Track C: Test Management


Chris C. Schotanus

Chris C. Schotanus

CURRÍCULUM VITAE

Chris C. Schotanus  is an ICT professional since 1979. Since 1994 he is active as a senior management consultant in the quality assurance and testing area of ICT systems. He provides management consultancy services on test policy definition, test management, structured testing and test processes evolution to many major clients in the financial world, industry, trading and government throughout the world. Chris has published articles on testing and test policies and is author of the book on Logica’s test method TestFrame. He contributed to the books “Successful Test management: an integral approach” and “The testing Practitioner”. Chris is co-author of the book “TestGrip” on test policy and test organization.


ABSTRACT

Test Policy: Gaining Control on IT Quality and Processes

In many organizations testing is becoming more and more professional. Despite all the good work, little attention is paid to a test policy and the company’s philosophy towards testing. They are not formalized, implicit and often not recognized by the people involved. As a result the test approach is defined per project, therefore resulting in differences in the way products are tested and the criteria against which they are measured. And ultimately a product quality that is not compliant with the guidelines that are set in the overall company strategy. This means that the test organization is not the most optimal.

In general, organizations try to get grip on quality by improving the test activities. Testing is not an isolated set of activities, but is part of the entire IT development process: design, development, and implementation. Therefore there is a clear relation between the test-, IT- and quality policies which in turn align with the company strategy.

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