Software Process Management Tools

Transcription

1 A White Paper Analysis from Orasi Software Software Process Management Tools Improvements that Pay for Themselves and Pave the Road to Agile Adoption

2 Page 2 Contents 3 Executive Summary 1: Achieving 500 Percent Savings with Automated Test Data Management 5 3: Deployment of HPE Agile Manager Spurs 100 Percent Adoption of Agile Methods 6 Conclusion 4 2: Labor Costs Reduced by 84 Percent with Reporting Automation

3 Page 3 Executive Summary Although agile is one of the most highly touted approaches to software development and testing today, many companies still struggle with it. Rates of adoption can be low for many reasons, but some of the top ones cited are resistance to change and lack of upper management support. Quantifying the benefit can also be difficult, especially given that requirements are a moving target and are constantly being redefined as each project moves forward. Furthermore, even though agile is a modern technique, a surprising number of teams preparing for or engaged in agile projects are not using advanced approaches to their work effort. For example, many teams use outdated data collection and management mechanisms such as Excel spreadsheets and handwritten task notes. These approaches are detrimental to team productivity, making it that much harder to master agile methods. One of the most effective ways for organizations to either prepare for or support an existing agile effort and drive cost savings that will encourage backing by company leadership is by streamlining team activities with software process management tools, from automated reporting to agile project management. Following are three real-world examples of how software process management tools drove dramatic benefits for software teams and their organizations. 1 Achieving 500 Percent Savings with Automated Test Data Management A major auction operation didn t have an effective process to provide sufficient data for functional testing, performance optimization, and other needs. The process was being further hampered by the amount of time and manpower required to achieve limited results. Before the engagement began, teams were spending approximately one month generating test data for each release cycle. At the time, teams were using Excel spreadsheets to manage and control their data, and the data tables were not well-structured, with each record having far too many columns for effective processing. The data pool was also extensive the user acceptance team, for example, required thousands of records to perform some of its tests. The auction company saved between 400 and 500 percent in its first fiscal year, based upon the man hours and time compared to the previous manual, spreadsheet-based data management approach.

4 Page 4 After the Orasi team identified the business rules and how data flowed through them, it began to help create the necessary data, writing the requirements that would drive the automation process in CA Test Data Manager. In deploying the CA tool, Orasi was able to develop the complex, extensive data pool to meet test requirements within three days. From there, the Orasi team began to help other teams develop their data requirements and create a process for obtaining clean data, as well. Orasi delivered approximately 15,000 records, all of which incorporated accurate data that complied with all the required business rules. The effort provided the auction company with a savings of between 400 and 500 percent in its first fiscal year, based upon the man hours and time they saved with CA Test Data Manager compared to the previous manual, spreadsheet-based data management approach. 2 Labor Costs Reduced by 84 Percent with Reporting Automation Orasi was engaged to help a global financial organization develop a functional, efficient reporting framework for information related to test execution and defect management. The goal was to replace the tedious, inconclusive manual reports being developed by in-house testing teams with insightful, automated reports that turned raw test and defect metrics into meaningful KPIs. For the engagement, Orasi deployed the Orasi Automated Reporting Solution (OARS), a services offering that empowers decision makers with data-driven insights to monitor the progress and improve the effectiveness of IT resources, workflows, projects, and organizations. Using OARS to automate extraction, analysis, and reporting of test data, the time to construct daily reports dropped from 90 minutes to 15. The company reduced report creation man-hours from 5850 hours per year to 957; a reduction of nearly 84 percent (a savings of more than $316,000.)

5 Page 5 3 Deployment of HPE Agile Manager Spurs 100 Percent Adoption of Agile Methods A global insurance company had previously adopted agile software development methodologies for individual projects, but tests were often managed using Excel tables and handwritten notes on task boards. Although some project managers were using software tools for a limited number of projects, there was little to no consistency. Test specialists also reported that there was a lack of transparency regarding the quality of the software under development and individual project statuses. HPE Agile Manager SYNC Requirements Defects Test Data & Metrics HPE Quality Center/ALM The organization decided to introduce a common tool for agile software development and quality assurance. As a shop that was already fully invested in HPE Application Lifecycle Management (ALM), HPE Agile Manager was the logical choice for the seamless integration it offered with HPE ALM. However, the organization undertook tests and pilot projects to confirm that decision before making its final selection in favor of HPE Agile Manager. With the two platforms working in tandem, the company would be able to synchronize requirements with test coverage, implementation status, and error management records, affording a much greater level of transparency than previously existed. Within a matter of months, the number of users adopting the new solution rose from 20 to 250. Today, nearly all of the organization s software development projects use HPE Agile Manager with project managers able to track the status of load, performance, integration, system, and release tests quickly and easily. With the assistance of HPE Agile Manager, many departments within the organization anticipate that 100 percent of their projects will be fully using agile methodologies within two years.

6 Page 6 Conclusion Concerns about cost and process disruption are two common reasons why decision makers postpone investment in software improvement solutions and tools. As a result, companies often defer these purchases until their projects are taking so long, or suffering from such poor quality, that they are nearing the point of total failure. This is unfortunate, because the justification for deploying automation, reporting, process management, and other improvement tools is clear. Furthermore, when organizations streamline and evolve their processes, quality soars, resulting in greater user satisfaction. That s a metric everyone loves. For more information, contact Orasi today Orasi Software, Inc. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. Orasi is a trademark of Orasi Software, Inc. All other product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.