Per the related IEEE standard, Independent Verification and Validation (V&V) processes are used to determine whether the development products of a given activity conform to the requirements of that activity and whether the product satisfies its intended use and user needs. V&V life cycle process requirements are specified for different integrity levels. The scope of V&V processes encompasses systems, software, and hardware, and it includes their interfaces. This standard applies to systems, software, and hardware being developed, maintained, or reused (legacy, commercial off-the-shelf [COTS], non-developmental items). The term software also includes firmware and microcode, and each of the terms system, software, and hardware includes documentation. V&V processes include the analysis, evaluation, review, inspection, assessment, and testing of products. Intellect provides Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) services that encompass quality assurance oversight and assessments of enterprise-level capabilities, such as validating Enterprise Architecture compliance, down to verify specific software and system testing support, such as Section 508 accessibility testing.
Approach – IV&V and Testing
Intellect applies an Independent Verification and Validation approach based on the IEEE 1012-2016, IEEE Standard for System, Software, and Hardware Verification and Validation. The approach defines an efficient process to identify authoritative data sources against which a system or process is to be validated, how to plan for audits and assessments while communicating with all parties involved, reviewing audit and assessment results, managing audit and assessment data, and reporting on results with feedback and recommendations.
For Testing, Intellect has developed approaches for a variety of Testing types that include automated and manual methods. To keep pace with Agile development and to support DevOps environments, we focus on developing robust Test Automation Frameworks that include variable-based scripts. The frameworks provide the basis for accelerating test automation—if there is a change to any test case, the tester only needs to update the test case data, which is typically done through a form or spreadsheet-like interface. Scripts that drive the testing process and start-up scripts do not need to change. This promotes reuse not only by our experienced testers that develop the frameworks, but also by more junior testers and developers, reducing long-term test staffing costs. The result is reduced cycle time more robust in-sprint testing, and ultimately a shorter time to market with lower costs.
We employ both proprietary tools such as Micro Focus (HP) ALM Quality Center, and open source tools such as Selenium. Because today’s applications need to work across multiple browsers, we provide cross-browser testing using specialized testing tools that recognize information displayed in a browser as objects such that we can test functionality against multiple browsers, including iOS and Android-based browsers on mobile device, using the same test scripts, greatly reducing testing time.
Intellect’s IV&V and Testing Services include:
- Compliance Audits and Assessments
- Performance Audits and Assessments
- Test Automation
- Functional Testing
- Integration, End-to-End Testing
- Performance Testing
- User Acceptance Testing
- Platform Testing
- Accessibility/Section 508 Testing and Remediation
Intellect’s IV&V and Testing Experience
Intellect provides IV&V and Testing support for clients including the Defense Health Agency and the Department of State.