TestGrip

Logica’s vision for test policy and organisation

Business challenge
Testing is no longer the preserve of IT departments. It is an important part of achieving key business objectives – such as product safety and reliability – and therefore delivering on company strategies and promises. A clear test policy is essential if testing is to play this valuable strategic role. The need for a corporate test policy is also
becoming more pressing. Organisational changes such as mergers or outsourcing mean that testing practices may fall out of alignment with business priorities. Requirements may also vary from division to division: safety may be imperative in production, speed for the customer website, and efficiency for the internal HR system.

Defining and successfully implementing a test policy can bring major benefits but it is a serious commitment that involves staff across all functions and at all levels. Logica has been helping clients with immensely diverse strategies and organisations to test effectively over many years. Based on this experience Logica has  eveloped TestGrip to help our clients develop and put in place their test policy and test organisation.

TestGrip
Logica has developed a vision for what a test policy should be, how to formulate the policy and how to  implement it within a test organisation. TestGrip offers a strategic solution to the testing challenge.

TestGrip answers questions like:

• What is a test policy and how is it shaped?
• Why does test policy add value?
• What impact does that have on the company?
• What can the company achieve with it?
• What test organisation can emerge from a test policy?

A test policy may be defined using a ‘top down’, ‘bottom up’ or ‘hybrid’ approach. This will depend on how much testing is done at present, where it resides within the company and the maturity of the test organisation. The test policy is designed to complement other organisational policies such as IT, quality and best practices. The resulting test policy addresses:

• Principles of quality assurance and testing
• Testing objectives
• Guidelines
• Testing approach
• Measurable framework
• Organisational structure
• Test process evolution

Test policy translated into a test organisation
The test policy directly influences the way testing is organised within a company. It describes which type of test  organisation