Though all projects follow similar starting phases, their progress scenarios can vary. A1QA offers a communication process that allows unifying the lifecycle of any project, regardless of any differences and specific features available.

Startup – The focus of this phase is to analyze project requirements, develop a proposal, and create an initial version of test documentation.

System review – This phase implies work on first deliverables of the test product. Minor updates to the test documentation may be required following initial tests and as a result of deeper understanding of the system.

Functional and regression testing – Iterative activities are performed for each product version in this phase. Regular testing includes full testing of new and regression testing of old functionality. This approach ensures that the maximum number of defects is discovered before the acceptance testing phase. Regular testing decreases the number of defects in further product versions and thus reduces the risk of critical errors occurring at the end of the project.

Acceptance testing – This phase is designed to control final product quality on the terminal platform. Product delivery requires external access to the customer’s test platform or versions that can be installed on the A1QA side. Frequency of delivery can vary from several builds per day to several builds per year, depending on the project size and specific work arrangements on the customer side.

A1QA offers several cooperation models that meet customer interests and encourage improvement in quality of the final product. The models assume various degrees of the customer’s participation, from partial participation in test activities to completely independent system-related activities.

The company commonly uses a defect tracking system for real-time information exchange. It possible to arrange a data storage system on the A1QA side with external access provided for the customer or use any other existing system preferred by the customer, including remote storage on the customer side.

A1QA specialists have profound experience in using the following defect tracking systems: ClearQuest, Bugzilla, JIRA, ForBugz, TFS, TRAC, PVCS, Requisite Pro. The company gives special attention to reporting, offering a wide range of standard test reports and showing flexibility in report modification:

• Real-time reports extracted from the defect tracking system
• Reports for individual builds of the product
• General reports on product quality and development progress

A1QA takes into account all customer requirements to documentation, from minor changes to completely new customized versions.