Archive for the ‘Original Software News’ Category

Listen again on iPlayer to George being interviewed by Debbie McGee

George Wilson, our esteemed Operations Director and Nepalese orphanage fundraiser, spent his Sunday morning, huddled up to the Debbie McGee in the studio at BBC Radio Berkshire!

George, his daughter Laura Wilson, and her friend Claire Gomer, were interviewed on Debbie’s Sunday morning show about the Nepalese orphanage and their fundraising efforts. They talked about what an important cause it was, Laura and Claire’s experiences out in Nepal, George’s Charity Golf Marathon and even our efforts here, at Original Software and our ‘Corporate Cliché Swear Jar’.

You can listen again on the BBC iPlayer here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p003hpyn/Debbie_McGee_28_06_2009/

You need to scroll forwards to 1 hour and 17 minutes in to catch the interview with George.

Thanks to everyone for their help in raising money for this cause. In total we have raised around £5000 already. If you haven’t already donated, here is the link to the Just Giving sponsorship page – http://www.justgiving.com/georgeandstuart

News: Ovum applauds Original Software’s agile compatibility

New analyst report is free to download from our website

22^nd June 2009 – Original Software, the Application Quality Management (AQM) vendor, has received praise for its capabilities in enabling agile development in a recent report by independent industry analyst group, Ovum. In the report, written by Ovum analyst Paul Herzlich, the company’s solutions were applauded for being a better fit for agile processes than any competitive functional test automation suite.

“In its totality, Original’s suite is appropriate for automation specialists, non-technical testers and even business users for acceptance testing. It fits in with classic waterfall processes, and it can also be used in agile processes more easily than other functional test automation suites.” he states.

Colin Armitage, CEO of Original Software, said: The feedback from our customers has been resounding and we are pleased to see that the major analyst groups are acknowledging our leadership in this space. Customers practicing agile methodologies are finding our tools easy to implement, and the reuse and repeatability of our manual tests really pay off. Automation can be a powerful enabler in agile development and TestDrive’s self-healing technology adds value in each iteration, enabling scripts to be re-run even when the application under test has undergone tweaks and changes.

The Ovum report notes: “One area in which TestDrive-Assist can be surprisingly appropriate is in unstable, changing circumstances. The two most notable situations are the first release of an application and in agile processes.”

Herzlich continues: “By recording your manual test, you may not have the benefit of full automation, such as automatic data entry and validation. However, you do get an audit trail and clear information for reproducing bugs. The ability to automatically migrate your test to an automated one may pay off immediately, if you are lucky, but in any case, by the end of your scrum or iteration, it will form the foundation of a future automated test. “

This report has recently been published by Ovum and can be downloaded free of charge from Original Software’s website.

Original Software’s Directors attempt ‘Golf Marathon’ this Tuesday

George and Stuart in training

An insane stunt to raise money for some needy orphans

George Wilson, one of our esteemed founders and Stuart Bishop, Head of Development, will be tackling a marathon combined with three full rounds of golf in one day (Tuesday the 2^nd of June) in the hope of raising money to support a Nepalese children’s orphanage. Running between the three Hampshire-based golf courses and playing 18 holes at each course, they, along with others at the company will be aiming to raise £5000 sponsorship to help with some of the costs of securing a new home for the children.

Mr Wilson’s daughter who is doing voluntary work with the children out in Nepal, found out that the Orphanage was likely to have to close when their landlord decided to sell the premises. They are now desperately trying to raise money in order to fund a new home for their children…..

We’d love to open people’s eyes to the children’s plight and gain as much sponsorship and support for this cause as possible.

George and Stuart will be hoping to complete the rather insane ‘Golf Marathon’ during daylight hours this Tuesday, setting off at about 6am from Horton Heath and running (or rather limping in George’s case – he seems to have pulled a muscle!) to tee off from South Winchester Golf Course at around 7.30am. From there they will run to Royal Winchester Golf Course for another 18 holes to be followed by yet more running, finishing up at Hockley Golf Course 27 miles later, aiming to complete the marathon by about 6pm.

