On many programmes and large projects, testing will take up a significant portion of the budget. But it
will receive less management attention than an activity of this size warrants. At Elix Software, we help
programme and project managers define what they want to achieve from testing ; deliver the testing
benefits and maximise the return on the resources used.
And testing is not just about reducing risk - it is also about increasing control. By aligning the testing
objectives with the business objectives and by increasing the effectiveness of testing both can be
delivered.
For example:
including testing expertise in the contractual definitions for the system or service and the
acceptance processes can significantly reduce the delivery risks
providing objective and accurate information on risks, issues and milestones throughout the
project lifecycle can significantly increase control.
And this clarity enables managers to make informed and timely choices as the project proceeds.
Effective testing services improve the outcome and the journey to create it.
These are largely technical testing services but include business oriented services such as usability
testing and business continuity testing.
Our virtual test team s provide specialist testing services including:
Performance testing including load testing, stress testing, scalability testing and performance monitoring services
Migration testing
including data conversion and application or infrastructure migration
Automated software testing including testing tool evaluation and implementation
Usability testing including lab based testing using customer representatives and expert assessments
Security testing including penetration testing, BS 7799 audits, threat assessments and risk analysis
Web testing including a full set of test lab services such as compatibility and interoperability testing
Business continuity testing
including resilience and failover testing
Disaster recovery testing including backup and recovery testing
Network testing including network performance monitoring and tuning
Software testing outsourcing means different things to different people. It can range from bringing in
an extra resource to moving responsibility for testing to an external organisation. At Elix Software we
provide a number of outsourced options
Virtual test team outsourcing Our virtual test team service allows you to bring in specialist software testing services and resources
as they are needed. This can range from bringing in an expert for a particular assignment (such as
conducting a penetration test ) to providing a managed testing service.
Outsourced software testing service This is a full service to support all the ongoing software testing needs of an organisation or business
unit. It usually incorporates test management , functional testing and specialist test services as
required. An example of this is here.
Programme testing outsource service This is a outsourced service for an organisation that wants to outsource all their software testing and
assurance activities for a particular initiative or programme. An example of this is the services we
provided to test and assure and business processes and IT systems for the creation of a large
organisation.
Offshore outsource improvement Many organisations have offshored their software testing with varying degrees of success. Some
have worked well. Many others have struggled and it is not uncommon to find organisations that have
onshored their offshore resources or are simply having difficulty realising the value from these
outsource deals that the business case outlined.
We have provided our offshore testing improvement service to a number or organisation across
different sectors to help them improve their results and migrate back offshore their software testing
activities.
Knowing what needs to be done is important, but it's not the same as doing what needs to be done.
Elix Software's services include providing the test management team and specialist testers to enable
you to turn plans into reality.
Our test management teams have delivered assignments with test teams ranging from a few testers
and users to groups of over 100 testers.
Our management techniques ensure that there is full transparency of the testing activity. We will
extract summary management information from the testing results to help monitor the state of the
project and forecast the likely progress.
The information is presented clearly, concisely and when you need it. Well presented information gives
project teams control. Knowledge of the test results to date, and the forecasts of likely future results
mean that our customers can make effective, informed management decisions.
In particular, the go/no-go decision points in a project, or contractual milestones, or resource ramp
downs are supported by objective evidence.
