Issuu

Magdy Hanna CTO & Chief Architect, Rommana Software

Dr.

Enhancing the Fundamentals of Productivity

Editor’s Desk

AbhishekJoshi

AbhishekJoshi

Today,technologyisbeingdevelopedatlightning

speed,anditnowplaysavitalroleinoureveryday life.Newtrendsinsoftwaredevelopmentquickly getadoptedandappliedtocreatenewandbettertechnology products.Needlesstosay,thesuccessofanysoftware and/ortechproducts(websystems,wearabledevices,app etc.)woulddependgreatlyonthequalityanduser experienceprovided.

Manysoftwarecompaniesassumethatoncethesoftwareis developed,itwillrunsmoothly,eﬃciently,anderror-free. Unfortunately,thisisnotthecase.Foratypicalproject, there’susuallyamandatoryphaseoftestingbeforetheﬁnal productgetsreleasedtothepublic.

Also,manybusinesseswilloftenviewtestingandQAas somewhatanunnecessarypartoftheirsoftware developmentprocessandoftenpaylittleattentionorskip thisstagetolowercosts.Thisisamisunderstanding becausesoftwaretesting,onthecontrary,actuallyoffers manybenefitstobusinessesaswellashelptoincrease profits.

Byofferinghigh-qualitysoftwarethatworkhowit’s supposedto,userswillbeprovidedwithapositive experienceofusingtheproduct,consequentlyretainingand increasingcustomers’engagementandloyalty.Sales revenueandprofitabilitywillalsoincreaseasaresult.In addition,high-qualityproductswillprovidelong-term benefitsbyincreasingcustomers’awarenessofthecompany brandandgoodreputation.

Withoutsoftwaretesting,thebusinessmightbeputina situationofchaosduetofaultysoftware,andstrugglefor solutionsofthetemporarypatchandhotfixes.Asaresult,it willrequiredeveloperstoputinextratimeandeffortto identifytherootcauseandapplyforthefix,whichis inefficientandlowersproductivity

Incorporatingtestingfromthebeginningofthe developmentprocessallowscompaniestoworkinpeace andbemoreproductivewiththeirtime.Byadoptingthe agilepractice,wheredeveloperscanproduceanddeliver smallchunksofaproductinaccordancewithaspeciﬁc timeline,testingsoftwarecanbeperformedasitiscreated, insteadofhavingtowaituntiltheend.

Mappingtheodysseyoftheprominentsoftwaretesting solutionprovidersthataredrivingtransformationsthrough innovativeoﬀerings,InsightsSuccessfeaturesenthralling storiesofMostAdvancedSoftwareTestingSolution Providersof2022inthelatestedition.

Flipthroughthepagesandhaveadelightfulread!

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Most Advanced Software Testing Solution Providers of 2022

FeaturedPerson

ChristopherCarter CEO Approyo approyo.com

JosephChan CEO AsiaPay asiapay.com

Conﬁgurable Management efg-mgt.com

StevenBranch OwnerandFounder

JeﬀreyHaight CEO Critigen critigen.com

LOGICPOINTl ogic-point.com

Natuvion natuvion.com

RommanaSoftware RommanaSoftware.com

SpencerBrown CEO

PatricDahse CEO&Co-founder

Dr.MagdyHanna, CTO&ChiefArchitect

PavelKhovrenkov CEO SaMSolutions sam-solutions.com

Software&Services ConsultingSRL sse.com.py

KatherineColombino CEO

AlessandroCozzi CEO WiitS.p.A

Brief

ApproyoprovidesfullSAPservicetechnologywithextensive capabilitiesinhostingandmanagedservices,upgrades,and migrationsforourcustomers,runninganySAPsupportedcore functionality

AsiaPayisadigitalpaymentserviceprovider,bringsintegrated paymentprocessingsolutionsinoneaccount,supportsbanks, merchantsandotherpsp.

ConﬁgurableManagementdeliversprocess-basedsolutions leveragingourstate-of-the-arttechnology.

FormerlyCritigen,Locanaisaworld-classgeospatialcompany withdecadesofexperiencecombinedwithcutting-edge solutions.

LogicPointisaDigitalFoundationscompanyfocusedon deliveringsoftwareandsolutionstodrivesuccessful transformations.

Natuvionmovesbusiness-criticaldataandprocessesfromone technologyplatformtoanother.

RommanaSoftwareoﬀersaveryinnovativesolutionfor ApplicationLifecycleManagementtools.

