Software Quality Assurance By A Dedicated Software Testing Company

It’s easy and somewhat common to think that almost any technical services company could provide software quality assurance- even something as simple as software regression testing from a set of test cases and a test plan that is already written. The test cases just need to be run, right? We think there is a difference in a company that ONLY provides software testing and the other companies that claim to be a software testing company and provide a host of other technical services.

We believe that the primary difference is our people and our talent. Since we ONLY provide software testing, we attract and screen for the very best software testing talent – and there is a difference between a software test engineer working for a software testing company and a general software engineer who works for a company with a broad service offering.

For an example using software regression testing – a typical tester in a broad technical services company will run the test cases and report the defects – exactly as you’ve asked. A test engineer working at TESTCo performing software regression testing will also run those test case according to the test plan AND will offer just a bit more.

See if these might be valuable to you – the count and percentage of test cases run, passed, blocked and with defects; notes in the test cases where additional data sets might be valuable for boundary testing; timings on test case execution so you can estimate more accurately next time; daily status and production reports that provide real time adjustment of our software regression testing process to your changing needs; a dedicated Software Quality Assurance Manager who is responsible for making sure that the test engineer performing the software regression testing has everything they need to deliver according to exactly what you need.

We think there is a difference between a dedicated software testing company and our competitors who offer a broad range of technical services, including software quality assurance. Contact us for further discussion.

Software QA Testing Second Aspect Software Quality Assurance

Software QA Testing is, generally speaking, the process of assuring the quality of a software or web application release. The best and easiest measure of software quality is the number of defects still open or unfixed by category of severity. An additional measure of software quality assurance is test case coverage. Test case coverage can be very complex and difficult to determine but a simplified measure can provide a lot of benefit without simplifying it to the point of incorrectness.

Determining Coverage Within a Software QA Testing Process

The easiest method for determining test case coverage within a software QA testing process is to index the test cases into a functional map to determine the amount of the application where a test case has been written and then compare that functional map to the most recent run of test cases to determine A – the percentage of the application covered by a test case and then B – the percentage of test cases most recently run.

Software QA Testing Goals

The goal of Software QA Testing is to provide a measure of quality, in terms of business risk, so that the decision makers can determine whether or not a current release meets their business goals.

online software testing | on-demand software testing

Online Software Testing

Rarely is on-demand testing referred to as online software testing, a term most often referred to in the context of online training for software testing, or online software testing tools. With that understood, let’s look more closely at on-demand software testing in the context of offshore testing.

On-Demand Software Testing is the smart application of experienced offshore testing engineers at the right place and right time in your software development project.

Most On Demand Software projects are typically a week or two in duration – just enough to get you out of a bind. Brand new applications with a small development team will benefit from quickly offloading the ad-hoc and functional testing duties that seem to accumulate quickly in the rapid and early stages of a software application’s life. Rarely on-demand testing is referred to as online software testing.

Mature software applications benefit from a rapid response team that can quickly and effectively build and run or automate a regression test suite.Software applications with a large number of new features and defect fixes can benefit from a team of experienced offshore testing engineers to close and verify fixed defects and new features.

Software development practices have accelerated significantly in the past 10 years with a change in focus from well planned releases to customer and market driven features and releases.This has distinguished the problem of “lumpy development cycles” where previous software development processes valued smooth planning and resource balancing. On Demand Software Testing addresses the problems of needing trained and experienced Test Engineers available exactly when you need them and not a moment sooner.

Profile of a Software Testing Company

A software testing company, like TESTCo, is designed to provide on-demand software testing and longer term, software QA services. TESTCo is in the sub-category of offshore testing companies that specialize only in software and web application testing. Another clarification is necessary here. “Offshore testing” can refer to any product testing done by a third party outside one’s country. This includes hardware testing, usability testing, etc.

With that in mind, if you are responsible for the software development and quality in your organization, the best advice we can give is to consider only those companies specializing in software or web application testing. If they use only software test engineers for testing and assign QA managers to every project (as does TESTCo), that will give you a higher level of confidence and peace of mind.

The Shifting Sands of Offshore Testing

One last word about offshore testing;  the term “offshore” originated when IT and call center services began to be outsourced to India in the 1990’s. Today, if you’re a U.S. company, the term means the source of testing is anywhere in the world where talent exists. Most of TESTCo’s software test engineers and QA managers are lot closer to home than people expect.