No delivery without the Quality Assurance team
Every new software update and every release is put through its paces by the Quality Assurance department, or QA for short. In the interview of our new interview series WSCAD Insights, Robert Mattauch, Software Test Engineer, tells us how QA is integrated within WSCAD, what its testing processes look like and how you as a customer can get involved in Quality Assurance.
How long have you been with WSCAD and what are your tasks there?
I have been with WSCAD GmbH for 25 years. I was in technical support for a long time and have moved to QA as a software test engineer since 2018 due to my broad software knowledge. Within Quality Assurance, I am responsible for testing software products after the implementation of new features or bug fixes, for regression testing and creating test plans, as well as for automating tests.
What is the QA department responsible for at WSCAD? What are the requirements for the team?
The Quality Assurance department improve the quality of the software before it is delivered to the customer. The goal here is always to provide users with software that is as error-free, user-friendly and performant as possible. The quality assurance department is the last link in the development chain before our customers receive the software. We are responsible for ensuring that the software is delivered with a high standard of quality.
How is the QA team structured at WSCAD?
The team consists of six people – four of us come from WSCAD Support and two have joined QA directly. They look at many points from a different, new angle. This mixture of experienced and new employees covers many points of the software and is enormously enriching for QA.
What are the processes in quality assurance?
At WSCAD, QA works together with all specialist departments. The work is organised via a central tool. All tasks of the development process, which is carried out according to the Scrum method, are defined there and processed by the corresponding department. There is direct cooperation with the development department, the requirement team and support. We discuss functional processes with these departments and address reported bugs or features. Within the development process, the quality assurance team takes over manual testing, i.e. testing of solved bugs or features, as well as the automation of test scenarios using test software.
What is the procedure for dealing with bugs? How are bugs resolved?
Bugs are usually reported directly to support by customers and internal colleagues. Due to the close exchange between our QA, Support and Development departments, a prompt, joint evaluation of the bugs is possible. After the evaluation, the bug is transferred to a sprint, where it is then solved via the development process and made available to the customer with one of the next releases.
How will QA develop at WSCAD in the future?
Quality assurance is a high priority at WSCAD. That is why the QA team is being further expanded. In the future, the focus will be even more on test automation. Many tests can then run overnight and give us more security.
As a customer, can you be involved in quality assurance at WSCAD?
As a customer, you can participate directly in the software development process as a beta tester. You get access to updates before the official release date and help to continuously improve the quality of the WSCAD software through feedback.
Dear Robert, thank you very much for the interview and for the insights into the quality assurance department!
Gladly.
