One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates testing a system-under-test with functional-test software and a transformation accelerator. During operation, the system receives a functional-test template at the transformation accelerator. The system also receives a test signal at the transformation accelerator, wherein the test signal comprises testing parameters. Next, the system manipulates the functional-test template at the transformation accelerator according to the testing parameters to create one or more functional-test transactions. The system then sends the one or more functional-test transactions to the system-under-test. Next, the system receives results for the one or more functional-test transactions from the system-under-test. Finally, the system queues the results.