# Infosys Whitepaper 
Title: The Enterprise QA Transformation Model 
Author: Infosys Limited 
Format: PDF 1.7 

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 VIEW POINT Abstract With the increasing acceptance of testing/QA as an independent function; the focus  on building mature testing practices has become critical for organizations, as quality  has a profound effect on business outcomes. This in turn has necessitated the need  for a model that can assess the maturity of the current test organization and also  work as a reference model for selective improvements. In the previous paper1, we  had reviewed why most conventional and QA maturity models available today fail to  assess the overall test process maturity and understood the need for a comprehensive  QA/ Test maturity model and its desired attributes.  In this paper we shall understand The Enterprise QA Transformation Model, the  answer to the need for a comprehensive test maturity model, which defines the QA  Transformation roadmap and manages its implementation.  It has been developed  to help organizations selectively improve their testing capabilities based on key  dimensions that contribute to the testing maturity and can be customized to the  business environments that the organization operates in. The innovative scoring and  assessment methodology of the model helps identify and understand the prevalent  weaknesses and transform the testing services by leveraging their current testing  capabilities and adopting the best testing practices across industries.<|endoftext|>THE ENTERPRISE QA  TRANSFORMATION MODEL A solution to enhance an enterprises’ testing  maturity – Reghunath Balaraman, Aromal Mohan 

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 What is ‘Enterprise QA Transformation Model’ all about?  Infosys has worked closely with many large  enterprises spanning across industries for  building and operating many mature Test  Center of Excellence’s and Test Factories. In  the course of these complex and diverse  engagements, Infosys identified various  key factors that significantly contribute to  the QA service maturity. This eventually  led to a detailed evaluation of these  various engagement and operating models  that organizations had adopted. Infosys  also leveraged its expertise in Testing  Services and experience in implementing  Test Centre of Excellence (TCoE) for  large accounts in QA organizations. The  evaluation resulted in the development of  the Enterprise QA Transformation Model,  which was built to enable organizations  to understand the current weakness  and transform the testing practices by  improving their current capability based  on business needs. The model also helps in  managing the implementation initiatives  in a systematic manner.  The figure 1 below  gives a high level overview of the model.  INTRODUCTION The importance and contribution of software systems in supporting businesses and generating revenues has risen  significantly over the last several years. The volatile economic conditions, increasing pressures to control costs and improve  return on investment in IT systems has forced organizations to seek processes and practices that can improve the overall  benefits of better quality, faster time to market and lower costs. While the focus on quality has continued to increase, the  drive to control costs has resulted in complex and diverse organizational structures.  It is now widely accepted that the ability to warrant the quality of IT systems and processes establishes the success or  failure of an enterprises business outcomes. Hence, it’s imperative for them to gauge the maturity and effectiveness of their  QA organizations in order to plan strategic and tactical steps to improve their effectiveness and efficiency. It was at this  juncture that the dire need for a reference model and framework for assessing the maturity and planning improvements  to the processes and practices was widely felt by organizations. In the previous paper of this series we had discussed,  the limitations of the traditional approaches to Test/ QA maturity models and the key attributes of a comprehensive QA  assessment framework model1 that would meet the needs of a dynamic business environment. There was clearly the need  for a comprehensive framework that addresses all dimensions of a QA organization, in a selective manner and builds varying  levels of maturity for different practices, depending on the way the organization has organized its software development  and testing operations.  Figure 1:  Key aspects of the “Enterprise QA Transformation Model” External Document © 2018 Infosys Limited 

