Quality is one of Ishi’s core values. Ishi teams strive to ensure that quality is maintained in every service and solution that is produced.

Ishi’s QA strategy is based on three core principles:

• the ability to define each requirement as an object and trace it from inception to fulfillment, not only functional, but inclusive of other requirements that emerge during phases of the development life cycle
• a methodology that facilitates inclusion of quality assurance steps into the system development lifecycle; and
• an approach to testing that leverages integration, system, acceptance and performance testing as the means to document fulfillment of functional/non-functional specifications and system requirements while facilitating development and documentation of the IQ/OQ/PQ protocols.

The following sections describe what is developed and executed during key phases of the project in the context of quality assurance practices for the system development life cycle.

Development Phase

This section provides an overview of quality assurance steps that occur during development.

Preparation

The development team establishes practices and guidelines in order to serve as a continuing reference point for writing, reviewing, and testing programming code. From a development perspective, guidelines and practices are required to support system requirements with the assurance that a standard and consistent approach is taken.

Design Reviews

Design Reviews are performed as one element for the verification of business and tech­nical requirements. Preliminary reviews address product design alternatives and system concepts while detailed reviews follow the completion of a specification at a functional or component level. Design Reviews include:

• System Level Design (verify functional requirements)
• Component Designs (verify design specifications)

Coding Standards and Code Reviews

Coding standards are defined and implemented by the development team to make sure that the application modules are well packaged and exhibit good readability to facilitate ongoing maintenance. The development team establishes conventions as described below:

• Coding standard for custom developed components (modules)
• Standards and conventions for commenting customizations to ease the understanding and subsequent maintenance by engineers
• Code reviews to be conducted by technical lead in parallel with Unit and Integration Testing

Installation Qualification

Prior to the execution of UAT, a platform installation is required in order to have the hardware and infrastructure in operation. In addition, a software Installation Qualification is to be performed by the project resources. A software installation qualification procedure and scripts are developed and executed to ensure that the technical components have been installed and migrated successfully. As part of this verification, operational tests are tested.

Testing

During the development phase, unit and integration testing is conducted by the team to ensure that quality is maintained with respect to the functional requirements. Learn more about our Testing Approach

Pre-Production Qualification Phase

Planning

A System Test Plan, UAT Test Plan, and Performance Test Plan are developed prior to these testing phases. These plans define the following:

• Approach and tool(s) used for testing (Test Director, WinRunner and LoadRunner)
• Scope of the testing effort
• Roles required for testing
• Management of deviations
• Traceability
• Describe the technical environment being tested

To support the testing effort, the following guidelines are developed:

• Tester and Reviewer Instructions for Test Script Execution
• Test Logging and Deviation tracking

Testing

Ishi provides comprehensive testing services to ensure quality from a functional and non-functional stand-point. Learn more about our Testing Approach

Acceptance - Pre-Production Test Review Meeting (“Go / No Go” Meeting)

Upon completion of testing, the Project Manager conducts a Pre-Production Test Review meeting with the designated business and QA resources. The purpose of this meeting is to review the results from System, Installation, Performance, and User Acceptance testing. In preparation for the meeting, the Project Manager produces an agenda along with the Pre-Production Test Summary Report that outlines the results of these testing phases.

A decision to move to production is made and all agreements are documented and published in meeting minutes. A memo for signature is distributed to represent a decision to move the solution into production.

Production Qualification Phase

Installation Qualification (IQ)

The purpose of Installation Qualification is to verify that the system (hardware and software) has been correctly installed in the production environment specified.

The Installation Qualification consists of a number of Installation Qualification Test Procedures and scripts authored by the implementation team. The Installation Qualification Test Procedure are approved and signed prior to production test execution.

Ishi’s support staff execute the IQ test scripts. The Support Lead or designee reviews the executed scripts and summarizes the test results for preparation of the Production Test Review Meeting and for inclusion in the Production Qualification Test Review Meeting.

Operational Qualification (OQ)

The purpose of Operational Qualification is to verify that the application operates properly in the production environment.

The IQ scripts are reviewed and evaluated as well as the need for operational qualification. By the very nature of some IQ scripts, the success of the installation is verified within the IQ scripts themselves and an OQ may not be required. The Operational Qualification Test Procedure is approved and signed prior to production test execution.

Ishi’s support staff execute the OQ test scripts. The Support Lead or a designee reviews the executed scripts and summarizes the test results for preparation of the Production Test Summary Report and for inclusion in the Production Qualification Test Review Meeting.

Performance Qualification (PQ)

The purpose of Performance Qualification is to verify the functionality and the performance of the application after the system is moved to the production environment.

The test team develops the Performance Qualification Test Procedures and may leverage a subset of the User Acceptance tests. Performance Qualification Test Procedures are approved and signed-off prior to production test execution.

The appropriate business representative(s) execute the PQ test scripts. The Test Coordinator or a designee reviews the executed scripts and summarizes the test results for preparation of the Production Test Summary Report and for inclusion in the Production Qualification Test Review Meeting.

Acceptance - Production Test Review Meeting (“Go / No Go” Meeting)

Upon completion of IQ, OQ, and PQ, the Project Manager conducts a Production Test Review meeting with the designated business and QA resources. The purpose of this meeting is to review the results from IQ, OQ and PQ. In preparation for the meeting, the Project Manager produces an agenda along with the Production Test Summary Report that outlines the results of these testing phases.

A decision to release the system for production use and all agreements are documented and published in meeting minutes. At the conclusion of the meeting, a memo describing the business decision on whether to accept the system per the Production Qualification results is delivered for signature.