Ways to formulate a Quality Engineering strategy

 

Today, enterprises are facing a multitude of challenges such as a rapidly changing technology landscape, a plethora of customer touchpoints in an omnichannel environment, rising customer expectations, and budget constraints, among others. To meet these challenges as well as to create value and deliver quality software, enterprises need to follow a robust software quality assurance strategy. However, these would entail using scalable and reusable assets to test and integrate the software modules in the SDLC.

Shift-left testing in the Agile model of development allows for testing alongside development and has the ability to detect glitches before the code goes into production. In a day and age where enterprises are required to deliver top-notch quality products in quick succession and provide periodic updates to let them function in an omnichannel environment, quality engineering is the way ahead.

By taking a quality engineering approach, enterprises can ensure the software product aligns with the business objectives and meets the quality standards. It ensures the product is designed in such a way that glitches or vulnerabilities are eliminated, and the final product emerges sans any performance issues.

Quality engineering has assumed increased salience due to the rising incidences of cybercrime. It is common knowledge that cybercrime is able to spread its tentacles due to the prevalence of glitch-prone software applications, not to speak of a user base indifferent to the requirement of stringently following the security guidelines. QE services can integrate various checks and balances in the software hierarchically to minimize the impact of cybercrime. Any software quality engineering services would involve the following (and more).

• Uphold the quality of the product or service as per the project specifications, quality standards, and business requirements
• Plan the quality assurance strategy
• Data collection and analysis
• Detection of defects
• Identification of risks in the value chain
• Analysis of the end-user feedback to enhance the quality of the product

Reasons to implement quality engineering

To further add to the points mentioned above, enterprise quality engineering needs to be implemented in the SDLC for the following reasons:

• To achieve the highest quality for the software product
• To ensure that all business requirements are met
• To minimize the chances of software failure due to the presence of glitches, bugs, or vulnerabilities
• To avoid expenses on implementing changes on the product after its release
• To deliver superior customer experiences and increase customer satisfaction

Core service offerings of digital quality engineering

Quality engineering is comprehensive in its scope and touches every aspect of software development. The core offerings may include

Agile/DevOps testing: Testing of the code is conducted simultaneously with development and includes the operations as well.

Service virtualization: Since various test variables are not always available in real-time, their absence may impact the quality of testing negatively. Thus, using service virtualization, the required assets can be generated virtually and used in the testing process to deliver better outcomes.

Security testing: An essential part of DevOps, security testing is about identifying the vulnerabilities in the product/system and fixing them to prevent the ingress of malware.

Test automation: Manual testing can be exhaustive for testers and may allow the inherent glitches in the software application to escape their attention. However, by automating the testing process, certain repetitive tests like regression testing can be conducted non-stop leading to better identification of glitches.

How to formulate a result-oriented strategy for quality engineering

To empower the digital transformation journey, enterprises need to re-engineer their QA and testing processes and implement software quality engineering in the following ways:

Integrate quality at the top: Any quality engineering company would entail buy-in from its management to implement changes in its workflows, tools, teams, and methodologies. At the same time, the management can let the workforce know about the benefits of implementing quality engineering and adopting the new system.

Make test automation an integral part: QE services have to run continuous testing on the software application to validate its quality against various metrics. Continuous testing shall involve people, processes, technologies, and tools. Here, test automation can be a handful while checking repetitive processes like regressions when a new change is introduced to the code. Further, writing the right test script to execute automated testing would require the selection and usage of the right tools.

Collaborate with teams: As digital quality engineering may need developers to function as testers and vice-versa, there should be a synergy among cross-functional teams. QE is also about driving accountability across processes to ensure quality by using the right technologies and tools.

Use of AI and ML: The implementation of the QE process may include the integration of AI and ML technologies for better analysis of real-time data, metrics, reports, and logs leading to the prediction of glitches.

Conclusion

Quality engineering has become a critical part of the software development process given its myriad benefits and the capability to eliminate glitches beforehand. It ought to be adopted by enterprises to develop and deliver quality products.

