New TestPLAN release helps companies use corporate compliance to save money

Original Software product designed for compliance-led applications development using fewer resources

Corporate compliance legislation - with incoming regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley and Basel-II, and existing regulations such as FDA, FSA etc - is an increasingly hot topic. A recent survey conducted by leading UK software testing vendor Original Software showed that almost half of UK respondents were actively involved in dealing with corporate compliance issues, with Sarbanes-Oxley by far the most common. Correspondingly, Original Software has released a new version of its popular test process management solution, TestPLAN, that includes features designed specifically to help companies meet the corporate compliance challenge.

Corporate compliance measures are designed to ensure maximum transparency and accountability, combined with best business practice. An inevitability of introducing and adhering to such controls is that a company has to make and manage changes to its core IT systems - those it relies upon for its corporate records and key management processes and reports. This may involve in-house development, outsourced development, buying in and installing bespoke third-party solutions, or maybe a combination of these. All of them involve introducing new software to established key systems. And guaranteeing the stability, accuracy and reliability of the core system throughout this process is fundamental to corporate compliance.

Original Software’s TestPLAN has a key role here in enabling companies to establish a highly controlled application testing process, a QA plan that formalises how changes to core software systems are handled. The product helps companies organise their testing better by pooling key testing resources, developing templates for testing core applications, and producing detailed management reports on progress with testing projects. This ultimately improves software quality, makes better use of existing resources and therefore reduces costs – while automatically documenting the entire process for audit-ready purposes.

George Wilson, Operations Director for Original Software, says: “TestPLAN provides a practical and productive way to manage and control testing activities. It promotes efficiency, communication and structure, enabling the testing process to mature and gain from past knowledge and experience. Better organised testing means fewer errors and less effort in reaching higher quality for the business. This ultimately makes better use of a company’s resources, making it inevitable that time and money will be saved in the process.”

TestPLAN users can create a multi-layered framework for managing the testing process. Within this, the required tasks and activities can be structured and monitored, with test scripts, results, data documents, screenshots and much more accessible from within the plan. Users can even launch test scripts from TestPLAN Everything is stored centrally for multiple user access, and the plan is updated in real time as team members work on it, with each managing and updating their own tasks.

The latest release of TestPLAN includes a range of reporting facilities, to ensure that the testing manager can oversee and control the process from the top level with confidence. These include statistics on project performance, task and defect status analysis, project comparison reports and audit-ready project reporting for management and corporate compliance purposes. Reports are available in both tabular and graphical formats.

Continues Wilson: “With TestPLAN, a company can control and document its testing with confidence. This includes how an application was tested, what the test results were, how many defects were found, how they were dealt with etc – with the whole process being signed off by a dedicated ‘owner’ of the testing process.”

He concludes: “Not only is this a much more efficient approach, it means you can actually save money as you comply with corporate legislation.”

Original Software has set out to prove its point and is hosting live webinar demonstrations. To book a place on one of these webinars call (630) 321-0092 in the US. or +44 (0)1256 338666 in the UK. You can also email requests to solutions@origsoft.com