Wednesday, September 10, 2008
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8:00 AM - 9:00 AM |
Registration Opens & Continental Breakfast |
9:00 AM - 12:00 PM |
Testing |
Practical Case Studies |
Project Management |
Process Improvement Strategies |
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1/2 Day Session |
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BREAK:
10:30 AM - 11:00 AM
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Akemi Micallef
Compuware Canada
Risk Based Testing in 8 Steps
Risk-based testing allows testing organizations to reduce the testing time by selectively executing tests that can challenge the application most effectively.
This presentation will show ways for organization to align their testing activities with business risks. In today's world, business risks are directly related to software security risks. Since reactive testing approaches are no longer effective in dealing with security risks, risk-based testing is an excellent approach to address security risks in testing. Much the same way functional requirements are used as the input for testing, security requirements can be used in test planning and test case development. Risk-based testing against software security risks must start early and be adjustable as to allow organizations to adjust their testing focuses as software security risks change throughout the development life cycle. Common concerns and issues of software security will also be explained in order to provide the background context required for conference participants. The 8 steps required to implement a risk-based testing framework can be easily incorporated into an existing testing process with minimum impact to the current business model. This presentation will show how testers can go about soliciting business and technical input into the testing process to align their testing with business risks. Examples and how-to instructions are also included. Ideal for testing organizations who wish to refine their existing testing process to keep up with the ever-increasing speed of market demands and software security risks. In addition, it will suggest some resources for further exploration of these topics. |
Joe Schofield
Sandia National Labs
Latent Defect Estimation - Maturing Beyond Defect Removal using Capture-Recapture Method
The Challenge: This presentation deals with three challenges:
1 - our undiminished ability to generate product defects
2 - our deceptive reliance on testing to eliminate defects
3 - our inability to statistically predict undiscovered defects still embedded in our software
Overview: Defect removal and prevention techniques are inadequate to inspire confidence in our software products. Techniques that estimate the number of lingering defects in software products can further boost customer confidence. Such techniques are easy to perform and have been used to produce reliable estimates for decades in the area of animal, bird, fish, and insect counts, and more recently for estimating the prevalence of “SARS” (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) and cancer occurrences. This presentation describes the “business case” for removing defects and demonstrates how the usage of the Capture-Recapture Method (CRM) in defect removal activities can predict the number of estimated defects remaining in a product. This estimate can then be used to make quantified, data-driven decisions for how to proceed with a product. |
Joseph Mayo
Keane Federal Systems
Effective Risk Management for IT Projects
Effective risk management for IT projects will be a highly interactive presentation and will explore several aspects of project risk management including common problems associated with risk management, a standards-based approach to risk management, and critical success factors for a successful project-based risk management approach. The presentation will define risk management through a brief overview of several risk management standards including PMBOK, ANZ-4360, ISO 31000, and NIST 800-30. After defining risk management we will discuss common problems that frequently inhibit a project manager's ability to effectively manage project risks. A standards-based approach to project risk management will follow the discussion on risk management challenges. The presentation will conclude with a discussion of the critical success factors for an effective project-based risk management approach.WBS: Last words on how to implement effectively on a project. |
William Rinko-Gay
Spherion
Requirements and Scope Creep
Anyone with experience in Software Development projects knows that changing requirements makes it nearly impossible to deliver requested functionality on time and within budget. Industry research shows that getting requirements right from the beginning is the key to a successful project, yet it is rarely accomplished. In this session we will present an approach to getting requirements right, ensuring they are specific and testable. We will do some class exercises in decomposing and reviewing requirements, and will provide some templates attendees can use when returning to existing projects. We will discuss when the QA team gets involved in the various SDLCs in use to have the best impact. |
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM |
Lunch & Keynote Address |
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Joe Jarzombek - PMP
Director of Software Assurance, Homeland Security - Cyber Security Division
The Role of Software Assurance in the Workplace |
1:30 PM - 4:30 PM |
Testing |
Practical Case Studies |
Project Management |
Process Improvement Strategies |
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1/2 Day Session |
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Sivakumar Padmakumar
QAL Associates
Test Automation Implementation Strategies
The presentation is divided in 5 sections:
1. Identifying the types of automation tests and services
This sub topic discuss about what all variations are possible in test automation. During the creation of test strategy we follow a process of listing down the test requirements and classifying them based on the different types of automation possible for them. This process as well as templates is demonstrated.
