Quality Assured IT Outsourcing

Your success in software development outsourcing

Facts and Figures: What can independent testing give your company? Last year BugHuntress QA Lab performed an external independent testing of an e-Community. It was a complex Web-application that contained a lot of different services. The development team stated that the application worked well and external testing was not necessary. However the customer insisted on performing it. When we completed only ~20% of planned work, the number of revealed defects exceeded 100. Taking into consideration those results the customer stopped working with this development company. A significant sum of money and a lot of time were lost. Nevertheless, due to BugHuntress QA Lab 80% of money paid to developers was refunded and saved to the customer.

BugHuntress QA Lab independent verification and validation services

I. Estimation stage of a software development project:
• Initial software development project concept estimation, project risks evaluation;
• Assessment of vendor's testing procedures and documents templates (test plans, test cases, reports);

II. Development stage:
• Estimation of basic architectural solutions;
• Reviews and walkthrough of software source code and documentation;
• Independent testing of developed software (as a basic testing team for this project or as periodic inspections);

III. Acceptance stage:
• Final acceptance test, formal independent validation of developed software.

Independent testing FAQ 1. Is independent testing a kind of distrust to an IT outsourcing vendor? No. Independent reviews are an integral and essential part of all project management and software development methodologies. It is a proven base for mutually beneficial cooperation for all participants interested not only in the customer's money but first of all in a successful result. 2. Why do I need independent testing / IV&V? There are both objective and subjective reasons. For further information see a comparison of External and Inhouse testing. 3. Does independent testing make the project more expensive? Calculations performed by our analysts and studies carried out by other experts show that mitigation of software development and software go-to-market risks can completely compensate independent testing / IV&V costs (more information).

What you get

• To get impartial thorough data which assist to evaluate the real project progress, to disclose the project failure signs (e.g., budget or schedule deviations), and timely to correct a situation;
• To make you "Customer N1" for your vendor and essentially to mitigate one of the main reasons of IT projects failure - lack of vendor's management and development team commitment to the project;
• To stimulate outsourcing vendors / a development team to act in a right way and develop right software (it is especially important at the first stage of projects);
• Timely to discover requirements misunderstanding;
• To mitigate topical outsourcing risks associated with high workforce attrition;
• To get impartial quality assessment of the developed software in issues with vendors;
   See also other benefits of independent software testing.