StickyMinds.com and Better Software magazine presents…
How to Build a Testing Center of Excellence
Sponsored by Cognizant
This event aired on July 8, 2008.
TCOE
Building
Testing
centers of Excellence
© 2007, Cognizant Technology Solutions.
Confidential
Testing CoE
 Voice of Customers
 TCoE Models
 Scope
 Activities
 Critical Success Factors
 Key Considerations
Agenda
TCoE Ecosystem
Q&A
© 2007, Cognizant Technology Solutions.
Confidential
© 2006,
Cognizant
Technology
Solutions.
© 2007,
Cognizant
Technology
Solutions.
Confidential
Confidential
• Definition | Development |
Maintenance of test processes,
standards & templates
• Facilitation of Test
Management Community
• Metrics Reporting &
Management
• Test Process Training
• Continuous Process
Improvement (CPI)
Testing
Process CoE
• Provision | Administration |
Support of Test Infrastructure
and Test Tools
Testing
Tools/
Infrastructure
CoE
• Provision of NFT Services &
Test Automation Services
• Technical Test Consultancy
• Provision of Functional, UAT
& liaison services
• Flexible resource pool
creation
• Provision of specialized
testing services
NFT &
Automation CoE
Shared
Testing Team
centralized
Decentralized
© 2007, Cognizant Technology Solutions.
Confidential
Testing Process CoE
Critical Success Factors
Services
• Process definitions & Roll-out
• Process facilitation & maintenance
• Process Compliance Audit
• Facilitation of Test management community
• Continuous process improvement
• Organizational strategy alignment
• Effective Communication & Training
• Effective Piloting and Evaluation
• Process compliance review mechanism
Post Setup
Pre Setup
Activities
• Assessment of existing process assets
• Define/Refine and standardize processes
• Institute metrics framework
• Usage guidelines and communication plan
• Establish centralized process framework
Key Considerations
• Representation of key stakeholders from various
groups
• Seed change agents to facilitate propagation
• Closed loop feedback mechanism
• Communicating, Piloting & Training
• Process audits
• Change management
• Industry benchmarking
© 2007, Cognizant Technology Solutions.
Confidential
Infrastructure & Tools CoE
• Tool evaluation
Critical Success Factors
Services
• Testing tools technical support
• Clear understanding of opportunities for operational
efficiencies
• Test tool license management & administration
• Demand forecasting mechanism
• Tool process standardization
• Tool/Infrastructure utilization & Optimization
• Tool optimization
• Service Level Agreements
Pre Setup
Activities
• Tools inventory
• Tool evaluation
• Capacity planning & Platform optimization
• ROI Analysis
• Tool licensing & procurement policy
Key Considerations
• Tool standardization for testing activities such as
requirement management, defect management etc.
• Leverage vendor organization’s tool partnership
Post Setup
• Tool set integration
• Maintain tools inventory
• Tool administration, upgrades, license
management & tools training
• Monitoring & maintenance
• Incident management workflow
• Alternative tool pricing model
© 2007, Cognizant Technology Solutions.
Confidential
NFT & Automation CoE
NFT
• Performance testing
• Security testing
• Usability testing
• Workload Modeling
Services
Value-Adds
• Technical consultancy
• Feasibility analysis
Automation
• Test Automation
• Framework design and Implementation
Critical Success Factors
• Uniform Automation/Performance Testing guidelines
& scripting standards
• Reusable Automation/Performance testing framework
& work load models
• Defined Non Functional/automation testing
requirements
Key Considerations
Pre Setup
Activities
• Review/Refine & publish scripting standards and
guidelines
• Scope for Regression & Test Automation based on
scheduled releases
• Resource sharing & allocation models
• Utilize Tools CoE for standards & guidelines
definition
• ROI Analysis
• Utilize Process CoE for propagation of best practices
