Functional Testing

Our primary offshore service is functional testing. Why?
· The progress can be systematically measured
· Prescriptive testing , easily packaged
· The testing is as good or better than the inputs received
· Communication is handled via reporting and defect identification
· Interfacing with other project members can be obviated

According to IEEE90, “Functional Testing ignores the internal mechanism of a system or component and focuses solely on the outputs generated in response to selected inputs and execution conditions.”

In this way, many of the perceived problems with offshore testing are removed from the equation. It is our proven intention that the hurdles, obstacles and reasons for failure of offshore are removed.

Typically 75% of testing effort is based around the production of test scripts and their subsequent execution. Our Functional Testing capability will maximize the benefits of offshore. With offshore prices starting as low as £75 per day, in comparison to permanent resources costing £250 per day. This gives a 70% saving to three quarters of the testing effort.

If this is put into perspective, a project that has a UK testing budget of £50,000 would spend £37,500 of its budget on scripting and execution. This can be reduced to £11,250 using our offshore setup. This means that the total testing budget would be £23,750, less than half that which was originally estimated. The beauty of the solution is that all of the management activity and the governance around the testing can remain onsite, where it can be controlled and interfaces managed. The offshore activity becomes near invisible.

The process is simple, a series of inputs are required from the project. These are normally in the form of a Project Plan, High Level Design, Requirement Specification and Functional Specification. These are not mandatory, but the more of these the better the project is suited to offshore effectiveness.

From a testing perspective, the Test Plan, Schedule and Scenarios should be provided. Again, these are not mandatory and can be produced offshore if required, but in order that control is retained in the UK, the controlling documents should be specified and owned there.

Once all of the inputs have been received or created, the process of producing the scripts can begin, based on the test plan and the test scenarios. Reporting now begins in terms of the anticipated volume of test scripts and how many have been produced against this. This phase is often referred to as the Preparation phase. During this period the onshore project team should be looking to ensure that the test environment is ready and available to the offshore team. Progress can be reported on a basis that makes the client feel comfortable, daily or weekly, depending on the length of the work.

As execution nears commencement, resources will look to smoke test, or prove that the environment is ready for testing. Once testing commences, defects will be logged in the client prescribed tool, or if not provided, we will adopt a suitable mechanism for defect capture. Statistical data will now be produced on a daily basis and provided to the client, ensuring full awareness of issues as they arise.

On completion of the test execution, the team will generate a functional test completion or exit report, showing the full details of the testing that has been performed and the results of that testing. An executive summary is included which specifies our opinion on the projects readiness for go-live. All test assets will be delivered to the client with scripts highlighted as forming the regression test pack. This ensures that all of the intellectual property associated with the project is returned to the client if they desire. It is our intention to ensure that the client is free to choose how future testing should be performed and not tie them into a service that they may not want.