QASource

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our company provides legal, risk, and matter management software. I’m the senior VP of product development in charge of our 115-person global team.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with QASource?

Our challenge was common for medium-sized businesses where QA automation is usually an afterthought. We realized as our company grew that we hadn’t focused on this area, which is why we reached out to QASource.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We deploy matter management systems for Fortune 500 corporations. They’re complex implementations, some of which span multiple years. QASource initially supplied an offshore testing team, but we’ve since expanded their scope beyond testing automation. They now provide product development and custom services implementation on top of testing. They’ve worked on at least 30 complex product implementations such as systems, applications, and products (SAP) rollouts.

What is the team composition?

They’ve provided developers, testers, and DevOps specialists. We’ve tried to keep our internal and outsourced teams small, no larger than three developers and two QAs. We have multiple teams of this kind working on different projects, totaling 45–50 resources. The model seems to work well. We handle project management internally.

They deploy an additional shadow resource at their own cost when putting together a team of five people. That person takes over when another team member leaves or needs to take time off.

They have dedicated managers for various functions: QA, development, and IT for different needs. We’ve also worked with a U.S.-based account/relationship manager. We have monthly meetings during which we go through checklists of items in need of improvement.

How did you come to work with QASource?

One of our heads of engineering who had previously collaborated with QASource introduced us to them.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost of their service over the past 10–12 years has been in the tens of millions of dollars.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them 10–12 years ago and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

They’ve been an integral part of our deployment projects for very large global companies. They’ve added a tremendous amount of value to our business. We’ve had good and bad years, but we’ve always been able to reach out to them for scalability needs. Hiring resources locally is very difficult for us, but QASource has a large, available talent pool that we can quickly tap into. I can add resources with a week’s notice.

How did QASource perform from a project management standpoint?

We use Jira and HipChat for our daily communication and task tracking since we’re an Atlassian shop. We have local scrum masters with QASource’s teams. We have daily standups at the beginning of our working day which corresponds to the end of their working day.

What did you find most impressive about them?

A team usually fails because of a lack of good talent, but QASource has a good process in place for funneling the right resources. I’ve had deep discussions with them and they’ve explained how they source members from local schools in Chandigarh, India, and then provide ongoing training before graduation. They test the candidates based on that training and only pick the best performers. This is a huge differentiator that I haven’t seen in other offshore businesses.

We work with other offshore and nearshore vendors, but their management has become problematic. QASource has a strong management team in place that follows through on their commitments. We don’t need to constantly follow up with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could provide on-site liaisons to act as leads for our offshore teams. They were willing to do this when I raised the issue a few years ago but at an additional cost.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You need to treat them as an extension of your team, including them in daily standups and allowing on-site visits with managers. Having in-person meetings will lead to a better understanding. Things took a turn for the better after I started sending my managers to their location and bringing their resources here.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for an integration and automation company, dealing mainly with hospital infrastructure. I’m the senior VP of research and development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with QASource?

We had a couple of internal QA staff members and were looking to add to that.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our iteration process is usually one to two months long. Their job is to take the nightly builds that get published. They start with a smoke and sanity test, then they go onto what we call work item testing that focuses on specific pieces of functionality. If that’s all complete, they do general exploratory testing.

They started with our enterprise messaging application. Now, they’re working on our web-based position data access application. We consider them part of our permanent staff and will always have work for them.

What is the team composition?

We started with one, then added two further resources. We’re going to cut back down to two at the end of this month. When we need to ramp up our testing efforts for a big initiative, they’re able to give us what we need. When their people have time off for vacation, they’ve been able to augment that with backup resources so that we don’t lose a lot of staff time when our full-time people aren’t available.

How did you come to work with QASource?

It was really difficult to find qualified testers in our area. We looked at outsourcing and found 5–6 different companies of which QASource was one. We based our decision on cost and accessibility. The references from their clients were really good too.

How much have you invested with them?

$150,000–$200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2016 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We look at capacity versus the actual work. We know they helped and put the effort in, but it’s tough to say if we didn’t have them, that X number of bugs that have gone by us.

How did QASource perform from a project management standpoint?

