International survey reveals companies still struggle with application quality

Compuware-funded study shows it is tough to improve without a formal QA process

A recent survey commissioned by Compuware and conducted by Forrester Consulting has found that 85 per cent of senior IT executives believe application quality is either critical or very critical to their overall effectiveness. Less than half of those surveyed, however, have a formal process in place for improving application quality.

In the survey report - titled Today's Quality Assurance Practices: How Can We Continue to Improve? - 305 US and European IT executives from large companies revealed their approach to software quality assurance. The study examined how companies approach application quality to identify which practices are most effective at improving the delivery of high quality applications.

"Establishing quality controls and purchasing quality tools is a good place to start, but organisations stand to gain even more from these investments by implementing a standard, centralised methodology, a continuous improvement program and management-focused metrics," said Rick Chau, Managing Director, Greater China for Compuware Asia.

While 63 per cent of respondents launched efforts to address application quality issues more than three years ago and more than half have invested in testing tools, improvements are still not meeting expectations. Of the 164 respondent who invested in testing tools, only 29 per cent have seen significant improvement.

When asked about the biggest barriers to improving application quality, respondents ranked not having standardised quality procedures at the top of a list of five possible reasons. IT staff untrained on QA procedures and the lack of a formal process placed second and third, respectively.

"Technology won't deliver quality. Effective testing processes and skilled staff make all the difference," said Margo Visitacion, Principal Analyst at Forrester Research. "Unless development, QA and operations staff are on-board with the testing process, organisational boundaries will blur and responsibilities won't be clear."

Of the 32 per cent of respondents that have seen a huge improvement in application quality, 64 per cent consistently apply a formal quality assurance methodology. Forty-five per cent of the 117 respondents who consistently apply a formal methodology have seen huge improvements in application quality. Additionally, 52 per cent of the 129 respondents who consistently apply a formal methodology said that they are very effective at eliminating defects before deployment.

"With the complexity of today's business infrastructure, IT managers are hard-pressed to manage risks effectively and ultimately judge when an application is ready to deploy. Compuware's approach to application quality includes best practices, certified experts, a patented methodology and award-winning tools -in the right combination to meet customers' unique business needs," said Chau.

For companies looking for a quality management solution, the Compuware Application Reliability Solution (CARS) provides a flexible approach to implementing standard processes and practices across the entire IT organisation. CARS combines Compuware's own quality assurance tools and highly skilled professionals with a flexible, proven, risk-based testing methodology, QualityPoint.

"As CARS aligns quality assurance activities with critical business requirements, IT organisations can focus their application quality efforts on those areas that matter most. In the end, companies deliver reliable applications on time and in line with business demands - more cost-effectively," said Chau.

CARS creates an objective mechanism to weigh and prioritise what to test and a discipline that leverages best practices consistently across an organisation. By linking development, quality assurance and operations teams together, business and IT managers gain the information they need to balance application quality issues against costs and schedules.

Methodology

Compuware commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct a study regarding how U.S. and European IT organisations approach quality assurance. In August and September of 2004, the independent research firm interviewed 305 senior IT managers from a wide range of industries using a structured methodology. The firm spoke with 180 IT executives in North America and 125 IT executives in Europe (France, Germany and the United Kingdom). Fifteen per cent of executives represented companies with annual revenues in excess of $10 billion; 55 per cent of them represented companies with annual revenues ranging from $1 billion to $10 billion and 30 per cent of surveyed executives represented companies with annual revenues ranging from $500 million and $1 billion.

About Compuware

Compuware Corporation (Nasdaq: CPWR) maximizes the value IT brings to the business by helping CIOs more effectively manage the business of IT. Compuware solutions accelerate the development, improve the quality and enhance the performance of critical business systems while enabling CIOs to align and govern the entire IT portfolio, increasing efficiency, cost control and employee productivity throughout the IT organization. Founded in 1973, Compuware serves the world's leading IT organizations, including more than 90 percent of the Fortune 100 companies. For more information about Compuware, please visit Compuware at http://www.compuware.com/.