Ascent OS - Transformation through Streamlined QA Process

Services offered : QA Testing

Overview

Based in the Bay Area in California, Ascent OS is a company dedicated to empowering renewable energy providers with enterprise-grade software to optimize their operations, enhance profitability, and ensure predictable cash flows.
The Ascent OS platform incorporates advanced analytics for informed decision-making and seamlessly integrates sales, installation, and customer experience processes. With Ascent OS, businesses can consolidate their entire work-in-progress in one place and tailor project stage pipelines to meet unique business needs.

The Challenge

The Ascent OS team operated on a very lean model where the dev team was also responsible for testing operations. As a result, the same team was responsible for deploying builds, testing them, & then moving them to the production environment. Due to the increased workload, errors crept into the process and led to significant challenges where multiple builds were deployed to the production environment.
As a result, customers encountered major issues in the core application, including performance degradation, accessibility & usability problems, as well as functional issues. The resulting Priority1 & Priority2 defects subsequently impacted business operations for Ascent OS as well as their customer base.

The Solution

To address these challenges, Amzur engaged in extensive discussions with Ascent OS to understand their development and deployment issues thoroughly. Amzur then established a robust QA process following ISO/ CMMi level 3 documentation and artifacts. This process involved devising strong test strategies, test plans, and test beds to comprehensively cover each functionality or user story during build deployment to higher environments such as production or UAT.
Amzur also implemented an improved ‘QA outsourcing’ approach for application testing in a dedicated QA Environment that was set up in our offshore location. The main advantages of this approach were:

It reduced the workload on the dev team, allowing them to focus on their core competencies

A dedicated QA team was able to adhere to the QA process in a much better manner, thus controlling the deployment and management of application build in a much more streamlined manner

Dev and test operations can now operate in parallel, thus reducing time-to-market

Significant reduction in the occurrence of P1 and P2 bugs, resulting in a more reliable and stable production environment.

Results / Benefits

The integration of Amzur’s QA process with Ascent OS resulted in several significant benefits:

1. Increased Defect Removal Efficiency: The application’s Defect Removal Efficiency improved to 100% compared to its previous value of 60%. This means that all defects identified during testing are now being addressed and fixed before the software is released.
2. Improved Quality Ratio: The Quality Ratio witnessed a remarkable improvement, rising to 66% from its previous level of 40%. This indicates that a higher proportion of the application’s features and functionalities now meet the desired quality standards, leading to a more reliable and robust product.
3. Enhanced Test Execution Coverage: The Test Execution Coverage saw a substantial boost, rising to 58% from its previous value of 30%. This suggests that a larger portion of the application is now being thoroughly tested, ensuring a broader scope of coverage and reducing the likelihood of undiscovered issues.

These improvements in quality and testing processes contributed to positive customer responses, leading to growth in their daily business. Major blockers on both the application and mobile/ tablet side were identified and addressed, reducing risk levels and avoiding show-stoppers.