It's been really good. Our QA manager sets up weekly meetings with them. We have a daily scrum with all of our research and development (R&D) staff every morning and a monthly meeting with our account manager and project manager. If we have questions, concerns, or need any attention, they’re very good at getting back to us in a timely fashion. We use IM and email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re very pleased with our relationship with them. The project management is a very important piece. We’ve been very satisfied.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We looked at their offerings to try to automate test cases, but because we have our own automation tool, we’ve decided to go that route instead. We’re educating them now on that process and wanting them to actually use our tool to do the automation tests. They could improve on that.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear from the start. We were just starting out our QA department and they helped us to put a structure in place. Make a good plan for the staff, how they need to structure their day, and integrate them with your team.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the VP of product for a cleantech startup that does solar financing software. We’re working to provide solar to homeowners. Our software allows contractors to fulfill financing for potential solar owners.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with QASource?

We had limited resources as a startup. The product team I run includes QA. We had our QA done internally, but we wanted to be able to scale quickly to move that function to another team, while for a company with more management experience.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We didn’t have very much formalized testing written down. We were also moving away from our finance testing system. We had very minimal automation, particularly in the frontend of our application. They came in and analyzed that and started things from the very beginning.

What is the team composition?

We started with two QA team members and half a management resource. We now have one technical support resource.

How did you come to work with QASource?

We looked at a few different companies. We believed QASource would be able to provide people who could do functional QA, as well as provide a strategy for building out the automation and general QA strategy.

How much have you invested in them?

The yearly fee is around $65,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in September 2017 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We track the number of bugs per month in our production platform that’s live for customers. It started dropping almost immediately after our engagement began and is now down about 30% since then.

How did QASource perform from a project management standpoint?

It’s one of their best skills. They’re very communicative and always give updates so we know what they are working on. They send us a monthly report that gives us a lot of insight into how the application is doing and have helped us prioritize the QA roadmap. They’re always coming up with new ways to analyze the project, the data, and continue reporting on those items.

They picked up using all the tools we use internally, mainly Slack and Jira. We haven’t experienced many language barrier problems—they’re easy to communicate with. When it comes to the time difference, during the training they switched their schedule to ensure there was a lot more overlap time. Now, we have meetings as needed that work for our schedule. It is nice to have people testing throughout the night because when we come in, there’s a lot of information to work on.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very focused on making sure that their clients have the right resources and backup team members that are fully trained on our system. We know that no matter what is happening, we can rely on them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There is always some ramp-up time, but they do a very good job of really learning everything. They could try to shorten the learning period or start working a little earlier.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have as many of your needs as possible planned out, for example, in terms of laying out exact steps for onboarding.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the vice president of global technical services for a global solutions firm. We help our customers become more productive and efficient through specialized technology solutions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with QASource?

We needed offshore implementation support. Our local team works directly with the clients, but we needed to do a lot of the more complex and time-consuming work offshore.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

When we first partnered, QASource’s engineering team mainly did maintenance for our products. Now, they either supplement existing project teams or build products on their own. At any given time, their team is probably working on 10–15 projects. They work with our business analyst and Scrum master to do the analysis and design work, development, QA, and release of the functional feature or product.

I’ve also used them for IT support, like database maintenance—they’re a multi-faceted organization. They work in .NET, Java, PHP, and all of the new mobile technologies like Swift and React Native.

What is the team composition?

They provide about 30 team members, consisting of engineers, developers, and QA specialists. They also have database administrator assistants and IT specialists if I need them.

How did you come to work with QASource?

I’d worked with them in a previous position. They have great resources, which is hard to find in offshore companies.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend between $500,000–$1.5 million a year.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together 12 years ago.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

They deliver 90%–100% of the time and feel like a part of our team. If they say they'll do something, it's delivered on time and always high-quality work. They’ll even stay late or work on the weekend to get things finished on time; they enjoy doing it and never complain.

How did QASource perform from a project management standpoint?

They're well-experienced in running projects. They have their own system, but when they work with me, they use our Scrum project management. We give them access to it, and they log their time in there. When they're managing projects, they use Jira. They do the production management. We meet in-person at least once a year.

