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When the vendor provides their annual release, the organization probably goes through formal testing. But what about patches and bug fixes? Do you not always do formal testing cycles, gambling with the testing roulette wheel?

Testing is a critical step in the implementation process to ensure that the software functions as intended, meet requirements, and delivers the desired outcomes. It helps to identify any errors or defects that may impact the systemâs functionality, reliability, or performance. The testing effort involved will vary depending on the type and size of the change.

Types Of Testing

There are several different types of testing to customize and meet your needs. Some different testing types are:

1. Regression Testing â testing to ensure that the change hasnât negatively impacted any existing features or functionality.

2. Negative Testing â intentional testing for invalid inputs to verify that the software recognizes and processes the error.

3. Integration Testing â tests the different modules to ensure they integrate and work together properly.

4. Security Testing â includes tests like penetration testing to identify vulnerabilities in security.

5. Compatibility Testing â to verify that the software works across different devices, browsers, and operating systems.

6. Documentation Testing â to test the accuracy of the documentation. Gather feedback from the users about the usefulness of the documentation.

7. Accessibility Testing â tests accessibility for users with disabilities to ensure the software meets applicable accessibility standards.

Testing Best Practices

An organization may not test because they âtrustâ the vendor, or they underestimate the potential risks and consequences of not testing. But with everyone so busy with competing priorities, another rationale is resource constraints. They donât think they have adequate resources (e.g., skilled personnel, time, or budget) to test. Whatever the reason, they may assume that the risks of not testing are minimal or manageable and may not prioritize testing.

There are best practices for testing technology. First are the people resources. Make sure you involve IT as well as the relevant business users to make sure all testing aspects are adequately assessed. There is a relevant quote: âMany hands make light work.â The next best practice is to have a separate test environment (so that youâre not testing in production).

When testing, create comprehensive test plans/scripts to provide a roadmap for the testing process. Define the testing scope, resources, and scenarios using real-life scenarios to test functionality, security, and performance in a more realistic setting. Document the test results comparing the actual outcomes against the expected outcomes. If the test doesnât pass, track the defects using an issue-tracking system. This will allow you to capture, prioritize, and track issues to resolution.

Unlike a big birthday/anniversary party, nobody likes big surprises (aka a major issue) after implementing a seemingly minor patch into production. If you properly test and there are issues, you can decide to accept the risk of moving forward and temporarily creating a workaround.

If you install the software (even a patch or bug fix) without testing, then you introduce the risk of having unintended results/consequences. Does the risk of not testing outweigh the time savings of not testing? If you follow the best practices, you can make the testing process more efficient.

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Is Software Testing Really Important?

Technology is seemingly ubiquitous within organizations. When things go wrong, whom does the end user typically reach out to for help? The help desk! In many organizations, the help desk is available when the business is working, which sometimes can be 24/7.

The most important aspect of the help desk is the people. Each team member should feel motivated and empowered to do their job. You want to cultivate each team member individually and as a team. Everyone brings something special to the table so create a supportive and inclusive team environment. Encourage mutual respect, a willingness to collaborate and help each other, and to have shared team-based goals.

Once the team is established and has great synergy, thatâs not the end. Make sure you provide ongoing training and professional development opportunities for the team. With technology constantly changing, itâs critical to keep them updated with the latest software, tools, and best practices. Investing in ongoing training and personal development will enhance their technical skills, customer service abilities, problem-solving capabilities, and overall efficiency.

The next step is to give the team the tools they need to do their job. Provide tools and technologies that facilitate communication and collaboration. This includes a platform (such as an intranet site) with shared documents including FAQs, procedures, contact lists, etc. to facilitate collaboration and information sharing. Also, are you able to offer a mobile app that enables the help desk team to access and manage tickets remotely? If team members are âon call,â an app facilitates providing remote support timely which improves responsiveness.

Improving Help Desk Efficiency

Improving the efficiency of the help desk can significantly increase productivity as well as customer satisfaction. Some additional items you can offer geared toward end users are to:

1. Establish clear service-level agreements (SLAs) that define response times and resolution targets for different types of support requests. This provides expectations for both the help desk team as well as end users. For example, the help desk will respond to user maintenance requests within 24 hours. Regularly monitor and report on SLA compliance to ensure timely completion and to identify areas for improvement.

2. Continuously measure and analyze key performance indicators (KPIs). Several websites (such as www.kpi.org) define KPIs by business function. Some help-desk-related KPIs are first response time, average resolution time, and tickets by type. Use this data to identify trends and areas for improvement. Solicit feedback from end users through surveys to understand their experience and identify areas for improvement.

3. Implement self-service options (e.g., password reset option, FAQs, and knowledgebase) to empower end users. This allows end users to be more self-sufficient and find solutions to common issues. This can reduce the number of service requests and allow the help desk team to focus on more complex tickets.

4. Implement a comprehensive ticketing system to track support requests.

What Makes A Good Ticketing System

Ticketing system, support request, help desk

A good ticketing system should support various communication channels like phone, email, and portal forms, allowing tickets to be generated from multiple sources. It allows the help desk team to easily create, streamline assignments, prioritize, and track tickets. Make sure the help desk team is trained in using the ticketing system effectively. A great ticketing system will provide advanced features/functionality such as:

1. Features for effective end-user communication and feedback. It will provide automated notifications and updates on ticket status changes and provide end users with visibility of the ticket status. It also allows end users to provide feedback and rate their support experience. These types of features provide transparency, foster positive relationships, and improve customer satisfaction.

2. Automation capabilities to streamline processes and workflow management. Based on certain criteria (e.g., ticket type, priority, or requester), the system can kick off predefined workflows and rules for automatic ticket routing, escalation, and notifications. This type of automation reduces manual effort, ensures consistency, and improves response times.

