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A Consultant's Tale of CHAOS Part III - Chapter Two: Testing, Testing
The test plan is a series of controlled events defining the description
of each event, the step by step processes, input data, expected
results, actual results and if the condition passed or failed. It
is the measurement to insure that the custom-mod fulfills the Functional
Requirements, which have not yet been written. I started to be concerned
on page 2 (page 1 was the header) when the test data was defined
as TBD (to be determined), the expected results and actual results
were identical, including misspelled words, and all results were
“passed.” I remembered that all these custom-mods were
developed “off-shore” and thought to myself, “WOW,
these people must have test tools far and away better than anything
I had ever seen or used; without even defining input data they get
the expected results and pass all tests.” Even the expected
results and actual results are identical right down to the same
spelling errors. I wondered if this testing software was commercially
available outside their home countries or planets and maybe I could
get the local franchise. Some of the process steps even instructed
the tester to press buttons that were not even visible on the screen
and certainly did not exist on the keyboard but must be somewhere
because the test passed. Was the goal of Artificial Intelligence
finally to be realized?
I laid out the technical specifications, individual test conditions,
and corresponding screen shots to insure they were consistent and
accurate. I must admit once again, beginning on page 2, I did encounter
some problems. Field names on the technical specification did not
match either the test plan or the screen shot, tests to display
data produced blank results, and the data in the two sets of current
year/prior year fields were exactly identical. Maybe it wasn’t
a typo? I felt a more in-depth review of the actual code was warranted
to get to the bottom of these issues. I still had visions of becoming
the sole franchise owner in North America of this wonderful testing
software.
The review of the source code unfortunately aligned pretty closely
with the screen shot (surprise) and not the test plan or the technical
specifications. The same 2 data elements were being used to populate
4 fields on the screen. The customer category field had been replaced
with material pricing. Nothing was being moved into the customer
contract number and a 10-position date field was being manipulated
and squished into a 4-position date field that went nowhere. I was
starting to lose interest in the franchise, as I felt this stuff
was way beyond me and that I did not possess the required skills
needed to successfully use the product. I decided to let my immediate
supervisor in on all I had learned and, if it made sense to him,
perhaps I could still get the franchise and we could go in on it
50/50. Unfortunately, the prospects did not look good!
I said very little as I laid out the various documents for the
two of us to review together. I didn’t want to sway his judgment
and observations in any way and felt I had probably overlooked big
chunks (still thinking of that duct tape) of good stuff, somewhere
in the data I reviewed. Our review was peppered by comments such
as, “What the heck is this?” “That’s crap!”
“That makes no sense” and others not fit for a family
publication. He asked if the Business Process Owner was aware of
this and I stated I didn’t know, but I certainly had not contacted
that person.
Stay tuned for our next issue and meet Mr. Tanni…
ANNOUNCEMENTS
New ROI Calculator!
The first release of the VirtualADVISOR Return on Investment (ROI)
Calculator is now available in the tool section of our website.
The ROI Calculator is used to compute return for any type of project
and situation. The calculator allows you to enter four item categories:
capital, cost, savings, and revenue. These items are used to compute
ROI and payback period.
Currently this is a standalone application. We plan to integrate
the ROI Calculator into the Cost Estimator, Risk Estimator, as well
as our project and asset management tools. For instructions on using
the calculator please see below. Later, these instructions will
be displayed in a ‘help’ section. The help section is
displayed once the ROI Calculator icon is ‘clicked’.
We are collecting requirements for the second release. If you wish
to share suggestions, comments, or experience problems using the
tool please submit an email to feedback@standishgroup.com.
General Instructions to use the ROI Calculator (login
to the VirtualADVISOR system is required):
Step #1: Click on “Create a case”.
Step #2: Fill in the case name field and years for
ROI Calculation. Type in any name you wish and the number of years
you want included in the calculation. Click “Submit”.
Step #3: A new form will display four fields:
1) Number of capitalized items
2) Number of cost items
3) Number of savings items
4) Number of revenue items
Type in the number of items for each of these categories
and click “Submit”. Note: a value must be entered into
each field, even if it is zero.
Step #4: This step includes the first year’s
detail with 3 major fields: Name of item, quantity and cost. The
one exception is for the capitalized items that will be carried
forward into subsequent years. You can also make changes in those
years. Capitalized items will be included with additional input
as instructed on the form. One you have filled in the form click
“submit”.
Note: On far right of the form is a field entitled
“Sub-Items”. This allows you to have a number of items
roll-up to a single item, such as on first page you might have “Staff”.
On the sub-items you can break this down into titles.
Repeat step #4 for each year. After all the years
are done the system will generate a report.
You can also create templates by first creating a
case and saving it as a template.
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