What did you find most impressive about them?

QASource cares about our company and its success. Their main objective is to satisfy their clients’ needs, so they’re more than willing to hear constructive criticism. If a certain resource isn’t working well, they’ll immediately take them off the project and bring someone else on that I choose.

They put their employees through an intensive training program, which includes English skills. I’ve worked with the same people since we partnered 12 years ago, and that consistency is one of the main reasons I’ve stayed with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. Every time I have an issue, they’re prepared with a solution. Recently, we needed some shift work, and they were happy to work through the night. They’re easy to work with and have amazing talent and work ethic. Anything I need, I can get from them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Treat them as part of your team and not just an outsourcer. Have open communication with everyone in the organization. If you need to introduce new technology, they’re great at training engineers to use it.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our company provides a performance management platform that helps organizations enhance employee productivity and development through goal setting, feedback, and continuous performance tracking.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with QASource?

We needed QA Engineering support and resources. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

QASource provided over eight years of service to our QA department, delivering quality testing and teamwork within our organization. The team handled QA across multiple modules, including manual testing, test case writing, knowledge transfer, and automation. QASource acted as a resource of knowledge to all the ins and outs of the application.

What is the team composition?

We worked with more than three teammates from QASource.

How did you come to work with QASource?

I found QASource through a referral and long-term existing relationships within the company. I knew QASource was a trusted resource that provided quality contractors and support to our organization.

What is the status of this engagement?

8+ years

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We saw fewer bugs before releasing new features to production.

How did QASource perform from a project management standpoint?

Delivery was always on time, the quality was high, and the communication was impeccable via Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed with the quality of the testing we received. QASource's ability to understand the application and test beyond the acceptance criteria aligned with my expectations for a high-quality QA team. They met this standard and more.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren't any.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Technical Solutions Manager of a software consulting company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Business Continuity Software and Consulting

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire QASource to accomplish?

• Next application version testing
• Next application development
• Security testing

SOLUTION

How did you find QASource?

• Online Search

Why did you select QASource over others?

• Pricing fit our budget

How many teammates from QASource were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Functional testing of completed code, code stabilization, integration and dependency development and testing, current client data migration, security testing, dev ops

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Reduced issues found by testing in code stabilized functions or features.
• Percent issues resolved when compared to total by function.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Overall project management was a collaboration, lead by us, the customer. They were responsive and drove the discussion to understanding.

What was your primary form of communication with QASource?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

• The quality and expertise of the resources assigned to the project were impressive.
• Their willingness to engage, learn and understand the product was what we needed to reduce our time to market.

Are there any areas for improvement or something QASource could have done differently?

No

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Quality Lead of ACTO

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

ACTO helps Life Sciences organizations educate and engage learners through unified touchpoints and journeys to reduce risk, improve efficiency, and boost effectiveness.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire QASource to accomplish?

• Function and Regression testing

SOLUTION

How did you find QASource?

Referral

Why did you select QASource over others?

• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

What was the size of QASource’s team?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

The QA team is responsible for ensuring that a product meets quality standards before it is released to the market. Documenting and reporting.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Percentage of lesser bugs found on Production

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Yes, the team was able to deliver all items on time for the project. They had a well-planned project schedule with clear deadlines and task assignments. They also had regular check-ins and status updates to ensure that everyone was on track and that any potential issues were addressed in a timely manner. When unexpected changes or obstacles arose, the team was able to quickly adapt and adjust their plan to ensure that they could still meet their deadlines.

What was your primary form of communication with QASource?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email
• Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The team consistently produces high-quality results and is adept at scaling up quickly to meet client's evolving needs. They are committed to meeting deadlines and maintaining clear communication across multiple channels throughout the project lifecycle. Their work ethic is impressive, and they exhibit a strong sense of diligence and dedication to their tasks.

In short, this team has demonstrated an ability to deliver excellent results while maintaining a professional and hardworking attitude.

Are there any areas for improvement or something QASource could have done differently?

No, the team was responsive to our concerns and worked diligently to address these issues in a timely manner.