#quality engineering strategy

With Information Technology disrupting the entire global landscape, individuals, enterprises, and entities are embracing digital transformation in a big way. And in this pursuit of transformation, enterprises are updating their legacy systems and migrating some (or all) of their products, services, or databases to platforms like the cloud. Amidst such disruptions, software (system or application) has emerged as the key for enterprises to remain relevant and competitive. However, the software can often end up with bugs or glitches, thus adversely impacting its performance. Also, glitch-prone software can dilute the user experience and render the brand ineffectual.

Digital technologies, in addition to disrupting the business ecosystem, is impacting the IT environment considerably. Interestingly, the entire thrust of digital transformation is towards obtaining better customer experiences. The latter can, however, get impacted when the software or system does not function to its optimum thanks to the presence of glitches or bugs.

So, how does one ensure the software leaving the development and testing pipeline to be quality compliant? The answer lies in following a robust quality assurance service. However, in the shift-left testing approach, since the focus is on identifying and mitigating errors early on in the build stage, there could be chances of errors slipping through. With DevOps being embraced by enterprises to achieve faster release of glitch-free software, the focus has come to quality engineering. According to this, enterprises should work towards preempting the presence of glitches instead of finding (and mitigating) them later.

How QA has evolved due to the new digital challenges

As enterprises across industry verticals are embracing digital transformation to increase efficiency, there are opportunities and challenges galore. With the advent of quality engineering services, enterprises can look at the below-mentioned outcomes.

·         DevOps and Agile driven shift in priorities and strategies

·         Getting access to devices, new technologies, and form factors

·         Integrate new technologies with the legacy systems and overhaul them

·         Better integration between development and testing teams

·         Incorporate user feedback mechanism into the build and test pipeline

·         Increase the use of automation in testing

·         Training resources in alignment with the requirements

·         Maximizing the scope of testing within budget constraints

How a quality engineering strategy can help matters?

As opposed to traditional QA processes, quality engineering services involve analyzing the design of a product and working with the development and operations teams. These aim at managing the development, operation, and maintenance of IT systems, architecture, and frameworks to obtain a superior quality standard. In enterprise quality engineering, every stakeholder is made part of the planning, development, and delivery pipeline.

Shift-left and strengthen right: With the change in business priorities and technologies such as IoT, AI, and SMAC, among others, the world of QA is facing transformation. So, in shifting left and strengthening right, the software quality engineering services cover a few aspects. These include test and analytics-driven development, virtualization, security testing, API testing, continuous automation, and performance engineering to manage quality.

Agility: Automation has emerged as the key requirement to meet the goals of Agile and DevOps. By implementing test automation in the shift-left driven development and testing pipeline, glitches can be identified and mitigated early. It also enhances the quality coverage of software products across multiple channels. Moreover, test automation can offer advanced analytics and reporting mechanism to predict bugs or defects in the test environment. Thus, the impact on user experience can be reduced drastically and the business made more agile and responsive.

Business value: Leveraging digital quality engineering can help enterprises in offering glitch-free products tailored to customer requirements. This can add to their business value due to reduced defects, faster processes, and minimum user acceptance testing efforts.

Improved security: Vulnerabilities in IT systems and networks have become a cause for concern. The rising graph of cybercrime and the potential threat it poses for businesses and their end-customers need to be tackled head-on. Leveraging a quality engineering strategy in the form of DevSecOps can focus on enhancing security and making the software hack-proof.

 Conclusion

To succeed in the competitive digital landscape, enterprises need to achieve high quality and agility. To meet these objectives, they need to simplify, secure, and modernize their legacy systems. Also, businesses need to have the requisite adaptability and flexibility in choosing the right QA tools. Ensuring the quality of products and services at every step of the way is critical in addressing the ever-changing customer expectations. If that is not enough then the changing market dynamics - mergers and acquisitions, new software rollouts, adherence to risk and compliance norms, data and analytics, mobile commerce, and the incorporation of IoT - have necessitated enterprises to be agile and enhance their quality assurance services.

With cybersecurity scare hovering around, enterprises need to up the ante to make their workflows, products, or services fully quality-compliant. This involves adhering to global quality standards like PCI, Sox, GDPR, etc. Adhering to these standards consistently would be an uphill task for enterprises if they employ traditional QA methodologies. With Agile and DevOps emerging as the preferred methodologies for software development, quality engineering is the way ahead.

What is quality engineering?

It is a process wherein quality of a software is tested and validated throughout the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC.) It encompasses activities such as analyzing a product’s design and development process to improve the quality of products and services and reduce waste.

QE services differ from traditional waterfall model where QA is an adjunct to the development process. Quality engineering solutions help to prevent as well as detect glitches in a software application. These optimize quality throughout the SDLC and beyond by involving everyone in the organization.

