Blue Canopy’s Quality Services
Before you release your hardware, software, web site, or internal
applications, you must ensure that they are free from glitches,
oversights, and bugs. Blue Canopy’s Quality Services team
uses broad software engineering, analysis, and process improvement
skills to provide two categories of Quality related services for
our clients. The first is called Software Quality Assurance (SQA);
the second is referred to as Process Quality Assurance (PQA). We
currently perform these services for multiple clients including
several Fortune 500 companies, as well as for our own suite of 4pi
products.
Blue Canopy’s Quality Assurance (QA) Testing employs a best
practice, step-by-step verification process that provides users
with the experience they deserve.
Software Quality Assurance (SQA)
Our experience has led us to acknowledge the fact that the role
of testing within the application development lifecycle has become
a vital part of quality assurance. We consult with many companies
involved with software development and have found that testing early
in the lifecycle, along with adequate planning from the beginning
of development, are all necessary to help alleviate issues and promote
a competitive edge. Our SQA services are used to measure software
products and determine how well they are built. They occur throughout
the Software Development lifecycle and include:
- Functional and Regression Testing
- Performance Testing
- Defect Management
- Software Change Control
These services are offered in our Reston-based dedicated testing
facility where we maintain an inventory of multiple desktop systems,
servers, laptops, operating systems, etc. for compatibility testing.
We can setup almost any scenario at our facility to ensure real-life
emulation, allowing us to find real-time solutions. Whether you
outsource your testing needs to Blue Canopy or deploy our consulting
team to develop a plan for your internal team onsite, we focus on
providing all the essential processes necessary to provide a meaningful,
productive test environment. We can work in a traditional “integrated
with the project” SQA model but also have strong qualifications
in an Independent Validation & Verification (IV&V) model.
- Acceptance Testing – including but not
limited to Alpha Testing, Beta Testing, Smoke Testing, User Acceptance
Testing (UAT)
- Functional Testing – including but not
limited to Black Box Testing, User Interface (UI) Testing, User
Experience Testing, End to End (ETE) Testing, Regression Testing
- Independent Validation and Verification (IV&V)
– including but not limited to previously described Acceptance
and Functional type tests, on demand tests for 508 (UI testing
for the visually impaired), Accessibility and Stop Gap Testing
Process Quality Assurance (PQA)
This category of services measures software engineering
activities to determine how well they are being done.
Many of the practices of PQA are similar to SQA; however, where
SQA is about a product, PQA is about the process and organizational
change. We use business standards like CMMI and engineering standards
like ISO 12207 and 90003:2004 to conduct deep analysis of the client
organization. We evaluate people, processes and technology. Our
process includes:
- A thorough discussion of goals
- A complete step-by-step methodology
- A detailed timetable
- Setup and configuration instructions for any necessary test
beds
Depending on where we look, this analysis will take the shape
of QA Mentoring and PMO and Planning Support. It may identify gaps
in the amount of staff, staff training, process consistency or maturity,
or how well current technology supports the business. At the end
of these assessments, we provide our findings, make recommendations,
and provide the client with a road map for organizational change.
- Quality Assurance – SDLC Component Assessments
(for Requirements Engineering, Design, Construction, Testing,
Maintenance), Best Practice Alignment Assessments, Mentoring,
Compliance Assessments, and Artifact Assessment
- Business Analysis – Support for Business
Requirements Engineering, Change Management (including Build,
Version, and Release Management)
- Risk Analysis – Assessment, Plan Development,
and Remediation (for Environment, People, Budget, Schedule, Security)
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