A Risk-Based Testing Approach

The Scotland Rural Development Programme (SRDP) is a £1.6 billion Scottish Government programme of economic, environmental and social measures to develop rural Scotland between 2007 and 2013. 

One of the SRDP's key initiatives is the implementation of Rural Priorities - a new policy that has been approved by the European Commission, which funds the scheme. Sopra Group worked jointly with a number of public sector organisations to deliver the testing solution for Rural Priorities.

Background

The Rural Priorities programme incorporates the funding process for all rural payments in Scotland and is in line with the Scottish Government's vision for Shared Services; it is delivered in partnership by the Scottish Government's Rural Payments and Inspections Directorate (RPID), Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) and Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH).  Land grants were formerly awarded separately by each of these organisations, but applicants had to submit three separate applications (one to each organisation) in order to be considered for grants.

Rural Priorities is also a competitive land and capital application scheme - it ensures that awards are only made for proposals which best meet agreed regional priorities.  In the past, applications simply had to be submitted on time and meet the requirements to receive a grant, whereas now each application is sent to an evaluation committee for consideration. 

Previously the different schemes for rural payments included the option of applying via paper-based forms, but it was clear that the only way to successfully deliver the new policy was to develop an online system; this is the first time that a Scottish Government rural payments scheme has been developed to run the application process entirely online.

Why Sopra Group?

A high-profile ministerial announcement meant the new system's 'go live' date of 7th April 2008 was unmovable.  This ensured that from the beginning testing was a completely integral part of the development project as confidence in the overall quality of the final system was key to ensuring a smooth launch. 

RPID is the Paying Agency for the SRDP and it was agreed that the new Rural Priorities scheme would run on its systems.  As it already had an established partnership with RPID Sopra Group was the natural choice to deliver the testing solution.  A key part of this partnership is the area of testing where Sopra Group and RPID have worked together in integrated teams (since 2000) to introduce and maintain IT systems that manage rural payments.  During this time the two organisations have worked in partnership to enhance RPID's testing approach to include the formation of independent System Test and User Acceptance Test teams and the provision of test managers, analysts and tools' engineers to work alongside RPID staff. 

In addition to the testing solution, Sopra Group also provided technical consultancy services and developers to build the new application.

Solution

As the timescales for delivery were so tight (around 8 weeks) Sopra Group recommended a Risk-Based Testing framework – an approach that is designed to meet the challenges of having too little time, people and money to completely satisfy a system's testing requirements and prioritises tests according to their level of risk to the business.  Working closely with the client's business managers, Sopra Group helped the three organisations identify individual priorities according to their most business-critical needs such as making payments on time and complying with European Commission directives.

Coordinating a test strategy across three different organisations, each with multiple sites throughout Scotland and individual internal processes was extremely challenging.  Sopra Group's testing experts defined a test strategy that coordinated both System Testing (ST) and User Acceptance Testing (UAT) teams on site across each organisation.  Using a Risk-Based Testing approach helped to dovetail test coverage between the test teams to minimise repetition and ensure that the identified business-critical priorities of all three organisations were fully tested including:

• Cross-browser accessibility – there was a legal requirement for the new application to be accessible to multiple web browsers 
• Testing of the online web Statement of Intent (application) – this was particularly challenging for the UAT teams as the Scottish Government had brought in end users from multiple area offices to do the testing, many of whom had limited IT experience 
• Functional and data migration testing of both new and legacy back office systems.

Benefits

Sopra Group ensured the testing process was carried out to the highest standards possible with maximum use of resource available in limited time; this enabled the successful delivery of a new web-based application that seamlessly integrated the requirements of each partner organisation.  Benefits of the new system include:

• Simplification of the grant application process – this helps to present Rural Priorities as a modern and efficient public service as farmers and land managers now only need to complete one online application form instead of three
• Enabling the Scottish Government to deliver a new European-Commission-approved policy to very tight timescales
• Cost efficiencies – reduced administration time required for staff to key in data; the payment allocation process has also been centralised and simplified.

Sopra Group's testing approach was fundamental to ensuring a smooth launch of the system on time as there was no viable way of delivering it successfully in the timescales identified without using a Risk-Based Testing strategy.

Future Developments

Sopra Group's relationship with RPID is ongoing and continues to provide support for system enhancements for the new application.

"This is the first time we have been asked to develop a shared IT system integrating our requirements
 with those of other Government Agencies. Our challenge was to deliver a complex design within a tight deadline.  Making optimal use of test resources across the various teams was therefore critical to the successful launch of the system."

Cathy Watkins
SRDP IT Programme Manager at RPID