Key benefits offered by software quality engineering services

The competitive online landscape requires enterprises to rapidly deliver quality products and services to the market. This calls for implementing quality engineering solutions in the agile led SDLC. The key benefits are as follows:

# Implementing AI: Quality engineering can involve Artificial Intelligence to accelerate and enhance their QA practices. AI can help in identifying glitches in the software applications based on analyzing historical data. It can help developers to focus on the specific areas of software development and prevent glitches from setting in.

# Strengthening right and improving shift-left testing: The business priorities of today dictate quick launch of software products across social, mobile commerce, and cloud landscape. With Agile and DevOps forming the crux of any software development process and CI and CD being the expected outcomes, any SW quality engineer should do the following -

·         Strengthen the delivery of high-quality products

·         Enhance the feedback response mechanism.

·         Make the sprint involving developers and QA experts seamless and responsive.

# Improved agility: Enterprises need to implement Agile and DevOps methodologies to streamline their workflows, improve efficiencies, reduce costs, deliver quality products and services, and achieve ROI. An SW quality engineer can help enterprises in implementing industry best practices and facilitating the adoption of Agile processes.

# Better monitoring: With the expectations of customers rising by the day, the success of any software application would depend on key parameters such as performance, accessibility, functionality, and security. However, these need strict monitoring of the development and QA processes. This is where a robust quality engineering strategy can ensure effective quality control and management by leveraging technology, measurable tools, and well-established industry standards.

# Prevention is better than cure: Digital quality engineering involves drawing and implementing strategies to prevent glitches from sneaking into the SDLC. It aims at the long-term perspective of preventing glitches rather than getting into the fire-fighting mode every time glitches are detected. By doing so, it helps enterprises to speed up the software development and delivery process and reduce cost.

# Implementing quality across the SDLC and beyond: With shorter delivery cycles and faster turnaround time expected of enterprises to deal with the changing market dynamics, the operational workflow needs to be strengthened and streamlined. QE services help enterprises in monitoring and executing a slew of activities - the adoption of new technology tools or automating the testing process. The software quality engineering services monitor the quality metrics and ensure they are met across processes in the SDLC.

Conclusion

Businesses need to become agile and quality compliant to meet the changing market dynamics and rising customer expectations. To achieve these objectives, the entire SDLC should be designed to uphold quality at every level by engaging quality engineering services.

This article is originally published at DEV Community, The importance of Quality Engineering in a software factory

The proliferation of digital applications owing to various digital transformation initiatives taken by enterprises has necessitated the adoption of intelligent automated testing. The changing nature of businesses, market dynamics, and the adoption of new technology platforms have led to the shrinking of delivery schedules – from months to weeks and days. Consequently, the testing timelines have caught up with the change in shifts to the left and right. Companies, to remain agile and offer the best customer experience, have adopted the development and testing methodology of DevOps. This entails the testing of code in the initial stages of the development process and establishing a robust feedback mechanism to act upon customer issues.

As the traditional mode of testing takes a backseat with the adoption of Agile and DevOps, the focus is more towards preventing, detecting, and eliminating glitches. The advent of new technologies such as IoT, AI, Augmented and Virtual Reality, AMP etc., generates humongous amount of data, which if not validated, can result in these technologies to play truant. Today, the quality of an application is not just about ensuring the smooth functioning of a software application but rather offering a differentiated user experience. This is because customers have high expectations about a product, which if not addressed to everyone’s satisfaction, can let a software product to go out of reckoning. This brings quality engineering into sharp focus as routine shift-left testing can suffer from inadequacies such as lack of scope, inability to predict risk, etc.

Why should Quality Engineering solutions be preferred?

As new technologies evolve and are adopted by enterprises, the complexity of software applications has increased exponentially. This calls for a continuous monitoring of applications across the SDLC and beyond.

Digital Quality Engineering can adapt to frequent technology changes and provide a software quality engineer with the necessary     wherewithal to ensure the changes lead to the enhancement of quality.

Helps to align technological priorities with business objectives.

Helps deliver a shorter time to market, timely updates, and a     qualitatively superior user experience.

Helps in building and deploying applications for omnichannel     environments.

Helps to identify new metrics, be it based on performance or business objectives.

Delivers enhanced business value to end customers and other     stakeholders.

Offers customer centric innovation, early validation, reduced manual testing efforts, reduced production defects, and overall cumulative     savings.

Quality Engineering as a shift-left and strengthen-right strategy

With technologies like AI led automation, IoT, social, cloud, and mobile commerce among others being rolled out by enterprises with alacrity, quality awareness needs to shift-left and strengthen-right to align with business priorities. The comprehensive QE environment would encompass data analytics, virtualization, static and dynamic security testing, intelligent automation, API testing, and performance engineering. Since QE puts emphasis on comprehensive testing to predict and detect glitches across the SDLC, it finds itself in alignment with the DevOps goals.

