# Infosys Whitepaper 
Title: Need of a Test Maturity Model 
Author: Infosys Limited 
Format: PDF 1.7 

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 PERSPECTIVE NEED FOR A COMPREHENSIVE TEST  MATURITY MODEL - Reghunath Balaraman, Harish Krishnankutty Abstract Constant change and ever growing complexity of business  has necessitated that IT organizations and specifically Test/QA  organizations make thorough and periodic introspection of their  processes and delivery capabilities. This is necessary to ensure that  at all possible times the Test/QA organization, and its systems and  processes, are relevant and available to support business needs.  While there are multiple maturity models in the marketplace to help  this process, there are yet not comprehensive enough and fail to  provide today’s dynamic businesses the much needed flexibility and  power of customization. The need of the hour is a comprehensive  Test/QA maturity assessment model, which not only answers the  requirements of customization and flexibility, but also ensures  relevance in today’s complex delivery structures of multi-vendor  scenarios, multi-location engagements, global delivery models, etc.<|endoftext|>

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 and revolutionary technology trends  have changed the role of IT organizations  in supporting business growth. Though  the recession created a scarcity of capital  for IT investments, the demands and  expectations on the ability of IT to quickly  adapt and support business, has only  increased multifold. In addition, rapid/ revolutionary changes in technologies are  forcing companies to recast their entire IT  landscape. All these factors together have  created a complex environment where the  demand for change from the business is  high, the capital for investment is scarce  and time-to-market is critical to success.  The constant change and ever growing  complexity of the business environment,  and the risks associated, have necessitated  that organizations make thorough and  periodic introspection of their processes  and delivery capabilities to ensure  operation in an efficient, effective and  agile manner. A key requirement, amongst  all, is the ability to ensure that there are  adequate controls in place to ensure  quality in the processes and the outcomes,  no matter the extent of change being  introduced in business or technology  landscape of the organization.  This is where the Test/QA organization’s  capability comes under the scanner. An  organization’s ability to assure and control  quality of its IT systems and processes  largely determines the success or failure  of the business in capturing, servicing and  expanding its client base. When Quality  and reliability play a very significant role  in determining the current and future  course of business outcomes delivered, it  is imperative that the Quality Assurance  function itself is evaluated periodically  for the relevance, effectiveness and  efficiency of the processes, practices and  systems. An objective self-introspection  is the ideal first step. However, most often  than not, QA organizations fall short of  using this process to unearth gaps in their  current systems and practices. Also, many  organizations may have lost touch with the  ever-evolving world of QA to be aware of  the leading practices and systems available  today. This necessitates an independent  assessment of the organization’s QA  practices to benchmark it against the  practices prevalent in the industry and  to get that all-important question “where  do we stand in comparison with Industry  standards?” answered. Also, the assessment  of maturity in testing processes becomes  critical in laying out the blue-print for a QA/ testing transformation program that would  establish the function as a fit-for-purpose  one, and often world-leading.  The global  economic crisis External Document © 2018 Infosys Limited 

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 Limitations of traditional approaches to Test/QA Maturity Assessment There are several models, proprietary  and others, available for assessing the  maturity of the IT processes and systems,  including quality assurance. Most of  these are developed and promoted as  models helping an organization to certify  capabilities in one or more areas of the  software development lifecycle. Like all  other models and frameworks that lead to  certification, these maturity models too  have a fixed framework for an organization  to operate within, and provide very little  flexibility to address specific assessment  needs. Further, these models fail to help  organizations assess overall process  maturity due to the following limitations: Inability to accommodate and  account for heterogeneous  delivery structures Over the last decade or so, most  organizations have evolved into a  heterogeneous composition of internal  staff and service providers, delivering  services through global delivery models  with diverse talent, disparate processes,  etc. All this has made assessing an  organization’s process maturity increasingly  difficult. The existing maturity models in  the marketplace are not flexible enough  to accommodate for these complex  delivery structures created through  multi-vendor scenarios, multi-location  engagements focusing on selective parts  of the software development lifecycle,  etc. This significantly reduces the overall  effectiveness of the output provided  by the existing maturity model and its  applicability to the client situation.<|endoftext|>Focused on comprehensive  certification rather than required  capabilities Most conventional models are “certification  focused” and can help organizations in  assessing their IT process capabilities and  getting certified. They are exhaustive in  the coverage of process areas and answer  the question, “how comprehensive are  the processes and practices to service a  diverse sets of users of the QA services?”.  Such a certification is often a much  needed qualification for IT service provider  organizations to highlight their process  capability and maturity to diverse clients  and prospects. However, most non-IT  businesses maintain IT divisions to support  their business and are more interested  in selectively developing the required  capabilities of their respective IT groups,  leading to efficient business processes and  better business outcomes. Hence  1 External Document © 2018 Infosys Limited 

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 the focus of maturity assessments in  these organizations is not certification,  but the ability to deliver specific business  outcomes. Since the traditional assessment  models are often certification-focused,  most non-IT businesses find it an  overhead to go through an exhaustive  assessment process that does not help  them answer the question, “how effective  are my organization’s QA processes and  practices to ensure quality of my business  outcomes? Staged Vs Continuous model for  growth in maturity Majority of certification models follow  a staged approach, which means that  the organization has to satisfy all the  requirements of a particular level and get  certified in the same, before becoming  eligible for progress to the next level.  But, most organizations are selective in  their focus and want to develop those  areas that are relevant and necessary to  their business, rather than meeting all  the requirements just to get certified at  a particular level. Because of the staged  approach to certification, such maturity  models do not present organizations  with a good view of where their current  capabilities stand with respect to what is  needed by the organization.<|endoftext|>Lack of focus on QA The existing maturity models primarily  focus on software development, and  treat testing as a phase in the Software  Development Lifecycle. However, today,  testing has evolved as a mature and  specialized discipline in the software  industry and hence the ability of the  traditional models to assess the QA/testing  processes and practices to the required  level of detail is very limited. They fall  short of organizations that have realized  the need/ importance for an independent  testing team and want to manage the  QA maturity mapping process as an  independent entity. Hence, the various  dimensions of the test organization should  be given adequate focus in the maturity  assessment approach covering the Process,  People and Technology aspects of testing.<|endoftext|>External Document © 2018 Infosys Limited 

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 A comprehensive model to assessing an organization’s test capabilities and the ability to handle transformational  programs Now that we have looked at the  shortcomings of the traditional models of  QA assessment, it is time to answer that  all-important question, “what should a  comprehensive model for assessing QA/ Test maturity be like?”. The key attributes  of a comprehensive QA/Test assessment  framework/model can be summed up as  follows: Provide business-comprehensible  decision-aiding results The model should allow for selective  assessment of the relevant parameters for  maturity, in the context of business. The  results of the assessment should help the  business identify and plot the possibility of  immaturity in their systems and processes,  using lead indicators that have a negative  impact on the business. These indicators  should help the senior management  to decide whether to go for a detailed  assessment of maturity, before any adverse  effect on business is felt.  Choice of business-relevant factors  and focus areas The model should be flexible enough to  provide the right level of focus on the  various factors, business deems relevant,  that contribute to the overall maturity  index. For example, an organization  which depends on one or a set of service  providers for their key