SaMSolutionsisaleadingproviderofsoftwaredevelopment, softwareoutsourcingservices,customapplications,IT consultingandoﬀshoreprogramming.

Software&ServicesConsultingSRL(SSC)ispositionedasthe numberoneSAPBusiness

WiitisstheleadingCloudandCyberSecurityserviceprovider withastrongfocusonmanagingbusinesscriticalapps.

S O F T W A R E

Preventing Defects Through Scenario-Based Testing

Some of our customers stated that the scenario process, as supported by Rommana ALM, actually helped them reduce the number of defects found by the test team by more than 70%.

Dr. Magdy Hanna CTO & Chief Architect, Rommana Software

Prevention is better than cure. Thisoldmaximholds muchtruthinit.Sothen,whystillmostsoftware testingfocusesonbugdetectionthanbug prevention?

Dr.MagdyHanna,CTO&ChiefArchitectatRommana Software,believesthequalityofasoftwarereleaseisonly asgoodasthequalityofthetestingperformedonthe softwarebeforeitisreleased.Goodtestsexposethe softwaretoreal-lifescenariosthatcanpossiblyhappen whenthesystemisworkingintheﬁeld.Buttest professionalsinmostcompaniesandagenciestreattest designasanadhocactivity–referringtothetaskas‘test casecreation.’

“To help these organizations make their test process more eﬀective, we developed our ‘Scenario-Based Development and Testing’approach. The process, which is fully implemented in Rommana ALM, guides test teams to create positive and negative scenarios that will be used to create their test cases. Most importantly, the process helps test teams transform testing, normally a defect detection activity, into a defect prevention activity,” saysDr.Hanna.

Inthisapproach,scenariosarecreatedbeforethe developmentteamsstartdevelopingthesystem.These scenariosguidethedevelopmentprocesssothatthesystem

canbebuilttohandlemostofthescenariosbeforeitgetsto testing.Testingthenbecomesmoreofaconﬁrmation processtosimplyconﬁrmthatthesystemworksas expected.

Dr.Hannashares, “Some of our customers stated that the scenario process, as supported by Rommana ALM, actually helped them reduce the number of defects found by the test team by more than 70%. This defect prevention saves companies thousands of dollars spent on testing the system, finding defects, fixing those defects, and re-testing those fixes.”

Our ‘Scenario-Based Development and Testing’ approach transforms testing from a defect detection activity into a defect prevention activity.

Usingthisproactivetestingmethodology,Rommana Softwarehaspositioneditselfasaleadingproviderof Application Lifecycle Management solutionswithitsfully integratedRommanaALMsolution.Thesoftwarewas architectedtoallowprojectteamstouseagile methodologieswhilemaintainingdisciplinedsoftware engineeringpracticesinprojectmanagement,requirement management,testmanagement,changemanagement,and defectmanagement.

Dr. Magdy Hanna shares valuable facts about Rommana Software, highlighting his professional tenure in the company.

Below are the excerpts of the interview:

WithaSparktoAugment

Dr.Hannareminisces– “As I was teaching my methodologies and approaches to graduate students and other software professionals, they always asked what commercial tools that are out there can help them follow these approaches. Unfortunately, my answer was always none that I know of.”

ThenDr.Hannastartedtodevelopaprototypeofhisown,a toolthatsupportedsomeofhismethodologiesand approaches.HecalledtheprototypeReqTestProasit includedRequirementManagement,TestManagement,and ProjectManagementmethodologies.

Hegaveaversionoftheprototypetoclassparticipantsona CDtotrythemethodologiesintheirownprojectsattheir companies.

Receivingusefulfeedbackovertheyears,Dr.Hanna continuedtoimprovetheprototype.Whenhelaunchedthe International Institute for Software Testing in1999,he continuedtousethemethodologiesandtoolsinsomeofthe courseshetaughtfortheinstitute.

“In 2009, I realized that the market was in need of a commercial software tool to support these methodologies, so I launched the development of Rommana ALM. The early versions of the software were used by the United States Army and a number of large government contractors such as ITT, Raytheon, and Lockheed Martin. The software continued to evolve based on feedback we received.”

