TEAM International Provides Effective Outsourced Testing Services to a Major Client.

The Client
TEAM’s Client is a leader in software and support for the global staffing industry, with headquarters in the United Kingdom and offices worldwide. Their core product is clientserver contact management software, fully integrated with the Internet, which is very robust and configurable to endclient specifications. The product enables recruitment and consulting companies to trace the entire recruitment cycle, from sales call to placement. Team International has been a strategic outsourcing partner to The Client since 2006 in many areas of the software development life cycle including new development, maintenance, and product configuration.

The Industry
Human Resource Services, Software Development – CRM

The Challenge
The Client’s leading software product is the benchmark recruitment software that is used by more than 90% of the world’s leading recruitment agencies. The Client challenged Team International to assist in improving product quality, reduce time to market and have a positive impact on customer relations for the core database engine for their data warehousing system. The Client called on Team International to develop an alternative to its internal QA & Testing Function.

The Solutions
To address The Client’s challenge, Team International assembled a group of our most experienced QA Project Managers and Engineers to craft a solution. To reduce internal costs, shorten time-to-market by eliminating the learning curve and avoiding keeping an in-house team of testers, The Client chose to offload its system testing to its long-term offshore outsourcing partner – TEAM International. The Client involved TEAM’s QA engineers in the initial discussions of the project scope, required skills, working environment, knowledge transfer (business trips to UK) etc. TEAM’s QA Project Manager, QA Team Lead and 1 tester moved to work in The Client’s office for the purpose of knowledge transfer and planning of the most appropriate testing approaches.

The Engagement Model
Offshore Development Center

The Scope of the Project
TEAM was engaged with a testing project and an integral part of The Client’s recruitment software development process. The objective is to provide testing services for The Clients’ database product in the area of defects identification, verification and system testing.

Deliverables:
• Results of defects identification & verification
• Results of overview system testing
• Suggestions on quality improvement

TEAM researched, made recommendation and then led the effort of introducing an Automated Test program for the Client. We are now talking about extending this automation to their end-client systems.

The Approach
The Client chose to use SCRUM methodology. Each SCRUM cycle lasts four weeks. The Client provides Team with a detailed scope of work. For each new Build within the cycle, acceptance testing is performed. Results from all the tests are stored in a bug tracking system called TTPro. Status reports are sent to The Client. Overview system testing is performed in parallel with defects verification.

Number of Resources
• Project Manager 1
• QA Team Lead 1
• Testers 10
• Total 12

Technology Used
• Platform JAVA
• Environment MS Windows / Linux, ORACLE / MSSQL
• External Bug Tracking System TestTrack Pro (TTPro)
• Internal Bug Tracking System Mantis
• Browser Internet Explorer 6/7/8
• Workstations JRE 1.5.0/1.6.0 (latest update)
• Selenium in a Test-Driven Java Framework

Dilemma and Creative Solution
Due to cyclical nature of the project and unpredictability of the number of bugs detected, it was hard for TEAM to provide the customer with a precise project estimate at the initial stage of implementation. For this purpose TEAM launched the design of its internal Size Model to count, map and estimate testers’ efforts in as much precise way as possible.

The Results
By outsourcing system testing project to TEAM International, The Client receives bug tracking reports and suggestions on improvement of application quality on a regular basis. Since The Client does not have to maintain its in-house testers’ team, it fully enjoys the benefits of broader access to QA expertise and has an opportunity to focus on its core business objectives and strategies.

Because of The Client’s satisfaction, the engagement has expanded beyond the initial scope include extra tasks such as review and update of The Client’s user manuals on new enhanced functionality of its data warehousing system.

The engagement contract between TEAM and The Client has been extended each year, which is indicative of The Client’s satisfaction with TEAM’s project and process management practices and deliverables.