Project Summary
The client is in the process of technical modernisation and approached Inspired Testing to provide specialist testing services and assist it in achieving its key business requirements as part of its overall technology strategy.
The client’s QA function faced challenges due to the lack of a centralised system to coordinate test environment usage between multiple projects, which hindered progress. The client needed a comprehensive solution to test environment management to resolve conflict, manage project timelines and ensure the extended portfolio of work delivered on time. To meet this challenge, Inspired Testing has created and implemented a robust Test Environment and Release Management (TERM) process to provide clarity and structure to the availability of test environments and the test efforts it supports . Since the inception of the TERM process, the team has created or contributed to £341,000 in cost avoidance for the client.
Company
Water utility company
Industry
Utilities
Location
United Kingdom
Solution
Test Environment and Release Management
Technology Stack
Duration
Ongoing
Client Overview
The client is one of the largest water supply and treatment utilities in the UK. It collects and distributes 1 billion litres of water daily through thousands of kilometres of pipes to its 5.7 million clients. It runs more than 670 water treatment works and looks after 72, 000 acres of reservoirs and countryside. It is presently undergoing technical modernisation and transformation to support the business in providing sustainable water supply in an economically and ecologically ethical manner.
Problem statement
The existing approach was extremely inefficient and caused project delay due to the lack of a centralised system for coordinating test environment usage. Conflicting environment use by projects and unapproved development changes to environments caused unforeseen downtime, and quality issues that contribute to instability in production environments and additional costs.
Solution
A new and transformative TERM service was created. As part of a collaborative QA function, Inspired Testing initially provided consultation support which helped to develop a tailored multi-skilled team to enforce governance over test environment management and good practice across the service. This included the implementation of a TERM platform and the creation of a comprehensive TERM process and strategy.
Before improvement
Prior to the introduction of this service confusion and conflicts hindered project progress. Test schedule slippage was causing unmeasured test conflicts, adding complexities and delays to projects due to a lack of conflict detection. Release management was scattered across various teams, leading to siloed efforts, duplicated work, and hidden costs.
- The client experienced 286 days of testing time lost in the 6 months prior to TERM implementation.
- This was at a cost of approximately £492, 000 in idle test resources, averaging £82,000 per month.
After improvement
In the 12 months after the introduction of the TERM service, test interruption days and idle test resource costs were reduced to 101 days and £151, 000 respectively. This is an average of £12,500 per month across this period.
Since the full adoption of the TERM service, the following improvements were seen:
- 22 Conflicts were identified and resolved, ensuring smoother project execution.
- Clashes no longer went undetected and disruptions could be prevented.
- Zero days were lost due to environment unavailability.
Benefit to the client after implementation
Through the introduction of the TERM service, the collaborative QA Team have saved £341, 000 in cost avoidance and seen a 64% reduction in interrupted days.
