Optimise your organisation’s approach to SQA
The complexity of software is increasing continuously, end users have higher expectations, and products need to go live faster. To add to these pressures, the risks associated with software faults have never been greater – system failures, process malfunctions and sensitive data leaks can all slip through the quality net, reflecting in poor user reviews, or worse, within a matter of minutes.
Despite all this, software testing budgets often need to be tighter and In this landscape, software quality assurance (SQA) must evolve. No tester can rely solely on their previous experience to predict the defects that might occur in development. To mitigate risk, testing managers need a different approach.
As world-leading providers of TMMi services, we can help:
- Prioritise action by identifying risk and current level of SQA
- Impact business outcomes by adapting processes to the product and organisation
- Prevent defects early through root cause analysis and streamlined shift left testing
- Mitigate risk by ensuring critical areas are tested before a product’s live date
- Reduce time to market by optimising the test environment
- Lower overall development costs through our proven iTM in-house framework
At Experimentus, we enable FTSE 250 organisations to optimise their SQA outcomes and efficiency. Often we work in industries where the cost of failure is exponential, such as finance and medicine, as well as industries where time-to-market is of the essence.
Our SQA process
The Experimentus approach to SQA is engineered to be both effective and efficient.
- Risk-based. SQA is not always about putting quality first. Risk probability and severity dictates what you should prioritise, so we begin every inquiry with an in-depth risk assessment. This ensures the project is as efficient as possible.
- Prevention not detection. The time taken to assess risk at the start of the project enables potential issues to be predicted and prevented. If you’re in the middle of a project, we can also step in and perform root cause analysis on all prevailing issues.
- Match business goals and tools. Whether you adopt an Agile, Waterfall or V-Model framework, a CI/CD tech stack or a leaner set up, we can augment your approach to make the most impact.
- Demonstrate testing ROI. With a detailed risk profile to hand, test managers can justify their testing decisions if challenged. During and post-project we’ll evidence the impact so you can get stakeholder buy-in at critical junctures.
Contact us to find out more about how we can help your software testing team.
SQA methodologies
When it comes to ensuring software quality assurance, it’s not enough to rely on popular strategies, automation or a state-of-the-art tech stack. Watertight processes tailored to the organisation and product are also essential.
Experimentus has developed an intuitive, robust and effective framework called iTM, a test process repository and database. It enables test managers to address product risk and implement risk based testing within a TMMi Level 5 compliant testing framework.
The iTM testing framework includes:
- Processes
- Procedures
- Templates
- Tools
- Guidance
We can also work within your organisation’s preferred framework. Or we can augment that framework with iTM’s configurable and customisable software testing framework.
Contact us to find out more about iTM and the impact it can have on your organisation.
FAQs
What is SQA?
Software quality assurance is simple in principle: it is the process of assuring that any software that is released to production is fit for purpose and is of a high quality.
In practice, SQA is not about perfecting a product but mitigating product risk. SQA is usually competing with live dates and other budget allocations, so to be effective it needs to take the most efficient route to achieve the most important outcomes.
Is SQA the same as software testing?
Testing is the most visible discipline associated with SQA, though SQA is not siloed within the testing process. The companies with the most effective SQA prioritise testing but they also establish quality assurance as part of their culture, affecting their project management, coding practice, codes of conduct, and so on.
How do you make SQA more cost effective?
Depending on the context, SQA can be made more efficient with a number of approaches, tools, and processes. The Testing Manager’s experience and skill is key to overseeing the process. But they also need budget sign off to optimise the wider test environment, build better processes and train their team to use leading frameworks.
As a software quality management consultancy, we can assess the factors contributing to your organisation’s SQA and recommend targeted actions you can take. We can help you to save costs in the long or short term, all while improving the outcomes of the software you release. Contact us to learn more.