Post Setup
• Team identification
• Feasibility analysis & Proof of concepts
• Construct reusable frameworks
• Technical Training/Support
• Technical test consulting
© 2007, Cognizant Technology Solutions.
Confidential
Shared Testing Team
Basic
Critical Success Factors
Services
• Functional testing
• System testing/SIT
• Acceptance testing
Support &
Consultancy
Specialized
• Defect Management
• Strong Governance Model
• Test Life Cycle
modeling
• KPI identifications
• Test Strategy
conceptualization
• Management by Metrics
• Compliance testing
• DW testing
• Agile testing
• SOA testing
• Product/Package testing
• Identification of core vs. non-core business functions.
Post Setup
Pre Setup
Activities
• Establish test management office
• Scope analysis & demand forecasting
• Engagement & Sourcing model
• Institute training program
• KPI definition
Key Considerations
• Tracking mechanism to measure achievements over
period of time against established goals
• Cross-functional training
• Effective collaboration of Business Analysts and QA
• Resource allocation
• Skill assessment and training
• Test program management
• Construct knowledge assets
© 2007, Cognizant Technology Solutions.
Confidential
Piloting for Success
Shared Testing
Pre-requisites
Scope
Tools
Defined basic processes
Standardized tool management
Defined scope and schedule
System Testing
Tool licensing & procurement policy
System Integration Testing
Test Management
UAT support
Pilot Length
Business Disruption
Benefit Realization
Pilot Accelerators
Short-term
Long Term
Project types
3-6 months
4-8 weeks
High
Data Generation & Sanitization
Knowledge Repository
Dash-boards
Increased Test Coverage
Established Quality gates
Objective Go/No-Go decisions
Improved productivity & test effectiveness
Reduced defect leakage
Cycle time reduction
Quality Gains
New project OR AVM Project
Medium
Reporting utilities, portlets
© 2007, Cognizant Technology Solutions.
Traceability
Effective defect management
Management by metrics
Existing projects
Confidential
Piloting for Success
Pre-requisites
Scope
Pilot Length
Business Disruption
Benefit Realization
Pilot Accelerators
Short-term
Long Term
Project types
Automation
Defined automation scripting standards
&guidelines
Tools Inventory
Tool Evaluation
Tool licensing & procurement policy
Feasibility Analysis
ROI Analysis
Proof of Concepts
Reusable framework
Minimum 4 releases per year
Low
Automation framework
Skilled resources
Consistency
Improved Coverage
Non-functional testing
Defined NFT requirements
Defined NFT scripting standards & guidelines
Feasibility analysis
Performance
Security (Application Vulnerability Assessment &
Usability
Proof of concepts
6-8 weeks
Medium
Tool driven testing
Leveraging existing labs
Skilled resources
Identifying bottlenecks & vulnerabilities
Reusability
Reduced maintenance
Cost Savings
Enhanced user experience
Customer retention
Release-based
New projects AND Web-based
© 2007, Cognizant Technology Solutions.
Confidential
TCoE Ecosystem
Testing
Center
Of
Excellence
Service Spectrum
System
Integration
testing
System
Testing
Regression
Testing
Test
Automation
UAT
Process COE

Test
Metrics
Management
Tool Maintenance &
Support

Test Automation

Tool Implementation

Tool Provision
>
Test
Planning &
Estimation
Test
Program
Management
Testing
Center of
Excellence
>
Infrastructure &
Tools COE
Test
Reporting

Process Maintenance

Process Definition

Metrics Program

Test Process Training

Continuous Process
Improvement

Best Practice
implementation
Test Design
&
Build
Test
Execution &
Management
>
Core – Flexible
resourcing
Standard process
& Frameworks
Common Tools,
Infrastructure &
Automation
© 2007, Cognizant Technology Solutions.
Solution
Accelerations/
Best practices
Confidential
Governance
structure
Good Luck
on your TCOE Journey
© 2007, Cognizant Technology Solutions.
Confidential
Q&A
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