The importance of quality in software – 3

In this 3rd article in a series about software quality, we are focusing on the need for software testing and how to go about it. While we see a steady improvement in the state of software quality and continuity in Ghana, the need for various types of software testing is still unknown territory for a lot of businesses. But it is a risk to “go live” with any ICT system that has no guaranteed quality. The question is if all functionalities are working properly with no errors. But security in the sense of business continuity and unwanted penetrations are equally important.

Quality in Software: the case for software testing

Sometimes, an organization acquires a standard software that must be set up for its business processes, sometimes a tailor-made application is being developed for you by a software company. Whether this is a complex web application, an app, or a simple website, it is always key to have the software thoroughly and systematically tested.

In West Africa, more and more organizations rely on IT systems for their operations, and therefore software errors can cause accidents or serious losses. Often there is a big pressure to release an application and testing can be tedious and therefore expensive. Management will be tempted to skip this phase and go live with a new application quickly. Quality engineers inside your organization should therefore be actively involved and assess the inherent risks as compared to the time and money involved in more testing.

Two examples to illustrate this “value for money” approach.

A simple gaming app can go live on Google Playstore as a “Beta version” after limited testing. After that, customers will give feedback about eventual problems and the developer's team can make improvements. This will harm no one. However, when Boeing launched a new airplane with very complex pilot software, a lot of pressure was carried out to go live and a fatal software error remained unfound, leading to various fatal accidents.

As a business owner or director, you do not need to know all the technicalities of software testing. However, some basic notions are important to safeguard the go-live of a new application. After all, your business continuity may be at stake!

Very clear requirements as a point of reference: it is not possible to properly test software without any terms of reference to what the application is supposed to do. Normally, requirements are defined: if concrete user stories and features can be described, including designs of the user interface screens, it will be straightforward to verify if the new software is meeting these requirements. These can be functional requirements (“as a user, I can order a ticket for a soccer match online”) as well as so-called non-functional requirements (“if 250.000 fans of AC Milan try to order a ticket, as the system is still functioning”).

While developers are building an application, the first round of quality checks must be made. With a Code review: the first step in quality assurance in software development is a simple code review process. When a programmer has built a piece of code, one of his colleagues or seniors will review that work to check if it works, and if the conventions and documentation have been observed. After that, automated testing with the help of testing software can take place to see if the features work.

In addition, professional software testers are invited to thoroughly test the application in various ways. This can include tests on the performance of the app, penetration testing to check the vulnerability of the software for hostile attacks. It can also include integration testing. A new feature may unknowingly affect other applications or mess up a certain database. You want to be sure that the new software does not bring down your system on the Monday morning after its weekend go-live! Professional software testing can test such a large change in a test environment, a separate duplicate of your IT systems. Until that works well, the software is not allowed to be moved to a “production environment” as IT professionals call it.

User acceptance testing deserves special attention. The employees in your organization are usually experts in their own jobs and should be able to work with a new software after proper instruction. They are the best people to judge if the new product does what it is supposed to do. A certified test manager can organize and lead a project where such end-users are invited into sessions to systematically test the new software with the help of scripts set up by the test manager.

Each test round will yield long lists of bugs and wishes for improvement that should be addressed before the software can finally be released. Here too, common sense is key. There are always “nice to have” and small bugs left. With clear acceptance criteria being defined at the start of the project, these issues should not prevent the software to go live.

Indeed, software testing can look complex, but it is very necessary to assure quality while you implement new IT systems in your organization. If you do it well, introducing a new application can be safe and smooth.

Authors: Diana van der Stelt (Member, Institute of ICT Professionals Ghana) and Anthony Yeboah Asare, Trinity Software Center in Kumasi, sales director, and quality engineer

www.trinitysoftwarecenter.com | info@trinitysoftwarecenter.com

Source: www.iipgh.org

 

The importance of quality in Software

We all have the experience of having great expectations when buying something and then being disappointed. A new car of a renowned brand. A beautiful suit or handbag.  A dinner in a restaurant with a great chef. While we are ready to pay well for the quality we are anticipating, the deception comes with the poor customer service. Long waiting times, a bad response if something irregular happens, or poor performance if we want something to be changed compared to the standard delivery. When we acquire a software application (either a SAAS (Software-As-A-Service) or have a tailor-made solution for our business processes, customer service is just key. Here are the main things to look out for and to expect from a good software provider when it comes to customer service and support.

Quality in software–customer service and support  

If you have found a software application that fits your business needs well, it is important to realize that the software comes with a whole environment to assist you as a customer to use it well and with no issues. In fact, very good software may come with terrible customer support, leaving you in trouble for a long time when there is something you do not understand. I remember acquiring a top-notch product in the USA, to only find out that its support organization in Europe was not working at all: 10 different phone numbers in different countries, and none of them were working or could answer our pressing questions!

