Offshore Testing
Heaven Or Hell
Steven Devry
Quasus
The days of first-to-market « good enough » IT products are over. Now more then ever, quality is key in gaining consumer loyaltyand confidence. QA however has his price.
Is the cost saving factor of Offshore testing always possible and valid? Or are the problems related to this approach costing more then they gain?
Offshore Testing
Heaven or Hell
Steven Devry
© quasus 2005
Agenda
• Models Offshore testing
• Tactical Outsourcing
• Dedicated Offshore Test Centre
• Test-Validate-Transfer
• Set up Offshore Test Centre
• Take over Offshore company
• Offshore projects flow
• From Theory to Practice
• Test Management problems
• Language
• Conclusion
• Q&A
© quasus 2005
Tactical Outsourcing
• What:
Contracting your testing work to an offshore vendor on a
project-by project base.
• Benefits
No cost and challenge of updatng your organization’s
technical skills every time a poject requires a special
capability
Low cost resource staffing accorrding to the project demand
Pricing based on project scope
Offshore vendor choice is flexilibel
© quasus 2005
Tactical Outsourcing
• Disadvantages
Reoccurring costs for administration and knowledge transfer
with every project
Local software, (non English) is not possible in pure
Offshore mode
Risk of bad performance from Offshore vendor
© quasus 2005
Dedicated Offshore Test centre
• What:
100% dedicated resources for the length of the contract.
Typically three to five year contracts.
Responsibility is transferred to the offshore partner
• Benefits
Access to a wide range of skills and technology expertise
without heavy local investments.
Continuity of business and process knowledge around your
application and users
No overhead cost for HR and infrastructure
© quasus 2005
Dedicated Offshore Test centre
• Disadvantages
High cost at the program start for knowledge transfer,
environmental set-up, … .
Vendor choice is crucial, since the contract is for a long
period
Less flexible resource adjustment
© quasus 2005
Test-Validate-Transfer
• What:
100% dedicated resources for the length of the contract.
Long term solution
Ownership is not transferred to Offshore partner
• Benefits
Full control over the project and teams.
Smaller learning curve since transferred team is part of the
Offshore team.
Limit overhead cost for HR and infrastructure
Testing of Local (non English) software is possible
© quasus 2005
Test-Validate-Transfer
• Disadvantages
Higher general cost. Since the transferred team is on
European salary.
Only possible for big and diverse projects
Not easy to find people that are willing to go abroad for a
long period of time.
© quasus 2005
Set up Offshore test centre
• What:
Creation of own Offshore test centre. Staffing and
infrastructure is own responsibility
• Benefits
No contractual negotiation needed.
Once fully operational, smaller learning curve needed
because of transparent approach
Possibility to work on local software.
No additional cost for the offshore vendor
© quasus 2005
Set up Offshore test centre
• Disadvantages
Requires a large investment in time and money before fully
operational
High Management involvement needed in countries with
different laws and procedures
Possible conflict with near shore employees.
Purchase - and maintenance cost of the hard and software
Resource staffing is less flexible
© quasus 2005
Take over Offshore company
• What:
Bying an established offshore testing company.
• Benefits
Same as Set-up offshore test center
The time to be fully operational is smaller then when setting
up your own offshore test center
© quasus 2005
Take over Offshore company
• Disadvantages
The best IT companies have already been bought
Seasoned, multi-lingual project and managers are needed
to work through, language and cultural barriers
Possible conflict with near shore employees.
High investment cost
Resource staffing is less flexible
Specific knowledge needed to make Offshore Direct-
Investment a succes
© quasus 2005
Offshore Projects
• One of the key success factors in Offshore is near shore
management
Dedicated
OffshoreOnsite
Offsite
Most Projects have
elements of Onsite
and Offshore which
will bring true
benefits of
outsourcing
Offshore
© quasus 2005
Unit and
Integration
testing
Analysis and
specifications
Check fixes &
handover of
Deliverables
Integration
Test Design
Review
Test Design
Acceptance and
implementation Project
closure and
warranty
Flow of work
Investigate and
solve found
issues
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Project Process Flow
High Level Design
Low Level Design
Coding
Code Walk-through
Unit Testing
Test Plan
Test PlanReview
Test Case
Integration Test Plan Review
Implementation
Client
Sign off
SRS Preparation
Requirement Study
SRS Review
Review
Internal Review
Integration Testing
SystemTesting
Integration Test Plan
© quasus 2005
From theory to practice
• Why are so many projects in Offshore testing still having
problems?