How does DevOps fit into the scheme of things?

The DevOps paradigm of development and testing goes a step further than Agile by involving the Operations team in delivering quality outcomes. It envisages the creation of a quality culture where every person in the organization, especially in the Development and Operations functions, should take the onus of ensuring the quality of products and services.

The incorporation of DevOps by organizations may lead to the following outcomes

Increasing the level of automation to execute quality  validation testing.

Optimizing the test sets by enhancing the quality of test  automation scripts.

Provisioning of virtual test variables to validate the software application across parameters.

Integration of digital Quality Engineering with DevOps quality approach.

Continuous monitoring of quality solutions.

Since DevOps is seen to be adopted by enterprises to address the rising testing challenges, the two principles become apparent.

Develop and deploy automated test solutions swiftly and as     per business requirements.

Drive agility and process excellence across the SDLC by     breaking down traditional silos.

Quality engineering solutions can infuse agility into the SDLC and bridge the gap between development and deployment of applications. QE services can cover diverse environments comprising end user device platforms, advanced technologies, browsers, and databases to validate the features and functionalities of an application. To deal with the challenges of implementing DevOps such as delayed deployment, the ‘test early, test often’ approach of quality engineering through automated testing can prove to be helpful. The approach validates the quality of an application throughout the SDLC and leverages a slew of practices – behaviour driven, acceptance test driven and test-driven development.

QE services enabling continuous testing in DevOps

The implementation of DevOps would entail activities such as Continuous Integration (CI), Continuous Testing (CT), and Continuous Delivery (CD). These can be achieved by framing and implementing a robust quality engineering strategy comprising the following:

Functional testing: This type of testing focuses on the user interface and ensures all user requirements function as per expectations. This testing should be executed throughout the SDLC.

Non-functional testing: This type of testing deals with attributes such as quality, readiness, performance, throughput, utilization, scalability and security of applications.

Use of cloud: Quality Engineering can perform better in a cloud environment given the latter’s increased storage capacity, scalability, affordability, flexibility, and security. Continuous testing on cloud can be effective as the application can be tested at any point of time, which unlike in a legacy system, can be cost effective.

Conclusion

Digital Quality Engineering can ensure continuous integration and testing and offer a holistic user experience. It leverages the test automation frameworks and tools to facilitate end to end testing at a faster rate.

If the changing customer expectations are anything to go by then the way IT solutions are created and tested has undergone a paradigm shift. This is in addition to the business dynamics that has seen mergers and acquisitions, quick product rollouts, and technology changes such as mobility, big data & analytics, IoT, and artificial intelligence among others. The impact of such tectonic shifts – in customer expectations, business dynamics and technological changes - has redefined the role of development and testing teams.

Apparently, the task is cut out for the IT teams – either come out with quality applications in double quick time or just cool your heels and see customers lap up competing products or services. The demand to deploy quick applications for the consumers and provide an elaborate backup have transformed the Quality Assurance process. Currently, the shift has moved away from the traditional Quality Assurance to the new Quality Engineering Solutions.

What is quality engineering?

The integration of IT related processes and workflows across devices, platforms, frameworks, networks, and organizations has meant that quality does not remain a standalone attribute. In fact, quality has embraced multiple dimensions that range across the end to end application lifecycle. With Agile and DevOps models being the new game changers, quality has moved from mere testing of applications post their development into a more comprehensive scheme of things.

Consequently, quality assurance services have given way to quality engineering services. The services encompass the design, development, management, administration and maintenance of IT systems to a high quality standard as mandated by international quality regulations.

Why is digital quality engineering important?

In the Agile and DevOps model of software development, testing and deployment, quality is optimized by making every stakeholder responsible. In other words, if the development and testing teams are entrusted with ensuring the application’s quality, the operations team needs to see the same runs properly throughout its lifecycle, and customer feedbacks are taken seriously. The main thrust of quality engineering services is to prevent the development of glitch ridden applications in the first place. This is in sharp contrast to the traditional QA model where the focus is more on identifying glitches.

The quality engineering strategy involves a robust collaboration between the developers and testers. The testers, on their part, build the testing framework and write the automated scripts at the beginning of the SDLC. The framework is maintained for the whole SDLC and is made an intrinsic part of all future development and test sprints. Digital quality engineering optimizes quality and brings speed in the SDLC. It is not only about executing functional or non-functional testing, but also ensuring that every sinew of the SDLC is validated. It brings about a change amongst the stakeholders, tools, and processes to collaborate and work towards a common goal – of delivering quality products.

