Selection of a Testing

Certification Standard

Susan N. Burgess“There’s got to be a better way.

Let’s find it together.”

2007 November

Who Am I? Vice President, Promotions, Canadian

Software Testing Board (CSTB) – Canadian national board of ISTQB

Member of Sheridan College Program Advisory Committee for IT

6 years as Senior Manager, Enterprise Test Consulting, Royal Bank of Canada

So – Why am I here?

Objective

Explain why RBC chose ISTQB certification as their standard for QA education

Show you some survey results Encourage you to consider ISTQB

curriculum for QA education in your company

What prompted RBC to make this decision?

A Serious Production Problem

Every company has production problems! No process is fool proof! If something can go wrong, eventually it

will!

Problems happen…!!

RBC is no exception Anyone remember the summer of 2004??? “processing interruption”, “computer glitch” Very public problem!!

What was the cause?

The High Level Cause?

Human error and the domino effect

Was That All? Studies were done

There Were Deeper Findings

Not a systemic problem But one finding was that….. Quality Assurance was not being given

enough priority

Needed to Emphasize QA

QA Career path needed revisiting Job descriptions QA organizations

QA Education needed to be improved Education program tailored to match the new career

path Education program was made current

Decision made: QA staff were to become professionally Certified!!!

Many Testing /QA Certifying Bodies International Software Testing Qualification

Board Quality Assurance Institute International Institute for Software Testing Software Quality Engineering …….

Why ISTQB? Reputation of instructors Did not require significant financial

investment at a junior level (one course – Foundations)

ISTQB was still building syllabi in more advanced and expert education levels Opportunity to influence

Seemed to match RBC’s culture well

First Steps First Foundations Course

Rave reviews !!!! Word spread – demand was high

Commitment from Executives Set % target for

certification of QA staff

Underway Pass/fail rate was acceptable – guesses?

But… Foundations course was not enough

Additional Courses Subject Matter Expert Sessions

RBC experts Introduction to testing Performance testing Test environments Test tools

Advanced ISTQB courses Technical Tester Test Manager Functional Tester

Training Plan ISTQB courses at every level from Jnr QA

Analyst to Snr QA Manager

Survey Results 6 months after Foundations course:

80% would recommend course to others

62% believe QA performance has improved since completing course (e.g. dynamic and static testing techniques)

71% believe their confidence increased

Today Feedback

Targets for 2008

Pleased with ISTQB?

Thank you