Software Test Engineering: Imperative for building future proof, scalable and successful products

Introductionavailable in the market. By picking Open Source tools,
Software Test Engineering is the acquisition andorganizations can cut capital expenditure. At the
application of technical, scientific and mathematicalsame time, automated testing tools can also allow
knowledge to design and implement testing bestcompanies to undertake cheaper regression testing.
practices and processes that enable realization ofWhen examining the outsourcing option, companies
software testing objectives desired in a givenmust explore and clearly differentiate the parts
product development life cycle. Software systemswhere testing can be done onsite and the areas
and applications need to be tested in the differentwhere it can be outsourced, while optimally using the
stages of their evolution, to ensure that they arecollaboration tools. If there are questions regarding
zero defect and bug free and scale as thewho is doing what, a company needs to set up a
requirements of customers grow.transparent system that tracks each remote team
Current market statemember of the test team.
Unlike the past years, when organizations deployedNo company knows the business of Test Engineering
manual methods to test software, today thebetter than Impetus
environment has underdone a major change. TheImpetus is a pioneer in Outsourced Product
older methods are time consuming, costly andEngineering, having partnered in the development of
inaccurate. Organizations are now having to deliver athundreds of globally successful products. Impetus
“Internet speed,” which means fasteruses this immense experience to help companies build
product cycles, quicker go-to-market, lower costs ofhigh quality products successfully, taking them from
development, high scalability, better quality, improvedconceptualization to launch. In the interim, the
user experiences and enhanced globalcompany offers end-to-end services to ISVs including
competitiveness.technology research, architecture consulting, design
Challenges faced by product companies duringand development, customization, integration and
product testingproduct testing. The company leverages cutting-edge
Products must be intuitive to use and work in atechnologies and platforms, such as Cloud Computing,
similar manner as other products within the domain.High Performance Computing, .Net, and Open Source,
Typically, the way in which end customers use theto provide customers with the most cost-effective,
products varies. Companies have to determine at thetop-of-the-line product engineering solutions.
outset whether their teams are doing enough testing.Impetus’ focus on process excellence and its
With the latest software applications becoming moreadherence to prevailing global quality benchmarks
complex, it is difficult to know when testing shouldhelps customers create high quality products. Quality
be stopped. Especially when the product has to beis also maintained through Impetus’ adoption of
shipped quickly and the company is not sure whetherBest Practices along with its successful adoption of
it has tested enough. However, there are someonsite-offshore and White Box and Gray Box
common factors that can help organizations to decideengagement models. By continuing its investment in
when testing should be marked as completed.R&D Impetus innovates new methods of building
Various methods are used by companies to take thisbetter products. Impetus believes in simplifying
decision. Some take it on the basis of test casetesting activities. The aim is to make testing an
execution completion, some on the basis of testintrinsic part of the process, so that it is not
budgets depletion, or beta/alpha period termination,considered an additional activity requiring different
and some decide when the bug rates get reducedskill-sets. What we have done for instance is
and deadlines end. . At the same time, companiessimplified automation to such an extent that the
have to examine whether the product is finallyneed for an automation engineer doing this task has
market ready and of acceptable quality for clients. Abeen minimized. We have ensured that even the
number of organizations depend on their softwareexisting testing team helps in automating the test
beta programs to elicit customer feedback andcases. Additionally, we have developed cost effective
incorporate it into the new products. Finally,solutions so that we can emphasize the use of OSS
enterprises are also grappling with the question:or in-house tools.
“should we outsource product testing,” andWhat Impetus does in the Product Engineering
consider outsourcing as an option when drawing updomain
testing strategies. There are many reasons whyFor companies looking for a product testing partner,
companies are outsourcing the testing function. ForImpetus is an unmatched choice. Impetus’
one, they do not have to invest in special hardware,experience in the product engineering domain, which
software and networking—basically theencompasses technology research, architecture
infrastructure, required to conduct stress tests onconsulting, design and development, customization,
the system or application. It is much more costintegration and product testing, has given it as edge
effective to outsource product testing. At the sameover other competitors. In the area of Test
time they do not need to outlay skilled manpower,Engineering, Impetus provides clients a perfect blend
which may not be available in-house anyway, forof manual, automation and specialized testing
conducting complex tests.techniques. Impetus provides automation solutions
What to do: How can I address these challenges It isthat deliver a higher return on the investment of
important to design the test strategy early alongclients. At the same time, Impetus has relevant,
with the product road map and begin with a teststate-of-the-art infrastructure, in its Labs where even
plan, a document that contains details about thethe most complex software can be tested quickly
objectives, approach, scope and focus of a softwareand efficiently.
testing project. Test plans are usually created inThe Impetus edge in Test Engineering
order to enable people outside the group ofA major advantage offered by Impetus is its testing
software testers to understand more about theteam that includes professionals well versed in all
project. These test plans should contain enoughexisting software platforms and emerging
information to make it useful but not too muchtechnologies. Companies strapped for testing talent,
information to make it difficult for people outside thewill find this pool extremely beneficial for their testing
project to understand the situation. Test plans usuallyneeds. At the same time, Impetus also provides
include details about the target audience, thehigher-end specialists and test architects, that can
objectives of testing, overviews of softwareactually become a part of the test defining and
products, legal requirements, traceability requirements,designing stage. Impetus is equipped with the
testing priorities, database set up requirements andnecessary tools, cutting-edge technologies,
project risk analysis amongst others. Additionally,methodologies and Best Practices that ensure that
companies must focus on the cost element whentesting leads to zero defect, bug free software.
identifying and evaluating test plans and testing tools