2. Qualifying automation test scenarios
This section of the presentation is highly significant. This tells about which are tests are qualified for automation, and how we quantitatively arrive at the decision. It tells about decision analysis and resolution process as well as a demonstration of the templates to be followed.
3. Selecting automated testing tools
This section tells of a test analysis activity which typically happens during the feasibility analysis phase of test automation engagement. It tells about how we provide analysis report to our clients in evaluating various testing tools. This section discusses about the parameters which are universal qualifiers of automation packages. The presentation also demonstrates the live sample of some prominent automation tools and the evaluation reports we presented to various clients.
4. Opting an effective automation test framework
This sub-topic would be of good interest to the technical community in QA. It tells about the possible test architectures possible, and the decision making parameters in selecting a design for our client. It also tells about the tailoring process which is a key factor is reusing frameworks across diverse application environments.
5. Proposing an engagement model
This is more like a topic of business interest. It tells of QA services providing vendors and the strategy adopted in the industry to provide cost-effective automation services to clients. We will discuss various business models like onsite model, offshore model, onsite-offshore model, onshore model.
6. Reporting and Tracking measuresThis is a techno-sales topic, related to the strategy to be followed in selling an automation suite to the clients. The key content of this section is that we should not only provide valuable automation services to clients, but also track and capture the return of investment for the engagement. The section includes various report templates and trackers maintained with respect to automation projects. A demonstration of various testing metrics being maintained in typical automation projects is also included. |
Daniel Bharadwaj
ExcelaCom, Inc.
How to Measure Software Development Productivity
IT Productivity metrics are here to change the software development industry to increase IT effectiveness. The challenge to capture a programmer / software development team’s productivity is now simplified to begin the journey. Technologies and teams that deliver the best value per investment, shorter go to market cycles and high quality, on time software solutions will be the leaders that others will try to follow. The presentation is based on real experience obtained while consulting on technology projects that were seeking the IT Productivity metrics. The author is glad to share it with the IT community to help contribute and improve the cause for insight, seek and improve ourselves. The audience will learn why is it important to measure IT productivity? what are the measures that can be used, how to gather, analyze and report the metrics to satisfy the multi faceted information needs of senior executives , management boards, IT management and developers. You will learn how to accomplish the significant first step of establishing baselines, how your software development organization can benefit from setting up goals for improvement as well as compare against industry IT effectiveness. More than just monitoring and controlling the projects, the insight learned from IT Productivity metrics is to allow the room for innovation, break the barriers and stereotypes and allow software development to challenge ourselves and enable better business. |
Michael Giacometti
Capgemini
Managing and Controlling your IT Projects
The paradigm of project management has changed, especially with the economic slowdown the world is currently experiencing. Managers and decision-makers are finding it more difficult to get projects approved and even harder to control the costs. Any projects that are approved are put under strict guidelines and expected to show a positive impact on revenue almost immediately. More and more, ensuring Quality in projects is giving the same managers and decision- makers the advantage to completing projects. Quality Methodologies, Governance Laws, and market conditions, have forced organizations to put Quality at the forefront of all project efforts. "Managing and Controlling your IT Projects" will show proven techniques that integrate Quality Assurance and Quality Control methods into all aspects of the project lifecycle; from submitting a proposal to ensuring delivery into production or the marketplace. Specifically, the attendee will learn:
- How to leverage Quality Control techniques to ensure that the correct, pertienent, and right amount of information is gathered during the proposal phase of the project lifecycle
- How to apply Quality Metrics to forecast Return on Investment or built a case for hard benefits
- How to accurately estimate your testing efforts
- How to keep project costs down by starting your Quality activities during the proposal and project planning phases
- Understanding outsourcing and when it is appropriate to leverage outside help
- How to use best of breed tools to manage your portfolio |
Patricia McCown
EDS
Turning Quality Assurance Trending Data into Process Improvement "Gold" - Building Process Improvement Plans through Analysis of Audit Trends
The presentation will take you through practical steps to turn raw QA audit data into organizational process improvement “gold.” By following a few simple steps, the organization will be able to answer questions such as “Where are the biggest weaknesses. |
4:30 PM - 6:30 PM |
Conference Reception - Sponsored by COMSYS |
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