• Project management off Offshore test projects is different
and demands special management skills
• Offshore Culture is different from the European mindset
• Language barriers makes it almost impossible for local
projects to go in Offshore mode
• Vendor selection demands insight in the offshore market
© quasus 2005
Project 1
Client Office, Onsite
Office, India
Transfer complete
responsibility to
Offshore centre
After complete testing
give the result
© quasus 2005
Project 2
Off-site/OffshoreOn-site
Near Shore
Project ManagerBusiness Analyst /
Solution Architect/
Developer-Tester
Customer
Project
Leaders
QA, CM, RM,
Documentation
Designers,
Programmers,
Testers
Project
Manager
Office Of
Excellence
© quasus 2005
Problems: Test Management
• Is this project suited for Outsourcing?
• Offshore vendor choice?
• Complete Offshore outsourcing or partial?
• Planning an Offshore test project?
• How to Set up of the Offshore test environment?
• How to track the progress of the test efforts?
• How to motivate the offshore team?
• How to manage the relation between the near shore and the Offshore team?
© quasus 2005
Is your project suited
• Detail and prioritize your projects goals and the projected
timetable to achieve them.
• Identify the core internal competences and the needed
competences.
• Based on the result ,evaluate whether it makes sense
going in Offshore mode
© quasus 2005
Is your project suited
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Offshore Vendor Choice
• Find out their process and methodology in testing
• Get an insight in the competences they have
• Get down the details
Metrics for measuring success
Penalty closure when metrics and SLA aren’t met
• Get the vendor’s background package
Financial situation
Size of the company
• Investigate there references
If possible take contact with the reference company
© quasus 2005
ODC Head
Work Pack TeamsWork Pack Teams
Work Pack TeamsWork Pack Teams
Work Pack Teams
Onsite Coordinator(s)
HR Cell
Process Group
Resource Mgmt.
Admin Cell
Quality and Delivery Mng
Work Pack Managers
Tech Cell
Project Manager
Project Manager
Mgmt. Rep.
Perf. test
Autom. test
Quality Mgr
Auditor Quality
Auditor
On Site
Off Shore
Customer
Steering Committee
Project Committee
Complete or Partial
© quasus 2005
Planning an Offshore Project
Test Effort Plan
Onsite
Offshore
© quasus 2005
Set up test environment
Offshore
• No downtime
• No support needed after
business hours
• Infrastructure requirement is
bigger for Offshore vendor
• Timeloss is bigger with
blocking issues
Near shore
• Tracing of test efforts is
more easy
• Releases to test
environment are more easy
• Maintenance and support
cost for the environment is
high
• Security is always an issue.
© quasus 2005
How to track the progress
• Plan regular visits to the offshore team
• Agree upon a communication plan upfront
Weekly progress report
Online tools for test management
Validate the progress near shore, by doing ad hoc testing of
the performed work offshore
Daily evaluation on the problems of the day
• Tend to question there work.
© quasus 2005
Motivation teams: Offshore and Near shore
• Emotional intelligence is a key factor in Offshore projects
Be aware that near shore people will feel a treat from the
offshore team.
Offshore cultural is different from the European culture.
Take the time to learn this culture, it will give you a different
insight in the problems of the team offshore
Give the offshore team the feeling there part of the project
team by visiting them on a regular base
© quasus 2005
Tips and tricks for EQ
• Ask for feelings, not functions
• Use Six Thinking Hats
• Listen!
•
• Focus on objective (what do you want to achieve?)
• Wait before answering
• Never escalate via e-mail
• Consider the culture
© quasus 2005
Offshore Problem: Language
• What to do if requirements are not in English?
• What to do if the application is not in English?
• Problems with non native English speaking teams
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Non-English requirements
• Possible solutions
Solution 1
• Test design is done near shore and in English
• Test execution is done Offshore
• Offshore test execution will be more focussing on technical
aspects
Solution 2
• Go for Outsource model 3,4 or 5
• In order to lower this cost a joined venture with other
companies could be a solution
© quasus 2005
Non English applications
• Automation
Where the specific words in different languages are
parameters.
• Disadvantage:
1. More complex automation scripts
2. More preparation works
3. Not suited when application design changes
frequently during the project
• Advantage
1. Language can even change within the project
2. Regression tests take less time afterwards
© quasus 2005
Non native speaking teams
• Take more time in the design phase, to be sure that the
requirements are understood correctly
• Review the test cases, before going to the execution
phase
• Question the understanding of the offshore team.
© quasus 2005
Conclusion
• Offshore is an option , but still not for all projects
Evaluation is a key before going in outsource mode
1. Time
2. Resources
3. Complexity
4. Mindset and maturity of the project
Language is still an issue and if not English will make the
offshore project cost more and increases the risk
• There is a budget saving when going offshore for large
projects. But it has to be planned very carefully
For small project, Offshore is not a solution and the costs
involved are higher then the savings.
• It’s not the promised land, but diving into offshore can
become hell, because of the many risks involved.
Q&A