QATrax Test Environment Management. Mission Statement

Transcription

1 QATrax Test Envirnment Management Missin Statement

2 What We D With increased glbalizatin, accelerated prduct delivery requirements, and increased testing demands, TraxStar has develped an innvative ffering that enhances visibility, streamlines testing peratins, and imprves cmmunicatin between the test envirnments and impacted areas thrughut the rganizatin. With the pace f new prduct intrductin and the market penalties fr pr quality, cmpanies have increased pressure t cmpress test windws while delivering quality prducts. Test envirnments by nature have dynamic requirements in terms f prcess, timing, dependencies and crdinatin. These dynamics are nt easily accmmdated in ERP r PLM slutins, but they are by design in TraxStar s ffering. TraxStar s slutin excels when there is a high cst t unsatisfactry utcmes, significant uncertainty in achieving delivery dates and where available resurces are finite. TraxStar addresses the testing envirnment with a sftware slutin and best practices prcess that balances value t management, custmers, requestrs and users with a lwer cst fr feeding the beast (i.e. the effrt required). HOW? 1. Autmate and streamline. 2. Eliminate nn-value added activities: Be relentless D nt be bund by we ve always dne it this way 3. Imprve executin: Create a plan based n delivery dates. Schedule the activities and reserve apprpriate resurces. Increase visibility. As events unfld, evaluate the impact f ripples caused by unplanned events upn the prjects, the resurces and the delivery dates. Alert. Ntify the apprpriate agents (peple and systems). Revise the plan. Use lessns learned and alternative resurce availability t suggest better schedules. TraxStar s philsphy is t allw the users t manage their wn lk and feel, their wn dashbards and alerts. Our sftware system aggregates data frm varius surces, mnitrs events (parts d nt arrive, equipment ges dwn, peple d nt shw up) and the ripple effects these events have n dwnstream activities, and suggests better slutin sets (schedules, resurces and activities). The architecture cmbines ff-the-shelf and pen surce cmpnents t allw users t cnfigure the prduct, rather than ask TraxStar t custmize. Because f the dynamic nature f tests, test envirnment users need increased ability t handle their wn affairs in a simple manner, lessening their dependence upn IT and vendrs.

3 Fr glbal management, QATrax prvides: Visibility, resulting in the ability t act quickly and leverage resurces, thereby increasing utilizatin and the likelihd f meeting the prduct gals fr timing and quality, A means f eliminating nn-value added activities, Alerts f key accmplishments and failures, and the dwnstream ripples f thse same accmplishments and failures, and The basis fr real time metrics t judge the relative perfrmance f the labs. Fr requestrs and custmers, QATrax prvides: Visibility, resulting in the ability t act quickly, thereby increasing the likelihd f meeting the prduct gals fr timing and quality, Self-service visibility int the prject status and resurce bttlenecks, Alerts f key accmplishments and failures, Flexibility t mdify test plans, yet still track t due dates, and Visibility int test details and attributes t quickly identify test results that are valid fr ther prjects. Fr lab peratins, QATrax prvides: Significantly imprved lab peratins, Imprves scheduling, fcuses resurces n test executin, and enhances visibility and agility Simplifying cmmunicatin f real-time prduct test infrmatin Meeting industry quality standards (ISO and s frth) Effrtlessly prducing billing, metric and ther specialized reprts Self-service, reducing the burden n lab peratins f prviding real-time visibility int the current state f play f their activities, Dcuments, by resurce (wh, what and when) in a single surce histrical repsitry, Standardized prcess and prcedures in cmpliance with managerial, legal and peratinal requirements, and A catalyst fr and means f eliminating nn-value added activities What Are Test Envirnments? Test envirnments are ften differentiated as t their purpse (e.g. reliability, validatin, R&D, failure analysis, analytical), revenue generating system and infrastructure testing r by the prduct line they supprt. These test labs perfrm a brad spectrum f tests fr internal and external purpses. Internal requirements ften center n reliability and failure analysis. External requirements are ften driven by gvernmental regulatins, which tend t differ glbally frm regin t regin, r driven by industry guidelines (fr example, the U.S. aut industry). Cmmn tests include varius types f safety,