Key reasons for considering quality engineering services

Move towards Shift-left testing: The increased use of technologies viz., AI/machine learning, IoT, predictive analysis and the adoption of social, cloud and mobile means a move towards shift-left testing. In the Agile and DevOps model, testing is more aligned with development through common sprints. Moreover, there is a need to create analytics driven QA, API testing, and execute performance engineering while focusing on continuous automation. A robust shift-left testing when integrated in the SDLC leads to better test outcomes.

Rapid deployment: When the demand is geared towards the rapid deployment of quality products, a software quality engineer instead of detecting glitches in successive iterations of a sprint should aim at preventing the glitches from becoming a part of the code. This requires optimizing the processes, tools, technologies and techniques in the SDLC.

Business value: The key to meet customer expectations is by creating an end to end value proposition for the product. This calls for adopting a number of desirable and feasible options to drive innovation. The innovation should enhance the customer experience. QE services help execute continuous automation and virtualization leading to a significant increase in the test coverage area.

Business goals: The main objective of building a quality application is to meet the business goals. This requires the processes to be designed and set up in accordance with the business goals. Thus, a software quality engineer comes handy for he or she is a part of the project management team that decides the processes, tools and techniques to be incorporated in the SDLC.

Conclusion

The requirement of quality products to meet the imperatives of digital transformation initiatives has led to incorporation of quality engineering as an enabler. It is a move towards eliminating quality issues at the beginning of the SDLC leading to customer delight.

In a day and an age where customer experience drives the success or failure of a software product, businesses have realised the importance of quality assurance. Importantly, to ensure a seamless customer experience, the functionalities of a software product should work to their optimum. It is no longer about the performance of an app on a localised platform alone but how it functions in a multi-dimensional environment.

The rapid technological developments in the digital landscape have seen devices, platforms, frameworks, operating systems, and networks undergo changes. Customers too have been flooded with choices as far as devices and their operating environments are concerned. Given the extremely demanding business and technological landscape, it is business critical to keep strict quality control across the SDLC and beyond.

The need for a strict adherence to quality parameters, compliance and meeting industry regulations has rendered the traditional model of quality assurance ineffective. In the Agile and DevOps environment, ensuring customer assurance means carrying out continuous improvement and deployment in the entire product lifecycle. It is no longer about ensuring the quality during the development stage alone, but enforcing it during the entire lifetime of the product. In other words, businesses should keep on improving the product quality in real-time till it is in use. Arguably, the traditional waterfall model of quality testing is not enough to meet the challenges of an Agile and DevOps era. It is about engaging the quality engineering services to test, analyze and modify the software as per the changing business needs and rising customer expectations.  

Why quality engineering?

The growth of technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT), AI, big data, predictive analysis, mobility, social media and cloud computing means that all software needs must be checked across disciplines and platforms. Quality engineering solutions involve the identification and elimination of bugs by designing and testing the codes right from the development stage. The SW quality engineer helps in designing, developing, analyzing, testing, integrating, and deploying the code. He or she works with the development team and oversees the entire product lifecycle. The SW quality engineer is responsible for involving everyone in the organization by creating a total quality culture. By doing so, the onus of ensuring the quality of software throughout the product cycle will remain with everyone concerned.

Listed below are the four reasons that quality engineering services can make a difference

#1 Customize the products/services: The quality engineering strategy is about achieving customer satisfaction through the development, delivery and by updating the software. While aiming at customer satisfaction, the QA team performs various types of testing such as functional, performance, security, and usability. Quality engineering analyses the needs of customers, available technologies and competition and helps businesses to customize the products or services. Unless the products and services reflect the market dynamics of the day, the effort of businesses to develop and deliver products becomes futile. Thus, quality engineering helps organizations to choose cutting edge technologies, save cost and realize ROI.

#2 Create a quality culture: In a DevOps environment, testing the quality of software is not a one time job or to be followed in a piecemeal fashion, but to be undertaken at every stage of the SDLC. Moreover, the principle of continuous integration/improvement and deployment means every department – development, QA and operations should have synergy. The QA engineer creates a quality culture where every stakeholder work towards ensuring the quality of a product or service.

#3 Early detection of defects: To provide a seamless customer experience, a software should perform optimally and meet the requisite business outcomes. Since, the QA engineering exercise begins right from the design and development stage, it helps in the early detection of bugs. Once the bugs are detected early, the overall end to end integration and deployment becomes faster. Moreover, test automation as an essential part of quality engineering helps in the faster execution of tests leading to an accelerated time to market.

#4 Cost effectiveness: Notwithstanding the supposed higher costs of implementing test automation at the initial stage, it leads to a reduced effort in testing, a higher test coverage area, reusability of test scripts, quicker and better identification of bugs and faster time to market. Taken together, these lead to significant savings for the business.

Conclusion

The implementation of quality engineering leads a business to become smart, lean and productive. By creating an overall quality environment where everyone is responsible for upholding quality, quality engineering helps to build required processes and protocols to weave in quality within the DNA of the organization.