Supporters and spectators are more than welcome and I will be taking lots of photos throughout the day. If you are interested in finding out more or sponsoring the event, please visit: http://www.justgiving.com/georgeandstuart

RIP TestPlan, Long live Qualify

PRODUCT UPDATE – From next month Original Software will be replacing TestPlan, its original test planning tool, with a brand new solution named Qualify. Although the product will not have its official media launch until Autumn, when the additional enhancements will push it into a category of its own, Qualify v.1 will be on sale from April and far outstrips its predecessor in terms of its configurability and graphical interface.

A complete Application Quality Management (AQM) solution that unites requirements, test execution, defect management and reporting within one platform, with integrated communications channels and multi format reporting, Qualify provides all the information needed to make truly informed application quality decisions.

For more information, please visit the Qualify page on our corporate website , which includes a link to the official data sheet pdf.

Stirring Up a 5 Minute Revolution at TestExpo this week

EVENT NEWS – Original Software, the Application Quality Management (AQM) vendor, is hoping to cause a stir at this year’s TestExpo show, held at the Congress Centre in London WC1 this Thursday (the 26^th March).

Exhibiting on stand number three, Original Software will be proving it is possible to build and run a fully automated regression test in less than five minutes. Delegates will also have the chance to chat to experts and win a Nintendo Wii by taking part in an interactive game on the stand.

George Wilson, the company’s Operations Director will be speaking in the midday slot of the conference tack, and his presentation ‘The 5 Minute Quality Revolution’ is aimed at making QA professionals re-think their perceptions of automation and show them how they can heighten productivity. “In this live presentation I will not only build a regression test from scratch, but run the test, change the application under test and re-run the regression test again – All in five minutes and without touching a single piece of code! We are calling it the 5 minute quality revolution and in those 5 minutes I’ll make you re-think your views about automation. There is a perception in the industry that automation is complicated and time consuming to achieve – many users have been scarred by solutions that take years to set up with lengthy builds and high maintenance scripts – we want to prove them wrong!”

TestExpo is one of the best UK software testing events and is free to attend for all pre-registered delegates. It includes a full programme of free presentations and lectures given by experts from the top companies in testing. Join us there by registering online at http://www.testexpo.co.uk.

March issue of Testing Experience Magazine

The March issue of Testing Experience Magazine has been published and there is a great article from our very own George Wilson (pages 94-96) – The Reality of Software Testing in an Agile Environment. Ten QA Myths Blown Apart. Check it out at:

Update: This url may be moved or archived later: – http://www.testingexperience.com/this_issue.html

Debenhams sets store by improved quality

Debenhams, the leading department stores group, has turned to Original Software to help save its IT department time and money, enabling it to deliver system enhancements more rapidly and raise the quality of its dotcom website through more thorough testing of the back-end systems that drive it.

With online sales bucking the retail trend in the current economic slowdown, the Debenhams.com site is of strategic importance to the group. Now more than ever before, ensuring the quality of, and IT service delivery to, the online shop front, is vital to capitalising on its success.

Dominic Nash, Business Systems Controller at Debenhams is anticipating significant time and resource savings as a result of their investment in Original Software. “It’s been just a few weeks, but we’re already up and running with the system, and a task that had previously taken us more than two weeks – extracting test data – took less than half a day using TestBench”.

The Debenhams team wanted a comprehensive solution to help with unit, system, end-to-end, and regression testing of their IBM systems, which were largely being manually tested up until this point. They undertook comprehensive study of tools on the market, looking at performance, ease-of-use and specific product features.

Nash continued: “The functionality in TestBench is first rate. Being able to automate tests to run overnight will generate substantial time-savings. The database extraction tool allows us to quickly and easily extract data from the live systems, creating a subset for use in a realistic testing environment. You can create checkpoints, rolling back the changes and resetting the environment if it becomes corrupted by any testing activity and TestBench is so user-friendly it’s taken us virtually no time at all to get up and running.”

“The same Debenhams team will prove even more advantageous to the business, delivering applications with increased agility, improving efficiency and raising service levels across the board.” concludes Nash.