4 climatic, electrmagnetic cmpatibility, acustic, vibratin, etc. Trained persnnel using test wrkstatins cmprised f calibrated pieces f equipment typically perfrm tests t a dcumented standard. Large manufacturing facilities tend t have internal prduct test labs. Service prviders als have internal infrastructure test labs. There are als a few large cmmercial test labs (e.g. UL and ITS) and many smaller labs as well. Test lab custmers may be external t the cmpany r represent internal engineering r prduct/prgram managers wh think in terms f prjects, prgrams and prducts. These prjects are ften brken dwn int a series f jbs r wrk requests, where a single wrk request can represent a single test r activity r hundreds f them. The prducts which are t be tested may be prttypes r fully functinal, while the samples, n which tests are perfrmed, may number in the hundreds f units, althugh ne t frty is typical. Test reprts may be simple data dumps r frmal reprts in a predefined frmat as determined by the relevant authrity r agency (e.g. FCC). Test Envirnment Management Prblems Managerial Perspective Tests are variable by design, but are frequently n the critical path t delivering quality prducts n time Meeting marketing and sales prduct delivery dates is f the utmst imprtance but high quality must be maintained. As things g awry, tls are needed t make management aware f the immediate cncerns, the ripples that have a significant impact n subsequent activities, and pprtunities fr imprvements. Integrated Enterprise Planning Management needs imprved scheduling, reserving finite resurces fr all significant activity in a practical timeframe (nt just fr this week). Visibility int a single lab r ver a grup f labs - Bth Custmers and Lab Management cite a need t knw a prject s current state f play, t knw if they are n schedule and t be apprised f changes as they ccur. When needed, visibility acrss all labs and schedules fsters rapid schedule refinement and recvery and streamlines cmmunicatin t all impacted parties. Managing resurces - Test wrkstatins and test persnnel are the key resurces managed. What is available? When is it available? Where are the bttlenecks? QATrax apprach t managing resurces is centered n scheduling wrk rders (tests) with the apprpriate technician(s) and wrkstatin(s). Tgether, we increase the utilizatin f test wrkstatins and the effectiveness f lab persnnel. Mitigating Risk - Prduct liability is an underlying theme. The cst f failure (prduct recall, damaged reputatin, litigatin and resulting awards r settlements) is escalating. Management can reduce the risk f perfrming tests with: Increased efficiency results in increased test capacity,

5 Visibility int resurces available acrss the cmpany imprves yur ability t cmplete tests AND meet prduct release requirements, and Scheduled maintenance f equipment during lw utilizatin times, imprves availability and reliability. Metrics - A highly visible means f setting and mnitring perfrmance standards is a general industry requirement. Fr effective cmparisn amng labs, standard prcesses are necessary. Labr and equipment hurs are key t billing and csting. Prcess bttlenecks vary, but tw cmmn measures are the elapsed time frm acceptance f a wrk request t the beginning f testing, and the elapsed time frm cmpletin f a test t the issuance f a test reprt. Operatinal Perspective Managing change Prperly rescheduling tests is ften cited as a lab manager s number ne peratinal issue. The ramificatins f change are manyfld, increasing the risk f prviding services that d nt cmply with standards. Managing resurces - Test wrkstatins and test persnnel are the key resurces managed. What is available? When is it available? Where are the bttlenecks? QATrax apprach t managing resurces is centered n scheduling wrk rders (tests) with the apprpriate technician(s) and wrkstatin(s). Managing cmmunicatin - All cnstituencies, custmers, management and lab persnnel are driven by a need t knw basis. The high frequency f change, driven by custmer requirements, missed deliverables, discveries, and mving pririties drives a need fr frequent custmer cmmunicatin and ntificatin t the technicians perfrming the test. Cmmunicating with all cnstituencies can be a tremendus time sink if nt handled expeditiusly. Special requests - Anther huge time sink that is ften phrased as a request fr an audit (internal r external), supprt t legal, underlying infrmatin t supprt management metrics, supprt fr the time spent meeting a custmer s needs, r addressing a particular prduct issue. Cnsistent capture f relevant data greatly reduces time spent gathering and reviewing infrmatin requests. Cmmercial Slutins? Prducts that prvide brad visibility such as ERP d nt have the granularity and flexibility required t manage test envirnments. Prducts that are sufficiently granular d nt scale well t prvide enterprise visibility. There are prducts that target labs that are sample centric, fcused n extracting and analyzing sample data frm test wrkstatins, but d nt address finite scheduling. Pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and fdstuffs are the cre verticals served. These slutins are knwn as LIMS (labratry infrmatin management slutins). In test

6 envirnments whse primary peratinal requirements are scheduling and cmmunicatin t requesters, QATrax can functin effectively as yur LIMS. QATrax is the cmmercial sftware slutin fcused n discrete manufacturers and infrastructure test labs that addresses glbal finite resurce scheduling as cre functinality. Additinally, ur sftware develpment philsphy encmpasses user cnfigurable cmmercial sftware t eliminate nn-value added activities and autmate as many ther activities as is practical. We reduce the users dependence n traditinal IT r vendr (TraxStar) supprt, empwering uses t simply manage their wn affairs. Abut TraxStar Technlgies TraxStar develps cnfigurable cmmercial ff-the-shelf slutins (QATrax) fr envirnments where there is a high cst t unsatisfactry utcmes, significant uncertainty in achieving delivery dates and where available resurces are finite. TraxStar prducts vastly imprve efficiency and scheduling reliability. These prducts are high perfrmance, scalable slutins. Infrmatin abut TraxStar and its prducts can be fund n the Wrld Wide Web at Cntact TraxStar Sales at (800) r inf@traxstar.cm fr additinal infrmatin.