A Software Testing Health Check by Raglan Technologies can determine the effectiveness and benefit of the current testing practices within an organisation, to be able to offer targeted recommendations to improve, based on experience and industry best practice. The health check is a strategic review and involves a deep dive investigation into the testing process, tools, test team, as well as the testing done by the development team. The engagement involves interviews with key staff, reviews of documentation, metrics and processes, in order to assess the efficiency of an organisation’s test process. The output of this exercise is a report and a set of prioritised recommendations on how to improve. Industry standard benchmarks are used to provide a formal measure of maturity of the test process, along with an ordered list of improvements to be carried out to best improve it.
• On site consultancy engagement
• Agile, Waterfall and Hybrid development models
• Typically 5-15 days, depending on scope
• Kick off meeting defines scope, organisation and assets for investigation
• Scope typically includes all phases of testing, tools, team, organisation, process and metrics
• Output is a comprehensive report that details good and bad practices, with recommendations on where to improve maturity levels
Software testing health check can mean significant improvements in the test process can be quickly implemented, in the right order to derive maximum benefit. Our consultants use industry experience, best practice and a structured method, offering a fast turnaround on meaningful, independent advice.
Format
The format of the health check engagement involves interviewing key staff relevant to the test process, but also other key areas involved in the lifecycle, from functions including development, business analysis, project managers, users and senior stakeholders.
A complete picture is obtained by the involvement of a range of key individuals, together with an analysis of documentation, tools, metrics, templates and process, across the testing function. Also within scope are agreements with suppliers about prior levels of testing and provision for non-functional testing, including performance, accessibility and security.
The health check is usually completed within 5 days, with the analysis of data and report writing carried out off site. The Principal Consultant then returns to present findings and take questions on the prioritised recommendations, with suggestions on how things can be improved.
Test Process Improvement
• During health checks, the current state of the test process can be assessed using the TPI Process, as a standard method of measuring maturity.
• The examination of each of a list of standard key areas leads to the classification of the test process into certain levels of maturity. The ascending levels improve in terms of time (faster), money (cheaper) and/or quality (better).
• All areas and levels are not equally important for the performance of the complete test process and because dependencies exist between the different key areas and levels, all key areas and levels are mutually linked in a test maturity matrix.
• The test maturity matrix identifies all the areas that relate to the test process and scores them against pre-determined criteria, providing an optimum order by which to address each element.