Participants and "customers" in the testing process part 2

In the first part of our article we looked at the various stakeholders in the testing process as well as how each of them views the concept of quality. In this second part we will be looking at how the QA interacts with other stakeholders in the software development process.

At each stage, dealing with each specific task, it is important to use appropriate methods of interactions with the stakeholders of the development process. It can be efficient to alternate and/or mix different approaches and practices. That will help you fulfill the expectations of stakeholders with regard to software quality and as well as those of the testing team.

Let's describe, step by step, how the interaction of the testing team with other stakeholders can be organized.

QA in analyzing and working out the requirements

Customers and business analysts

Discussing end-to-end checks and business processes

Analysts and developers

Reviewing the check lists prepared by testers
Designing a test model and test strategy
Joint evaluation and planning of tasks

Outside IT teams

Identifying integration dependencies between the systems
Planning the joint usage of the testing environment

Testing environment support team

Discussing the requirements to testing environments: configuration, data, performance
Planning the work with the testing environment: times, access rights

QA in SW developing and debugging

Customers and business analysts

Demonstrating new features
Updating priorities in the course of development

Analysts and developers

Discussing and forming data sets for testing
Reviewing and testing documentation: specifications, user guides, help, etc.
Analyzing errors found during the SW debugging

Outside IT teams

Obtaining data and conditions for checking integration points
Configuring and testing the integration using "stubs"

Testing/production environment support team

Installing SW in the testing environment and setting up the integration with external systems
Elaborating and checking the installation guides for the testing environment
Planning the preparation of the environment preview (access rights, roles, data) for integration and acceptance

QA during the integration check and UAT

Customers and users

Organizing the User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
Reproducing and analyzing errors found during the UAT
Collecting the feedback based on the acceptance testing results

Analysts and developers

Preparing data for the end-to-end testing
Analyzing and correcting integration errors

Outside IT teams

Performing joint end-to-end testing

Testing/production environment support team

Installing the SW in the preview environment
Elaborating and checking the installation guides for the production environment
Setting up the integration with related systems
Checking the SW performance and functionality in the preview environment

QA at the stage of pre-release and launch

Customers and users

Participating in a pilot project (if needed).

Analysts and developers

Elaborating installation guides for the production environment

Outside IT teams

Participating in the end-to-end testing during DryRun

Production environment support team

Conducting the DryRun and control smoke testing in the preview environment
Providing support to the installation process during the DryRun and major release

QA for support of SW in the production environment:

Customers and users

Obtaining and analyzing feedback based on the results of SW release and operation
Correcting user guides

Analysts and developers

Reproducing, analyzing, and correcting error in the released functions
Analyzing and correcting "technical" incidents from support
Reviewing the team work following the release results: internal and external

Outside IT teams

Analyzing and correcting integration incidents
Adding to the knowledge base new information on the systems integration

Support

Correcting errors, conducting analysis: installation process, performance after the release, SW architecture
Reviewing the installation guides for the production environment

Pavel Novikov
Program Manager