20twenty, SA`s first dedicated online bank, has bought iLAB Project Services` software quality solution, together with Mercury Interactive`s testing tools, to test its Internet and back-office systems.
iLAB Project Services, the quality assurance company in the iLAB Holdings group, is a Mercury Interactive premier business partner in SA.
"When you offer an online banking service or any other public interfacing system, you need to be 100% certain it can fulfil the processes correctly, as there is no margin for error," says Debbie Nelson, MD of iLAB Project Services.
The iLAB Project Services solution included consulting, gap analysis, defining guidelines for the use of the products, implanting of Mercury Interactive`s Test Director, transferring of skills and knowledge to 20twenty`s staff and implementation of its own quality assurance model, iQFramework, to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the 20twenty testing department.
iQFramework is a delivery mechanism for the processes, procedures and activities underpinning the entire software development lifecycle (SDLC).
Processes, procedures, documentation templates, checklists and methodology are provided for every phase of the SDLC - requirements, engineering, analysis, design, development, test and implementation are measured and monitored through the use of software quality assurance audits, reviews and inspections. The model is based on the key practices of the Capability Maturity Model and is ISO 9000:2000-compliant.
"The success of an e-business such as 20twenty depends on the reliability of its IT infrastructure," says 20twenty Financial Services CEO Christo Davel. "It is essential for e-business to have formalised processes, traceability, metrics and test documentation in place. We chose Mercury Interactive because we felt the iLAB Project Services wraparound would ensure success.
In this high-intensity project, iLAB Project Services analysed the situation and identified our problems," continued Davel. "As an external party, they found gaps in places our internal staff overlooked."
Nelson emphasises that it is critical constantly to review testing processes to evaluate how effective they are and to benchmark them against international standards. "The status quo is that a lot of people just test intensively on an ad hoc basis with no processes in place. The purpose of testing is that it must be managed. We offer control mechanisms to check that quality assurance processes are actually working," concludes Nelson. Other iLAB Project Services clients include Investec, Old Mutual and Standard Bank.
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