Question

Managing quality of outsourced testing

Software testing, Outsourcing, Software quality management

Is there a strategy or best practice for managing quality of outsourced testing? (Collaborative Outsource Testing model best describes our approach.)

To begin with, we need to answer exactly what we are going to outsource. Then we can develop the proper specifications for our expectations.

Outsourced Testing Considerations

The possible outsourced work is:
A) Developing the Test Plan
B) Developing the Test Scripts (how to)
C) Specifying the Test Cases (Data, Conditions)
D) Building the Test Environment on Client site
E) Supplying the Test Environment on the Vendors site

To outsource with confidence and assurance of results, here are the areas that need to be specified by the

1) Qualifications of the Oursourced Company
a) Experience of Personnel
b) Certification of Personnel, Company
c) Documentation of Process and Artifacts
2) Service Level Agreement
a) Quality and Performance Metrics
b) Status Reports
c) Quality of Supplied Requirements
d) Code Control Process documentation
e) Schedules, Milestones
f) Test Plan documentation and reviews
g) Test Case documentation and reviews
h) Test Results documentation and reviews
i) Incentives for timeliness and quality success
j) Penalties for timeliness and quality misses