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The Quality Management Process used in the development of EnterConnect software is based on the best principles of ISO9001 and CMM. We use a documented, repeatable approach to find defects prior to shipping to ensure a high quality product. Some specifics of that approach are outlined below.
Quality Begins in Development
EnterConnect employs a "Quality is everyone's job" philosophy. This starts in design and development with written "virtual blueprints" and design documentation. These undergo review and are base lined. Code also undergoes review, and developers do unit testing before checking the code in. All code is maintained in a Code Management System that protects the integrity of the code as well as tracking the changes made
Set clear quality goals and the metrics used to measure them
The goals of every release are set at the beginning. At the same time, the metrics that will be used to track to these goals are specified. These are tracked throughout the development and QA process and corrective action taken when necessary to achieve the specified goals. These quality goals feed into release criteria that are part of the overall Project Plan. These criteria are used at both the Beta and the end of the release to determine the products readiness to ship.
Multi-tiered QA model to detect defects as early as possible
The EnterConnect QA teams employee a multi-tier model to detect defects early, and to ensure coverage. QA starts the first day of the project. A set of tests is run daily throughout the day to catch high-level regressions in the code line. This suite runs in parallel on different supported configurations.
A second, more comprehensive set is run against nightly builds. Alongside the nightly functional tests we also run extensive performance tests. A third set includes initial stress and load testing. The most complete set of tests is run on every base-level. This includes all feature tests, stress and load testing, cluster testing, usability testing, and migration testing. Base levels are done on an average of 2-4 weeks to keep QA and development in synch. EnterConnect QA also maintains history of tests run and the results.
Even beyond this EnterConnect does managed beta and public beta cycles to ensure further quality before the release of its software.
Customer Focused Testing
An application framework has been developed to focus on end-to-end testing in addition to functional testing. Use case scenarios have been developed based on customer issues and feedback. This testing allows us to verify the system the way a customer would actually use it
In addition to the customer use case scenarios, test cases are developed for customer-escalated defects to ensure no regressions.
Beyond this we have relationships with key customers whereby the customer can work with EnterConnect QA teams to provide test cases which will thereafter be treated as first class QA regression tests thereafter (it is worth noting though that these tests have to conform to certain guidelines to ensure that we can easily isolate and narrow down issues).
Continuous improvement
EnterConnect is constantly reviewing the Software Development QA process to improve both the level of testing and the metrics used to represent the quality. Retrospectives are held at the end of releases, and the findings are used to modify the processes in the next release.