The need for good customer service starts right already with your acquisition process.

Clarity: while you are still in the middle of the procurement process, it should be easy to get clarity on the precise features, legal arrangement (contract conditions), and the “total cost of ownership” that the application is going to give you. It should be easy to find out what additional costs may be incurred and what the exact scope of the contract is, to avoid any unpleasant surprises.

Implementation: how easy is it for your organization to use the software? Is your new vendor going to assist you with your data migration (or digitalization in case you did not use IT for this process before)? Is there training of personnel? Is their help in the adaptation of your business processes to use the software smoothly? Do their consultants come on-site to help you do all the changes and is that expensive?

Professional help desk: a software vendor who takes customer service seriously will have a professional helpdesk that professionally processes all incoming calls and uses this information to improve its services. It has a smooth escalation model for more complex questions and problems. As a customer, you will have the confidence that your problem is being always dealt with by the right person. Professional service personnel are always polite and take you seriously. 

Frequently asked questions: for the most common and returning questions about the use of the software, simple and clear web pages and instruction videos should be available to help you out, in the early stage of using a new application.

Easy contact: it should be easy to get in contact with the right person to discuss questions or problems. Currently, a lot of applications have in-built chat functionality in the software or on their website. These “Chatbots” may or not be able to communicate with you properly and should quickly lead you to an actual human to deal with your matter. It should be easy to find support for all your users.

Response time: when an issue occurs, and you are stuck using the software, your vendor should be able to solve the issue quickly regardless of the cause of the problem. “Downtime” can be defined as the number of minutes or hours per month that the software is not working, which obviously should be as limited as possible. If caused by maintenance, this should be announced and planned carefully by the vendor in such a way that business continuity is guaranteed.

Some software companies even have a feature where you grant the service employee to “take over your screen” to see what is wrong and help you fix the issue quickly.

Continuous improvement: while you do not want the software, you acquired to change constantly; it is important that feedback from customers is regularly used to improve the software. This may include new features that are very useful, fixing small bugs, or improvement of features that are causing confusion for the users. Good customer service implies that your vendor listens to you and is constantly willing to improve its product.

Authors: Diana van der Stelt (Member, Institute of ICT Professionals Ghana) and Anthony Yeboah Asare, Trinity Software Center in Kumasi, sales director, and quality engineer

www.trinitysoftwarecenter.com | info@trinitysoftwarecenter.com

Source: www.iipgh.org

GES Dumps Free SHS ICT Coordinators in the Senior High Schools, Sets to Recruit new IT Officers

ICT teachers in charge of Free Senior High School enrolment in the various Senior High schools clashed with the Ghana Education Service for the recruitment of new Information Technology Coordinators to manage the school's database. Ministry of Education trained ICT these teachers in the various Senior High Schools in 2017 to manage the information system in the schools. Series of training workshops have been organised for the ICT teachers for the past four years.

These teachers are responsible for managing the school database, entering students data on students information systems, preparation of school academic timetable, entering students record in the West African Examination Council (WAEC) database.

The teachers have been performing the above roles in the Senior High Schools since the introduction of the Free Senior High School policy. The ICT teachers requested an allowance from the Ghana Education Service as compensation for the additional responsibilities assigned to them. Since 2017 the teachers have been calling on the management of the Ghana Education Service to pay them some allowances for the additional roles they play in the schools. No holidays for the ICT teachers who have taken the role of ICT coordinators in the various schools, they belong to both tracks in the double-track schools, they work throughout the academic calendar.

Management of Ghana Education Service has given them assurances of an incentive package. Anytime the teachers complain about allowance they are told by the GES that, their incentive package is in the pipeline, they should be patient. The small allowance to be paid for these teachers has been a challenge for Ghana Education Service, but they have been able to secure a financial clearance to recruit new ICT coordinators to take up their roles in the school.

The ICT teachers are demanding compensation from the Ghana Education Service for the four years they have worked as ICT coordinators without any remuneration or incentives. These teachers have worked as ICT coordinators for the past four years and they have gained a lot of experience in the field, at least Ghana Education Service should have maintained them by paying a little allowance for them, they have done voluntary work as ICT coordinators and this treatment is unfair to them.

Ghana Education Service planned to implement the new GES ICT policy in the next academic year, students will be allowed to use smartphones in the school to be connected to the free WiFi installed in all the seven hundred Senior High Schools, the ICT coordinators are to manage the school network, a software has been developed by Ghana Education Service to restrict the use of the WiFi by students, the ICT coordinators will be responsible for monitoring the school network.

Source: https://www.operanewsapp.com/gh

Building Sufficient Digital Value and Ttrust

Value is the regard that something deserves importance, worth, or usefulness. It is also the principles or standards of behaviour - individual or collective. In ethics, value denotes the degree of importance of something or action, to determine what actions are best to do or what way is best to live or to describe the significance of different actions. It is also the monetary or non-monetary worth given to virtual assets or contents. 

