Tag: System Integration

Last week our blog discussed the remaining answers to the questions and promised that we would look in detail at two of the answers (which are somewhat similar so we will concentrate on one only).

There is nothing in the contract (contract is signed) and there is no intention of putting anything in the contract about Quality Assurance.
Now you have a challenge. Clearly the process is mostly done and there is absolutely no buy-in to Quality Assurance. The next question that needs to be asked is “Why have you brought Quality Assurance in if there is no interest?”

The key steps here are to determine your position and map out your strategy. There is any number of answers to the question of “Why have you brought Quality Assurance in if there is no interest”.

1. The final client has belatedly required it. I.e. they have realised it is an omission from the contract and now feel it is incumbent on the System Integrator to provide this as part of the deliverables. You need to determine the final clients needs and work towards those.
2. The solution is more complex than the System Integrator thought and now they feel a need for Quality Assurance. I.e. like the client above they have realised the value provided by Quality Assurance and now want to implement it even though they were trying to avoid it earlier. There is probably still little buy-in from most of the group. You need to look at each of the Stakeholders and determine their status vis-a-vis Quality Assurance and plan to convert them all to supporters. This is a crucial piece of your strategy in order to be successful.
3. The System Integrator’s management is becoming nervous and wants Quality Assurance there as a check. While you have management support the team may feel they have an extra burden and possibly someone who is watching them. As in the above, you will need to look at the Stakeholders and see how to convert them to supporters. Otherwise you will get no information at all.
4. The last possibility is they want someone to blame. This is a tricky one. No matter what you do (either proactively or reactively) they may blame you. You need to plan carefully in order to make sure that your work is recognised as contributing to the success of the project. You need to be very proactive in stating what needs to be done; why it needs to be done and the benefits accruing from having it done. And make sure that everything is documented!

   Happy New year

Over the next few weeks, the NVP blog will focus on Software Testing for System Integrators. From NVP’s point of view, a System Integrator is someone who brings together a number of applications (from vendors), adds some glue and ends up with a solution for the organization they are working with. This seems to agree with the Wikipedia definition fairly closely. So where does Quality Assurance come into this? One would like to think early or very early in the process but that’s not always the case.

Last week we provided several possible answers to our original

1. The contract states the following specifically about Quality Assurance and everyone is in agreement
   This means that you simply have to “bridge the gap” between what is expected from the vendors and what is promised to the final client. The only problem may be that you do not agree with the contracted items.
2. The contract says nothing about Quality Assurance but it’s noted as a topic and the contract will not be finalized without this discussion
   This is almost the best situation. While it may be a little late in the process, the willingness to add Quality Assurance exists and people are behind it.
3. The contract says nothing about Quality Assurance so far, but now that you have brought it up we will add it.
   The same comment as above is applicable except that there is not quite the backing we might have had earlier.
4. There is something in the contract about Quality Assurance and we can look it up for you (contracts are signed).
   Well at least they considered it; it may not be correct or complete but it was not entirely ignored. Once you find out what is in the contract you may (or may not) have concerns to handle.
5. There is nothing in the contract (contract is signed) and there is no intention of putting anything in the contract about Quality Assurance
6. We don’t know (but that is a good question)
7. We don’t know (and we don’t care)

Suffice to say the items in the above list have an obvious gradation from very manageable to a real challenge in the order they are presented. If you get the first answer, you’re well on your way. If you get some of the middle answers you have some work to do, but there’s still time to make change. If you get the last few answers, you are in trouble but not defeated!

Next Week: What to do with the answers (remainder).