The Local Test Service (LTS) is a service which provides current and past instances of the Business Validation Rules so that developers can have access to the rules locally, within their own environment.
The LTS is a generic tool that will initially support PAYE In-Year Movements and SA MTR services, but which will support further services over time as the RIM artefacts are further developed.
There are two ways to use the service;
1. Manual submission of each individual file through the built-in webserver
2. Using the post mechanism which can be addressed programmatically from your application.
Whichever route is chosen to select the file, the LTS runs the rules against that XML file and produces the same XML result as it would in live, including all errors found.
Please refer to the enclosed installation guide in the root of the HMRCTools directory. This document contains all the information regarding the pre-requisites, installation and configuration of the LTS service.
We have included a service called DemoVersion which can be used to confirm the installation and is only intended for this purpose. Within the HMRCTools directory there is a directory called testcases in which sample XML submission files can be found to confirm the ability to submit. Other services may require download and installation.
Key URL’s:
http://localhost:5665/LTS - Used for accessing the manual submission of individual files.
http://localhost:5665/LTS/LTSPostServlet - Used to access the service programmatically from your own application.
The Local Test Service will select the rules for the correct year based on the XML file that you have submitted.
If you attempt to test a file for which you have not downloaded the rules, you will get the error “You have not installed the rules for this service. To test with this service install the rules”.
The Update Manager shows the installed and the available versions. Upon starting the Update Manager application it tries to connect to the HMRC servers to see whether new versions or other news is available via RSS.
HMRC will may updates available periodically. These may be new versions within a tax year or the new version for the next year. They will be clearly labelled. The updates will use RSS and the Local Test Service will poll for them daily and on refresh so that they will appear in the nofitications area and on the first screen marked “available” instead of “installed”.
Installing a new version of the validation rules is a simple as double clicking the available version and all will happen automatically.
PLEASE NOTE: The LTS service needs to be restarted following the install of new rules, without a restart those rules will not be recognised. To do this please just end the current process and start it again.
For general desktop use we advice to leave the defaults as they are supplied.
The LTS excludes the UKGG interactions. If developers need to test the Gateway they should use TPVS via VSIPS.
Very rarely HMRC may need to update the service itself, rather than the validation rules that it makes available. The notifications will show a message such as:
"Local Test Service version 7.0 or greater is needed to operate local tests on VAT files." If this upgrade is relevant to you then you can download it, following the on screen instructions. If it is not, you can continue to use the version of LTS that you have already downloaded.
If you have any questions about the results of the Local Test Service or how to use it please contact the SDS Team.
Telephone: 01274 – 539666
E-mail: sdsteam@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk