Quality Assurance – Is in the invisible details

In our experience, working across multiple IT system implementations of different scales of complexity (new, replacements & upgrades) both external and in-house, we’ve continuously come across multiple challenges that led to costly corrections.

Consolidating a few key ones below –

• QA being looked at as the last leg of implementation
• Lack of foresight in planning for the future leading to delays, incorrect scope determination, repeat effort, etc.
• Lack of preparation in the context of visibility, reusability & traceability across process steps (requirements, execution, issue management, etc.)
• Siloed approach in execution, Missing horizontal & vertical perspectives, Lack of dedicated team availability, In competencies in issue management, etc.
• UAT – one of the critical decisioning tests not given the priority required leading to the identification of a lot of issues post-go-live.
• Lack of evidence of detailed testing, single platform for overviews, miscommunications between teams, etc.

To reiterate, QA is not just about a team processing transactions and marking a “Pass” or “Fail,” but much beyond. Introducing Manomay’s QA Framework in the context of people, process, technology, and data, for the right assessment/certification and to alleviate the above challenges –

Fig1 – Manomay QA FW

People: Right team is critical for the right preparation and execution of any QA activity.

• Right Skillset – Implementation of a combination of BA-QA skills in the right alignment, to leverage business and tech understanding with pattern-based thinking
• Dedicated Focus – Dedicated team with QA as its core focus
• Allocation of Team based on the type of test – E.g.: UAT must be processed by business users for certification.

Process: Standardization and Flexibility are the 2 key factors for a successful QA functioning. While Standardization focuses on streamlining and structuring the entire test process, Flexibility focuses on customizing the process to meet the rapidly changing market dynamics. It is highly essential to educate the team on this, right from test scope determination & execution approach definition to final certification for UAT/Go-live.

• BA-QA Alignment – Ensuring collaborative efforts and ongoing hand-holding throughout the test lifecycle
• Scope Determination – To be determined based on business impact, frequency, and value
• Right Planning – QA team is to be involved from the inception of the implementation lifecycle for the right determination of – the type of test, approach, coverage, cycles, teams, and risk assessment
• Preparation – Key focus should be on building a reusable test suite by identifying what is common and what is specific across scope areas, thereby maintaining an organized and prioritized test suite
• Execution & Defect Management – Involvement across teams, test prioritization, early defect detection, impact-based defect categorization & patternization, traceability, causal analysis, productive defect triages, etc.
• Documentation – Defining a standardized test protocol to implement reusability, availability & maintenance of project artifacts
• Communication – Clear definitions of POCs for collaboration, visibility & tracking

Technology: Usage of Tools from the beginning for ease in recording, execution, tracking, visibility & updates, across the quality assurance lifecycle.

• Simplify Standard Processes – Requirement’s traceability, defect tracking and management, test cycles scope and planning, etc.
• Automation where required – For repeat tests (Build verification test), test data preparation, etc.

Data: Key parameter for determination – a make or break factor.

• Data Behavior & Creation – Analyzing the data behavior and creating test data for New, Aged, Migrated, and Issue Specific criteria

Great, you know and understand the framework. However, for successful implementation of this one of the key challenges is in getting the buy-in from the customers (i.e., insurance companies) – for them to understand the criticality or importance of (right) QA and for them to make the team available with dedicated focus as and when needed.

If this is addressed, 80% of challenges are addressed even before initiation.

And remember — Quality is never an accident!

Curious to know what we can do? Reach out to us at inquisite@manomay.biz & Meet.

Biz Tech Insights Team Manomay