Article Source:

https://huddle.eurostarsoftwaretesting.com/

5 Reasons why you shouldn't Skip Software Testing and QA

The fact that today’s world is driven digitally is underpinned on the functioning of the software and hardware architecture. To ensure every piece of software performs to its optimum capacity and meets its objectives, strict implementation of software testing and QA is required. However, enterprises have been found to give short shrift to software application testing to enable faster time-to-market and reduce cost. That this approach is inherently faulty and delivers poor customer experiences seems to be lost on many key stakeholders. Before getting into what the absence of software testing and QA can lead to, let us understand what software quality assurance testing is all about.

What is software quality assurance testing?

It is testing various aspects of the software code to check if they are performing to their optimal level and delivering the expected results. It ensures the software is stable, reliable, responsive, high performing, secure, and delivering the best user experience. So, the benefits of conducting software application testing are

·       Ensuring the software remains bug-free and qualitatively superior

·       Enhancing the customer experience

·       Streamlining the value chain

·       Ensuring continuous improvement to the software

·       The product reaching the market fast and at optimum cost

·       Boosting customer satisfaction, productivity, and efficiency

·       Enterprises staying competitive and improving their bottom lines

Types of software quality assurance services

Overall, the testing can be classified into two types - functional and non-functional testing

Functional testing: This type of testing checks the functional requirements of an application and focuses on the expected outcomes. Here, the internal parts of the software are ignored. The examples are

·       Unit testing

·       Integration testing

·       Sanity testing

·       System testing

·       Regression testing

·       Smoke testing

·       Interface testing

·       Beta or acceptance testing

Non-functional testing: In this type of software testing and QA, the readiness, response time and attributes like throughput are tested to check if they are quick enough to meet the business requirements. The examples are

·       Performance testing

·       Stress testing

·       Load testing

·       Localization testing

·       Volume testing

·       Security testing

·       Compatibility testing

·       Recovery testing

·       Install testing

·       Reliability testing

·       Usability testing

·       Compliance testing

Why is software testing important?

The software development process can allow bugs or glitches to become part of the code even with the best of measures and intentions. It is therefore important that the same should be tested rigorously in all aspects before being released to the end-customer. The process of development and testing has evolved right from the waterfall method to Agile and DevOps. In the waterfall method, software used to be tested manually only after they were developed and integrated. This approach had a lot of issues like being extremely time-consuming and generating poor-quality output. The manual way of implementing a software quality assurance strategy is not foolproof, especially while conducting regression testing. Manual testing can lead to fatigue and the possibility of errors being overlooked. Thus, even after the waterfall method of testing, a lot of glitches remained within the software causing quality issues.

To overcome the inadequacies of the waterfall method, Agile and DevOps were instituted where testing is made part of the build pipeline. A code after being built is directly tested for errors and fixed in a process called a sprint. Also, test automation is made part of the testing process wherein repetitive testing like regression is done with a better success rate. With DevOps, the testing process has been made almost perfect with all stakeholders (Development and Operations) made part of the value chain.

Thus, software testing identifies and fixes errors in the early part of the development process. The final product becomes qualitatively superior and delivers better customer experiences. Also, it lowers the maintenance cost and prevents customers from suffering consequences on account of hidden bugs.

5 reasons for not skipping software testing and QA

Software quality assurance testing is an important part of the software development process and should not be looked as a costly or time-consuming proposition. It has become essential in today’s milieu where staying competitive can only be ensured by delivering customer delight. The top 5 consequences of skipping testing are:

1.     Breach in information security: The security of data is of prime importance given the soaring rate of cybercrime. In the absence of security testing, the inherent vulnerabilities in the software remain unidentified. These can be easily exploited by hackers leading to a data breach. So, any software quality assurance company should verify if the communication channels and databases within the software or outside are properly encrypted. If not, the customers can end up losing sensitive personal and/or financial information to hackers.

2.     Increased cost of maintenance: The resident glitches in software can cause quality issues at the level of customers. The feedback, when goes back to the production pipeline, would entail extra effort and cost to first identify the glitches causing the quality issues and then fix them.

3.     Loss of customer confidence: This is arguably the biggest consequence a brand or enterprise can suffer on account of bad software. As customers have plenty of choices before them, they will discard any software with glitches. Further, since the whole objective is about acquiring customer confidence, lack of testing can leave the software vulnerable and subject to breakdowns or plagued by performance issues.

