diff --git a/tools/integration-tests-helper.sh b/tools/integration-tests-helper.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..424d7088a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/integration-tests-helper.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+#
+# Some helper functions for our integration test suite
+#
+# @author Steffen Vogel <stvogel@eonerc.rwth-aachen.de>
+# @copyright 2017, Institute for Automation of Complex Power Systems, EONERC
+# @license GNU General Public License (version 3)
+#
+# VILLASnode
+#
+# This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+# any later version.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+##################################################################################
+
+function villas_format_supports_vectorize() {
+	local FORMAT=$1
+	
+	case $FORMAT in
+		raw-*) ;&
+		gtnet) ;&
+		gtnet-fake) return 1 ;;
+	esac
+	
+	return 0
+}
+
+function villas_format_supports_header() {
+	local FORMAT=$1
+
+	case $FORMAT in
+		raw-*) ;&
+		gtnet) return 1 ;;
+	esac
+	
+	return 0
+}
+
+function colorize() {
+	echo -e "\x1b[0;$((31 + $RANDOM % 7))m$1\x1b[0m"
+}
\ No newline at end of file