diff --git a/dumux/common/initialize.hh b/dumux/common/initialize.hh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..c069c26148d40d0a4bc3d19a962b09f754bfa5d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dumux/common/initialize.hh
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+// -*- mode: C++; tab-width: 4; indent-tabs-mode: nil; c-basic-offset: 4 -*-
+// vi: set et ts=4 sw=4 sts=4:
+/*****************************************************************************
+ *   See the file COPYING for full copying permissions.                      *
+ *                                                                           *
+ *   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       *
+ *   (at your option) 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/>.   *
+ *****************************************************************************/
+/*!
+ * \file
+ * \ingroup Common
+ * \brief The initialize function to be called before using Dumux
+ */
+#ifndef DUMUX_COMMON_INITIALIZE_HH
+#define DUMUX_COMMON_INITIALIZE_HH
+
+#include <dune/common/parallel/mpihelper.hh>
+
+namespace Dumux {
+
+void initialize(int& argc, char* argv[])
+{
+    // initialize MPI if available
+    // otherwise this will create a sequential (fake) helper
+    Dune::MPIHelper::instance(argc, argv);
+}
+
+} // end namespace Dumux
+
+#endif
diff --git a/test/porousmediumflow/1p/incompressible/main.cc b/test/porousmediumflow/1p/incompressible/main.cc
index 111dc5a7bf4719b40e3eeace8f7e419184d815f8..6c7ab9617520b0def839023894448556f37ceee9 100644
--- a/test/porousmediumflow/1p/incompressible/main.cc
+++ b/test/porousmediumflow/1p/incompressible/main.cc
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@
 #include <dumux/common/properties.hh>
 #include <dumux/common/parameters.hh>
 #include <dumux/common/dumuxmessage.hh>
+#include <dumux/common/initialize.hh>
 
 #include <dumux/io/vtkoutputmodule.hh>
 #include <dumux/io/grid/gridmanager.hh>
@@ -82,8 +83,12 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv)
 
     using TypeTag = Properties::TTag::TYPETAG;
 
-    // initialize MPI, finalize is done automatically on exit
-    const auto& mpiHelper = Dune::MPIHelper::instance(argc, argv);
+    // initialize Dumux (parallel helpers)
+    // always call this before any other code
+    Dumux::initialize(argc, argv);
+
+    // get an instance of the MPI helper
+    const auto& mpiHelper = Dune::MPIHelper::instance();
 
     // print dumux start message
     if (mpiHelper.rank() == 0)
diff --git a/test/porousmediumflow/3p3c/infiltration/main.cc b/test/porousmediumflow/3p3c/infiltration/main.cc
index 6580f1b414dd338aaad9134b21558c510597239a..f2facd1039d19834d9cb611519cfa6aeec6b26ff 100644
--- a/test/porousmediumflow/3p3c/infiltration/main.cc
+++ b/test/porousmediumflow/3p3c/infiltration/main.cc
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
 #include <dumux/common/properties.hh>
 #include <dumux/common/parameters.hh>
 #include <dumux/common/dumuxmessage.hh>
+#include <dumux/common/initialize.hh>
 #include <dumux/common/timeloop.hh>
 
 #include <dumux/linear/amgbackend.hh>
@@ -55,8 +56,12 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv)
     ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
     ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 
-    // initialize MPI, finalize is done automatically on exit
-    const auto& mpiHelper = Dune::MPIHelper::instance(argc, argv);
+    // initialize Dumux (parallel helpers)
+    // always call this before any other code
+    Dumux::initialize(argc, argv);
+
+    // get an instance of the MPI helper
+    const auto& mpiHelper = Dune::MPIHelper::instance();
 
     // print dumux start message
     if (mpiHelper.rank() == 0)
diff --git a/test/porousmediumflow/richards/lens/main.cc b/test/porousmediumflow/richards/lens/main.cc
index 0c0f3aafd7054a12bd51f8c65bfc25c077c9bcbf..cdf033b772dd3b83a88896fdf6b37676305c2a0c 100644
--- a/test/porousmediumflow/richards/lens/main.cc
+++ b/test/porousmediumflow/richards/lens/main.cc
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
 #include <dumux/common/properties.hh>
 #include <dumux/common/parameters.hh>
 #include <dumux/common/dumuxmessage.hh>
+#include <dumux/common/initialize.hh>
 #include <dumux/linear/linearsolvertraits.hh>
 
 #if DUNE_VERSION_GTE(DUNE_ISTL,2,8)
@@ -68,8 +69,12 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv)
     // define the type tag for this problem
     using TypeTag = Properties::TTag::TYPETAG;
 
-    // initialize MPI, finalize is done automatically on exit
-    const auto& mpiHelper = Dune::MPIHelper::instance(argc, argv);
+    // initialize Dumux (parallel helpers)
+    // always call this before any other code
+    Dumux::initialize(argc, argv);
+
+    // get an instance of the MPI helper
+    const auto& mpiHelper = Dune::MPIHelper::instance();
 
     // print dumux start message
     if (mpiHelper.rank() == 0)