4.     Non-compliance with industry regulations: The industry and regulatory bodies have established many protocols such as PCI DSS, HIPPA, SOX, and GLBA, which need to be complied with. These protocols ensure the software upholds a minimum level of performance and quality. If not, the enterprises delivering such software can fall foul with such agencies and invite penalties, censure, lawsuits, or an outright ban.

5.     Loss of brand value: When customers lose confidence in a software product due to frequent quality issues, they reject the application. Then it becomes a challenge for the enterprise to earn their confidence back, which is time and cost-intensive.

Conclusion

Software testing is about conducting a set of activities and verifying if various aspects of the software match the expected results. In the absence of testing, hidden glitches will remain unidentified leading to bad customer experiences. In a day and age where competition is intense, delivering bad customer experiences could turn suicidal for any enterprise.

Why you should never cut corners with Software Quality Assurance?

The rapidly changing world of Information Technology can be observed in many dimensions. These include the advent of new technologies, changing customer preferences, the proliferation of new devices and operating platforms, the growing menace of cybercrime, and the increasing role of regulators. Enterprises, aware of these dimensions, are adopting digital transformation in a big way to stay up the ladder of competition. And one of the salient features of digital transformation is adopting or building new software tools or platforms to deliver great user experiences.

This is because customers with access to new product choices are not satisfied with run-of-the-mill products or services. Their growing appetite for quality products displaying attributes such as high usability, security, navigability, and functionality, has hit the proverbial death knell for companies continuing with legacy systems, methodologies, and policies. This has brought into sharp focus the critical importance of following software quality assurance. The plethora of devices, operating systems, browsers, and networks has meant the software delivered to the customers should be functional across the digital ecosystem.

However, notwithstanding the critical importance of upholding software quality assurance, many enterprises in a bid to release products quickly and take advantage of being the first mover, are cutting corners with software quality assurance testing. This results in the delivery of below-par products leading to unforeseen and unwarranted consequences (especially with financial software). Let us find out why enterprises developing software should never compromise with following a robust software quality assurance strategy.

Pitfalls of not undertaking software quality assurance

With software becoming the critical requirement in driving the digital ecosystem, ensuring its quality is of supreme importance. In case, companies do not pay heed to this dictum, they (including the end-customers) are bound to pay the price. The pitfalls are as following:

Poor quality product or service: Today, when software products are having interfaces to financial and personal information of customers, any glitches or vulnerabilities can play havoc. Cybercriminals may exploit these to steal information. Think of using an application with built-in glitches or malware that results in the siphoning off personal and financial data. Apart from causing losses to the customers, these glitches can destroy your brand equity. Citing another example of software being used in diagnostic devices in the healthcare industry.

If the software malfunctions owing to the presence of glitches, the result delivered by the device can be erroneous. The treatment protocol followed thereafter by the medical professional by taking inputs from such readings can worsen the condition of the patient even leading to his or her death. To avoid such an eventuality, any QA testing services company worth its salt should ensure the glitches or vulnerabilities present in the software are identified and removed forthwith.

An additional cost of reworking: The software quality assurance services help businesses to spend less on reworking, retesting, replacing, or remarketing of faulty software. Remember, any enterprise sets a budget for product development depending on the demand, technology used, the complexity of the process, and viability. If the software development pipeline does not incorporate software assurance techniques the chances of that product to have an uninterrupted run in the market can be cut short. Customers, on being frustrated with the quality of such a product, can disown or send it for replacement. The company has to rework on the product, which is both time and cost-intensive.

Fall in brand equity: People do not always buy products on a whim. They usually follow a brand after being convinced of its quality and price advantage. However, this can take a beating if the product is delivered to the market without following software quality assurance. But how? The product may come unstuck when the customer needed it the most or fail to give accurate information, slow to function, or lead to a data breach. Customers fed up with such products can disown them, influence others not to buy, and seek compensation for the loss. In each of the cases, the company is going to pay a heavy price. This is because building a brand is a time-consuming process involving strategizing, running campaigns, and spending money. However, such assiduously built brand equity can bite the dust in no time.

Conclusion

In the Agile and DevOps scheme of things, following a software quality assurance strategy is critical for outcomes like continuous integration and continuous delivery. When software has become increasingly critical in running and sustaining the digital landscape, especially with the arrival of IoT, giving short shrift to QA is a recipe for disaster.