestamp stores the exact transaction date and time.

Types of Timestamp Usage

• Transaction sequencing

• Audit validation

• Fraud tracking

• Daily reconciliation

​How Timestamp Works

Every transaction receives :

• date

• time

• sequence order
  System processes transactions using timestamp order.  

Database Representation

Transaction Table Representation

Understand Data Validation 

What is Data Validation?

Data validation means checking whether the data stored in the database is accurate and complete.

Types of Validation

• Null validation

• Duplicate validation

• Balance validation

• Timestamp validation

• Format validation

How Validation Works

Tester compares :

• Expected data

• Actual database data.  

Defects are identified and reported.

Real Life Example

Asha has ₹10,000 in her bank account.

She withdraws ₹2,000 from an ATM.

According to banking rules:

Previous Balance = ₹10,000
Debit Amount = ₹2,000

Expected Balance = ₹8,000

However, when the tester checks the database after transaction processing, the system shows:

Updated Balance = ₹12,000

Instead of reducing the balance, the system incorrectly increased it.

This indicates a serious financial calculation defect inside the banking application.

Database Representation

Validation Observation is NOT usually present in the actual database table.

What is Project Workflow?

Workflow represents the complete flow of banking transactions within the FinCheck application.

Types of Workflow Activities

• Transaction processing

• Database validation

• Defect reporting

• Retesting

• Audit verification

How Workflow Works

• Customer performs transaction.

Understand FinCheck Workflow

• Application processes request.

• A database stores records.

• Tester validates stored data.

• Defects reported to the manager.

​Real Life Example

Rahul has ₹10,000 in his bank account. He withdraws ₹2,000 from an ATM.

After transaction completion, Rahul receives an SMS saying:

“₹2,000 debited successfully.”

But when Rahul checks the mobile banking application, his balance becomes ₹6,000 instead of ₹8,000.

Rahul immediately raises a complaint to the FinCheck support team.

The issue has now been assigned to the Database Testing team for investigation.

As a Database Tester, your responsibility is to trace the complete workflow inside the database and identify where the issue occurred.

Database Representation

1. Customer Verification customers Table

2.Account Verification ​accounts Table Before Transaction

3.Transaction Processing ​transactions Table

4. Balance Update Verification accounts Table After Transaction

5. Audit Verification audit_logs Table

Great job!

You have successfully completed the FinCheck Project Initiation & Banking Domain Understanding session.

Understood banking transaction flow, identified key banking data fields, defined validation objectives, and mapped the project workflow.

Topic: SQL for Testers

1)Database Basics, DDL/DML Commands
2)Joins, Aggregates, and Data Validation with SQL