SQA Consultant has successfully delivered numerous test projects and our winning strategy, simply put, is never to compromise on the quality. The seemingly impossible timelines are made attainable by the effective management of resources and employing the latest technological aids in strategic and most effective manner. A typical project is carried out with the help of following test management strategies/steps.
Staffing Estimates
Our test plan starts by drafting a detailed staffing estimate after careful analysis of project requirements. Staffing estimates define the role and responsibility of each member of testing team along with the expertise and time required to complete that task. The time and resources estimation for completing each phase of the project adds valuable perspective to layout of entire project’s schedule. At SQA Consultant, we excel by teaming up resources for the maximum efficiency.
Test Environment Planning
Planning for the test environment beforehand involves steps like collecting the critical information about the client environment and resource planning. To create ideal testing environment, our quality assurance teams make every possible effort to simulate the end users’ environment as closely as possible. This includes designing the ideal hardware, software, and network environment for testing. Planning and providing test environment and establishing the appropriate level of access to environment for each resource also helps in dividing and assigning responsibilities to each resource working on that project. Sharing the test environment with clients early in the project life cycle helps simulating the work conditions in which the application is intended to work.
QA Project Plans and Test Plans
QA project and test plans are employed to lay out the detailed plan for each stage of testing project. Test plans include scope, objective, approach and schedule of various steps involved in the entire test cycle. Depending on the specific needs of a project, the plan may require several stages, tools, and resources for which careful planning is needed to make the project successful. At SQA Consultant, the entire process of project and test planning is carried out well in advance of actual commencement of testing process so that every detail is well thought out and is properly scheduled.
Bug Modeling
Bug modeling serves as means to bring together valuable information like the nature, status, history and planning to tackle a bug in software. Keeping track of errors detected during the test cycle comes in handy for many practical reasons. For the testing and development teams, the obvious advantage of bug modeling is being able to analyze the bugs to achieve improvements in future. On the clients’ side, being able to foresee the issues, keeps a check on unrealistic expectations and allows communication to be on the same page with development teams. Effective use of bug modeling serves great purpose for all the stakeholders and is an essential part of SQA Consultant team's standard practice.
Milestone Management
The most important and frequently discussed concern of today’s business is to shorten the project life cycle and to gain faster access to markets. The milestone management approach towards project management adds significantly in attaining these goals. At SQA Consultant the quality assurance teams have been successfully practicing this approach to accelerate their testing projects. Adopting this approach enables our project managers to accurately predict the progress of individual phases of a testing project, so that they can pace the future phases accordingly. Tracking the performance on smaller tasks keeps the team focused and the final outcome is valuable. The overall effect is smoothly carried out steps and a hassle-free, on time completion of project.
Project Metrics
The most effective way to control a test project is to create project metrics. Project metrics allow managers to measure the progress and health of a project and later to share it with other stakeholders. Creating project metrics is a feasible way to keep the projects on track while on the same time valuable information is recorded for future planning.
We understand that project metrics may vary in their structure from project to project depending upon the objective of the project or the clients’ specific requirements and expectations. The underlying purpose of devising metrics guides us in collecting data and then using it to maximize the performance. Project metrics bring value to our test projects in multiple ways like helping in tracking, recording and utilizing valuable information about team performance and project progress.
Quality Reports
The increasing number of scattered teams and globalization of business have made communication a vital part of every project. During the testing of software, properly communicating quality test reports to all the stakeholders assumes critical importance. Comprehensive and easy to understand quality reports immensely improve the quality of software. A properly compiled quality report not only enlists test results but also facilitates the analysis process. Our quality assurance department takes utmost care to generate and propagate each test’s quality reports to ensure a timely response to test results.
Risk Assessment
Software evolution has now come to a point that a typical program is developed with countless layers of code which makes code’s testing a particularly tricky and complicated task. For overly complex code, it is easier and more efficient to identify and preplan for areas of code which are more probable to get attacked. We, at SQA Consultant employ the risk assessment practice for our testing projects to bring accord among stakeholders so that the process of testing runs smoothly. Assessing the code for areas which are prone to bugs proactively and then concentrating on these areas to mitigate probable risks makes our software testing process exceptionally efficient and reliable.
Issue Management
Planning is incomplete if it doesn’t include planning for unexpected; it is particularly true for project management where unexpected and sometimes unwanted changes might happen which need to be incorporated in running projects. Issues in a test project might come from any of stakeholders and might take the form of request, defect reports, or a change in requirements. The hallmark of our test projects is the seamless integration of unexpected requirements in the ongoing processes and apt resolution of issues. We accomplish this by carefully devising project plans to be prepared for such issues so that no valuable input gets neglected.