Trust is the firm belief in the reliability, truth, or ability of someone or something. Trust is the most important business and brand asset you manage, especially in relationships with customers, clients, employees, and stakeholders. An economy works because people trust each other and the businesses they support.

Companies everywhere are pursuing digitalization projects - putting emerging technology into action while aiming to solve problems, create unique experiences, and accelerate business performance. By doing this, value and trust must be created.

Digital value is the business value or economic value generated through digitization. All economic systems and business interactions result in costs for information exchange, coordination, safeguarding, enforcing, etc. Digitalization lowers these costs and therefore gives a free rein to value and is expected to bring greater tangible and intangible value. In a traditional sense, digitalization refers to the use of computer and internet technology for a more efficient and effective economic value creation process. In a broader sense, it refers to the changes that new technology has overall; on how we operate, interact, and configure, and how wealth is created within this system. It has become clear by now that digitalization has an obvious, lasting, and even revolutionary impact, not only on the economic systems and commercial players but increasingly on the lives of individuals and on society at large. However, it is important to understand the opportunities and potential challenges surrounding value creation in digital environments.

Digital value constitutes worthiness desired based on the use of digital information and communication technology, resulting in goods and services that possess some inherent quality.

Digital trust then is the confidence users have in the ability of people, technology, and processes to create a secure digital world. Digital trust is given to companies who have shown their users they can provide safety, privacy, security, reliability, and data ethics with their online programs or devices.

For example, Amazon has created value over the years and built trust. Since its beginnings in 1994 as an e-commerce pioneer selling books and CDs online, Amazon has had to continually transform itself to grow. It is the world’s largest online retailer of books, clothing, electronics, music, and other goods, developing in new business areas, and, in 2020, earned net sales revenue of over 380 billion U.S. dollars. Despite selling physical books, Amazon also introduced the Kindle and eBooks. In addition, it is threatening other businesses like Netflix and TV networks with its own content. Also, it became a leader in cloud services and hugely profitable in this field. Amazon Web Services (AWS) generates annual revenues and margins in excess. Due to global interest in cloud services and the disruption they are causing across various sectors, AWS has played an increasingly important role in the cloud services industry and has become an important revenue earner for Amazon. With its trusted and secure solutions, customers can rely on its services.

Digital trust has already become critical to how you develop and maintain positive, long-term relationships with your customers and other stakeholders. Building digital trust requires businesses to shift their efforts in identity, security, and compliance to a more inclusive customer engagement strategy. If the lifeblood of the digital economy is data, its heart is digital trust - the level of confidence in people, processes, and technology to build a secure digital world. Companies that show the connected world how to lead in safety, security, reliability, privacy, and data ethics will be the titans of tomorrow (2018 Digital Trust Insights). When a person decides to use a company's product, they are confirming their digital trust in the business. The more digital trust a company receives, the more likely it will be to gain more users. Trust underpins the success of every business, traditional or new age.

Each transaction and interaction on a personal, societal, and business level requires the establishment of trust. Businesses should make it clear to users what they stand to gain from their services and products, or technologies, by addressing what people are alarmed about, and emphasizing what people are giving up. Businesses should also focus on removing risk because it negatively affects a consumer's confidence level. As some businesses have started including cybersecurity and privacy personnel in their development process from the beginning, instead of ignoring them, it helps ensure the company is not avoiding security measures just to get their service or device on the market. Some businesses have also started adopting the zero-trust model which decreases the number of opportunities a hacker has to access secure content by limiting who has privileged access to different machines or segments of the network. 

As businesses strive to grow and create value through digitalization, it is relevant to consider building sufficient digital trust controls. There should be a deliberate effort to evaluate whether their personnel have the right skills aligned to design, build, and sustain digitalization initiatives, and if there is the need, acquire external resources. Tie security and trust in business the right way, in order not to misalign business objectives. For instance, companies can make progress by focusing on embedding data security into new products and services; conducting risk, regulatory, and compliance assessment; refreshing cybersecurity controls and plans; implement data-governance programs that determine not only where sensitive data lives but also the value to the business and how to protect it; manage risks for the whole data lifecycle, including creation, storage, using, sharing, archiving, and destruction. Also, monitoring of technology infrastructure to enable high availability, disaster recovery, and data integrity; focus on identifying new and emerging legislation, rules, and implementation guidelines; as well as use an integrated compliance approach - businesses operating across different jurisdictions should comply with the highest standard.

Author: Richard Kafui Amanfu – (Director of Operations, Institute of ICT Professionals, Ghana)

For comments, contact richard.amanfu@iipgh.org or Mobile: +233244357006

www.iipgh.org