By2013,RommanaALMwasselectedtobeincludedinan independentmarketreviewbyaresearchﬁrmcalled RQX Global Thestudycompared33diﬀerentcommercialtools thatwereavailableatthetime.RommanaALMreceived thehighestscoreof7.1andwasawarded:

• The Best ALM Tool

• The Best Requirement Management Tool

• The Best Cloud Solution

ThesoftwareprovidedthebestALMCloudsolutionata timewhereuserscoulduseitinthecloudwithouthavingto installanythingontheirsystems.Additionally,Rommana ALMwasawardedthe Gold Requirement Management Tool awardbyRQXGlobal.

Oneverycriticalaspectofsupportingsoftwaretestingthat Dr.HannadevelopedinRommanaALMisthebackward andforwardtraceabilityoftestdesignsandtestcasesto otherprojectentities.Mostsoftwaretestingtoolsinthe

Project teams spend too much of their time in the test-ﬁx-retest cycle, even though it is known that testing does not ﬁnd all the defects.

marketallowprojectteamstomaintaintestcaseswithout tracingthemtoprojectentitiessuchasrequirements,user stories,designcomponents,andbugreports.

Thereasonisthatmostofthesetoolsarestandalonetools thatmaysupportoneortwoofthesoftwareproduct lifecycles.However,becauseitisafullyintegrated software,RommanaALMuserscantracetestdesignsto anyprojectentity.Thistraceabilityisnotonlyrequiredasa goodsoftwareengineeringpractice,butitisalsomandated bytheFDAandotherqualitystandardsforregulated industries.

EnablingPerpetualBetterments

Dr.Hannathinksthatcompaniesputtoomuchemphasison testingasadefectdetectionprocess.Asaresult,project

teamsspendtoomuchoftheirtimeinthe test-ﬁx-retest cycle,eventhoughitisknownthattestingdoesnotﬁndall thedefects.

“We know that customers do not forgive when major parts of the system do not work or at least do not work as expected. That is why I always advise test teams to transform their test process into a defect prevention process,” hecontinues, “The most eﬀective way to prevent defects is through methods such as Scenario-Based Development and Testing, Impact Analysis-Based Regression Testing, and careful reviews of requirements.”

Anothereffectivebutrarelyusedmethodtopreventdefects is Root-Cause Analysis.Whenacustomerexperiencesa defect,thedevelopmentimmediatelyrushestofixthe problemandsendsthefixtothetestteamtore-testit. However,rarelydoesaprojectteamtakesthetimeto analyzetherootcauseofthesedefects.Iftheydid,they wouldbeabletofindwhereintheprocessthosedefects werecreated. “Fixing the process will prevent those types of defects from happening in the future,” commentsDr. Hanna

CommencinganOdysseyofExcellence

Dr.HannaspokeaboutvariouschallengesthatRommana Softwarehasfacedinwideraudienceadoption.Thebiggest oneisthatdecision-makersinmostlargercompanieswish togoonlywith‘bigname’providers.

Heshares, “We had the opportunity to show our product to many technical managers in large companies who indicated that our product was exactly what their projects needed, but then the purchase was never approved by upper management although the price was much less than what other large provider charge. So, although we succeeded in providing products and services to some defense organizations and large government contractors, competition with big name providers remains a challenge for us.”

Anotheroversight,accordingtoDr.Hanna,hasbeen focusingonperfectingtheproductatthecostofallocating moremoneytosalesandmarketingoftheproduct.

“Responding to customer requests for product enhancements is a priority for us, and we pride ourselves on our fast response to those requests. Since my early years in software, I have always adopted the ‘Customer Delight’ principle to create loyal customers. However, a superior product would not sell itself without an eﬀective sales and marketing strategy.”

ExhibitingSheerExcellence

“Although Rommana ALM is a complete, fully integrated set of tools and methodologies that cover every aspect of a software product lifecycle, we realize that project teams using software tools from other vendors may wish to use complimentary features of Rommana ALM from within whatever tool they are currently using,” saysDr.Hanna. ThatiswhyRommanaSoftwarestartedpartneringwith somelargetoolvendorsbyintegratingRommanaALM

withtheiroﬀerings.Thecompanyjustcompletedthe implementationofaRommanaALMJiraAppthatruns fromwithinJira.UsingtheRommanaALMJiraapp,Jira userscanbeneﬁtfromRommanaALM’scomplimentary features,suchasScenario-BasedExploratoryTesting, Scenario-BasedFormalTesting,RequirementManagement, andUseCaseManagement.

Recently,thecompanyalsostartedintegratingRommana ALMwithMicrosoft’sADO(AzureforDevOps). IntegratingwithADOwillallowADOuserstoperformthe sameRommanaALMcomplimentaryfeatures.