Outsourced Software Testing 101
A guide for Business Heads and Project Managers
Some of the queries that this Primer will attempt to answer:
- Why should I outsource application software testing in my organization?
- How do I start an outsourced testing program in my organization?
- What is the safest route to trying out the benefits of outsourced testing?
- I already have several global development vendors; can I manage an independent testing service provider relationship as well?
- How do other Global 500 companies do this?
- What should I look for in an outsourced testing services vendor?
Introduction:
The last few years have seen an increase in the number, size and complexity of application software deployed at large global financial corporations. These applications have tended to be increasingly centralized with larger numbers of users across multiple locations. The design, development, testing and deployment of these large applications have thus called for specialised skills. Driven by a range of factors from skills and resource availability to time and cost pressures, Global 500 corporations have successfully looked to outsourcing as a means to bring such applications to deployment on time and within budget.
Testing is one of the most critical processes involved in the development of software applications. Over the life of a software product, it also takes up the most effort. Yet enough attention has perhaps not been paid to the efficient outsourcing of this component of the product cycle. How outsourced testing by a specialist independent test service provider can greatly mitigate application deployment risks, especially in the context of the banking and financial services domain, is the subject of a separate White Paper on this web site (Refer to Domain focused independent testing: Why CEOs of Global 500 financial majors use this tool to reduce application deployment risks…and costs).
Executive Summary: This Primer attempts to serve as an introductory how-to guide on Outsourced Software Testing for both business heads as well as software project managers: CEOs as well as CIOs. It first places testing within the context of the total product life cycle (TPLC), indicating the reasons for considering outsourced-testing. It then describes the sequential stages within a testing program, and how these stages may run in parallel with the other development stages. The Primer then sets out the progressive steps by which an organization can implement an outsourced software-testing regime. It then presents a suggested project interaction model for outsourced testing, and then finally, suggests a list of selection criteria for assessing test-outsourcing partners.
The software product life cycle begins with a business need articulated by the user group. This may be for a new application, a newer generation consolidation of a set of existing applications or for a large-scale redesign and migration of an already operational system to a newer technology environment. The product cycle consists of two parts, the software development phase and the maintenance phase, the relative efforts for which are normally found to be in the ratio 1:2. The initial development phase has distinct specification, development and testing stages to be executed before the application can be deployed.
The maintenance phase starts once a software application is deployed. It then enters into useful 'production' and simultaneously enters into a cycle of additional releases driven by defect corrections, functional enhancements and other user-driven changes. Each of these releases has to follow a development, testing and deployment path similar to the original development cycle: a typical application will go through many releases – often 4 to 6 every year – before it is completely replaced by a new software application.
The product cycle is similar for both custom development as well as for packaged software implementation. In the latter case, the additional development will be driven by customization as well as interface needs: the whole configuration will then need to be integrated and tested.
Outsourcing different components within the TPLC
In recent years, the software development phase has increasingly been outsourced to application development vendors for the following reasons:
- Specialist resources being available with external organizations
- Potential cost benefits from locating the development efforts offsite or offshore
- Advances in both technology and infrastructure enabling such offshore migration of development activities.
