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.

Problem statement

Technical Modernisation and transformation within a distributed organisation with multiple complex touchpoints across central business hubs, in-field telemetry, hand-held field engineering devices and distributed customer devices pose a tremendous challenge. The client needed expertise across a wide range of services, including Test Environment and Release Management, Agile delivery, Infrastructure Infield Testing, Test Automation, Performance Testing, and Operational Testing.

Solution

Inspired Testing provides a scalable team of 40+ expert testing professionals embedded in partnership with the client’s teams. This approach allows us to remain proactive to the needs of the client. The team can be flexed to meet short-term needs or provide niche skills. Engagement with Inspired Testing has changed a fragmented testing service with a low perception of value to a collaborative QA function which delivers reduced project delays. The transformation is evident in the enhanced efficiency and strategic business alignment.

Test Environment and Release Management

The value of TEM was proven through a pilot within a specific project. It has since expanded to cover Release Management provided through a project-funded, cost-effective mixture of on-site, onshore, and near-shore resources.

The TERM team uses Plurora to handle multiple environments and configurations, ensuring they align with project requirements. The objective is to facilitate smooth testing and avoid delays caused by environmental issues. They work collaboratively with various stakeholders to maintain and optimise the test environments.

Since its introduction, this service has had a direct impact on cost savings. On completion of the pilot phase, client staff commented that engagement in the TEM pilot phase would have saved the project 26.5 days of testing, which is a full month lost. The TERM service has contributed to £341k in cost avoidance for the client. The QA Team have seen a 64% reduction in interrupted days.

Test Automation

We are improving software quality at speed with reduced test cycle times and increased test coverage. The client adopted Inspired Testing’s automation framework which is deployed across the whole QA function. In one project, our test automation work removed 10 days of manual testing and reduced this to 2 hours of automation execution. The project chose to retain the 10-day test window by expanding test coverage.

Performance Testing Service

Our performance testing service is engaged on every project of the client. The validation of this service is conducted in partnership with the client’s QA, where the business justifies the appropriate level of performance testing.

Ensuring that systems operate seamlessly, without disruptions or slowdowns, is crucial for the client to internal users and external customers. This service is delivered in a flexible manner allowing the client to ramp up Performance Testing quickly as needed.

Test Data Management and Testing Data Migration

The client has regulatory requirements relating to the storage and usage of data. The test function must comply with the regulations and the need to manage data in a controlled manner.

Inspired Testing is working to define and deliver a management strategy for test data across the diverse non-SAP landscape which will be complimentary to the solution currently deployed for SAP. This solution is closely aligned with a tactical data migration initiative at the client for which Inspired Testing assures the solution is implementing best practices and meets their need while meeting regulatory requirements.

This project is crucial to support the regulatory requirement to store and maintain test data in line with business data governance to continue to be compliant with the Water Services Regulation Authority and other legislation.

Before improvement

Prior to this partnership, the client used a siloed, test augmentation approach in all engagements. This approach resulted in fragmented pockets of knowledge, a lack of engagement with the business and a low perceived value of software testing.

After improvement

Through embracing a test partnership model the client is able to realise

• Improved engagement with the business project teams.
• Better collaboration across the QA and Test function

Reduction in project delay through specialist test functions

Benefit to the client after engagement

By changing the supplier test engagement model this client is realising a £60,000 per month reduction in the cost of test. This equates to £3.5M over the course of the contract. Test automation is predicted to deliver an additional £226,000 in savings.

Additional test services and capability have also been provided to the business which will be commercially realised over the course of the contract.