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 Dimensions of Maturity The model classifies the four identified key  dimensions of QA maturity as listed below.  1) Test Engineering dimension focuses on  the software testing life cycle practices 2) Test Management dimension changes  the way the independent testing  projects are managed and maintain a  tight integration between them and the  overall project management life cycle.<|endoftext|>3) Test Governance dimension lays the  foundation for mature testing services  by establishing ‘n’ tier governance  structure, a standardized test  methodology, processes and policies.  4) Test Competency   dimension helps  leverage the domain & technical  knowledge and address the career  progression of testing professionals.  These dimensions encapsulate the  fundamental QA capabilities that need  to be established at an organizational  and project level. The Test Engineering  and Test Management dimensions  help an organization improve all the  testing practices of a project and hence  their impact is felt more at the project  level. The Test Governance and Test  Competency maturity dimensions  have a comprehensive influence at an  organizational level.  Maturity Behavior As part of this model, 20 key areas, 5  maturity levels and 219 unique test  practices have been defined within the four  maturity dimensions discussed above. Each  maturity dimension has several behaviors  or the expected activity defined. A set of  behaviors or observable characteristics  collectively determine the maturity level for  each dimension. Further, these behaviors  are in turn supported with testing practices.  These practices help organizations  implement the key areas and exhibit the  expected behaviors associated with them.  This model generates a detailed map of the  current capabilities which help identify the  strengths and weaknesses of the current  QA/ Testing processes for the organization.  Measurement The model is equipped with a robust  measurement framework. It has an  innovative assessment and scoring  mechanism which includes questionnaires  and systems to measure the testing  capability. The assessment includes an  industry wide accepted survey, interview  and reporting practices.  The Solution Deployment Approach The current testing capability is assessed  using the maturity model. The scope  of assessment varies according to the  business priorities of an organization.  Based on the assessment findings, a  detailed roadmap is built to elevate  the organizations current QA maturity  level. The assessment phase is followed  with the design phase in which new  practices and processes are introduced  to improve the current test maturity  state. Then, the implementation phase  includes the selection and deployment  of the new practices, processes along  with a pilot execution. This is followed  with an enterprise level deployment. An  annual operating plan is formulated to  sustain these practices which include  measurement mechanisms and periodic  reviews. The key implementation stages  of the solution deployment approach are  depicted in Figure 2.   Figure 2: The Key Implementation Stages of the Solution Deployment  External Document © 2018 Infosys Limited 

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 The Key Features of The Enterprise QA Transformation Model The Enterprise QA Transformation Model is a comprehensive platform for building mature and effective QA organizations. Let’s go through  some key features of this model.<|endoftext|>COMPREHENSIVE  ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK  The model includes a comprehensive assessment framework which comprises of a maturity map,  an assessment questionnaire, scoring model and a complete set of process aids and tools that help  plan and conduct assessments. Figure 2 below gives a snapshot of the scoring model. The assessment  framework is designed to gather data on the behaviors that help determine the testing practice and  map it to the corresponding maturity level. The assessment methodology used in this model is an IP of  Infosys (Patent filed in India & US PTO).<|endoftext|>REFERENCE MODEL FOR  IMPROVEMENT The model also functions as a reference framework for building a strategic roadmap for improvement.  It helps in selecting, prioritizing and sequencing the improvement initiatives in a manner that is in  line with the organization’s vision and the current QA capabilities. The QA organization can leverage  its prior experience and knowledge gained during the maturity assessment of the organization  undergoing the transformation, to recommend a series of initiatives that would lead to a superior  level of QA maturity and effectiveness.  SELECTIVE AND CONTINUOUS  IMPROVEMENT  The Enterprise QA Transformation Model gives organizations the flexibility to selectively improve its  testing capabilities based on the way they operate and engage with vendors and sub-contractors.  ACCELERATORS  The model is supported with a suite of processes, process aids and tools to manage the improvement  implementation which helps accelerate the transformation journey of QA organizations. The process  framework can be customized to the business objectives of the organization’s TCoE. The tools include  some industry standard tools and several proprietary tools from Infosys.<|endoftext|>Figure 3: A Snapshot of the Scoring Model  External Document © 2018 Infosys Limited 

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 The model leverages Infosys’ best practices  in successfully building and delivering  Test Centers of Excellence’s (TCoE) for  organizations’ across industries. As part  of the QA service transformation