3. Comprehensive reporting and analytics capabilities because you want to be able to measure whatâs being done. It will provide real-time and historical data for KPIs and other relevant metrics. Robust reporting helps to identify trends, measure performance, and make data-driven decisions for continuous improvement.

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How To Improve Help Desk Performance

Maximizing IT Investment For Long-Term Success

Many organizations are continuing to tighten their financial belts. The IT budget is normally pretty substantial so itâs becoming more critical than ever to maximize those technology investments and return on investment (ROI) to position yourself for long-term success even in challenging economic conditions.

Technology Environment Resources

Business technology investment/profit/roi (return on investment) concept

Technology needs to align with the business, so make sure you understand the business goals and needs. Talk with your business partners to understand their pain points, challenges, and opportunities. What are their strategies and priorities, and how can technology make an impact on achieving those goals? Itâs more effective when the organization doesnât operate in silos so if some groups do take those individual inputs, they should engage with business partners collectively (such as with finance, operations, and marketing) to incorporate their insights and perspectives so that you have a comprehensive understanding.

External sources can also provide valuable information. You can attend conferences and read trade magazines to stay informed about emerging technologies and industry trends. Leverage industry trends and benchmark studies such as Gartnerâs Magic Quadrant reports providing a comparison of different vendors to help align the vendorsâ strengths and challenges with your organizationâs needs.

There are many different strategies you can use to maximize your technology investments, drive operational efficiency, and specifically achieve cost savings.

Starting With A Technology Audit

Business/financial/technology audit concept

One strategy is to start off by conducting a technology audit. (Note: It may be beneficial to consult with Internal Audit who can be a business partner with invaluable insights.) Create an inventory of the key areas including software (both on premises and in the cloud), hardware, network infrastructure, and security. Once you complete the inventory, review and assess these areas to gain an understanding of the environment. Then develop an action plan that identifies specific changes, timelines, and resources needed. Some considerations are:

1. Rationalize and consolidate systems. Identify areas that have redundant, underutilized, or outdated technologies. Eliminating underutilized software licenses or retiring unnecessary components can result in cost savings by reducing licensing and maintenance costs. For example, ensure that youâre not paying for Adobe cloud-based subscription licenses for terminated employees.

2. Evaluate new technology initiatives based on their potential impact on revenue generation, cost savings, operational efficiency, or risk mitigation. Workflow automation and robotic process automation (RPA) solutions can streamline processes or automate repetitive tasks, which will improve operational efficiency. Plus, when you automate these types of tasks, you minimize errors and reduce manual effort, which allows those resources to do more value-added tasks.

3. When reviewing different solutions, consider the cost expenditures (capital vs. operating), risks (including data security and privacy), as well as scalability. You want to ensure the technology can accommodate evolving business requirements, emerging technologies, and future growth.

Moving your infrastructure from on premises to the cloud can reduce maintenance costs as well as allow organizations to only pay for the resources that they use. For example, if there is a surge in demand during the holiday season, you can spin servers up/down to match and accommodate that demand.

You can prioritize any changes or new technology initiatives based on urgency and the potential impact on business goals and needs. When implementing those new initiatives, donât forget to capture the âlessons learned.â Evaluate the technology initiativesâ ROI and key performance indicators (KPIs). And, last but not least, continuously monitor and improve to ensure the technology aligns with and meets the ever-changing business needs.

For more information on maximizing your IT investment for long-term success, follow me on LinkedIn!

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Maximizing IT Investment For Long-Term Success

Organizations must manage their IT operations or they could risk catastrophic outages and failures. What are the signs a company's IT operations are not working properly?

We recently asked our leading executives for their expert advice on the signs a company's IT operations are failing.

Here are their responses...

Michael Willis, Sports Business Operations Executive

The IT department is the backbone of off-the-field and on-field operations at the NFL. With failing IT operations, it would prove nearly impossible to maintain the necessary communications and infrastructure needed to operate in a professional sports arena.

Signs of IT failures would include:

1. Off-the-Field Operations

Home network and connectivity problems
Youâve suffered an IT security breach more than once
In-person meetings are taking longer due to Wi-Fi issues
Backup and recovery plans are a mystery
Employee productivity is down
IT issues between league office and teams during game day

2. On-Field Operations

Coach to quarterback communications problems
Sideline tablets are not working for game day
Instant replay will not be available for game officials
Media operations â cutting-edge graphics and stories
Security smart navigation to monitor dangerous weapons
Referee contact with league office for critical calls

Failing IT operations would damage the NFLâs main product â the GAME!

Michael Willis has 18+ years of experience working with accounting & sports organizations and has managed P&Ls of $10M - $125M+ with budgets of $3M-$50M+. He worked for the NFL for 22 1/2 years, mainly with the game officials working on the financial/accounting side of the business.

Lynn Holland, VP Sales & Business Development

IT operations, information technology concept

In my work of evangelizing various SaaS technology solutions on behalf of emerging startup and growth founders, largely with enterprise companies, I have the privilege of helping ops leaders to recognize and solve operational challenges that are:

Exposing them to risk
Generating excess operating costs
Diminishing the profitability of their operations

From an objective, outside-in vantage point I help escort them through the practical considerations for identifying where their operations are underperforming because of technology or the lack thereof and justify addressing it by:

Mapping the end-to-end transaction or process as it flows through siloed workgroups, their existing systems, and data requirements
Recognize when tolerated low-value activities can be automated into new processes with a measurable near-term return, taking out the risk of errors, giving time back to the staff for income-producing activities, and creating greater capacity to increase output without adding more infrastructure
Informed by auditing end-to-end operation, preventing shelfware, and building a tech-buying solution spec for needs vs. nice-to-haves to source, evaluate, and select objectively best-suited tech solutions and partners
Building a whole-organization business case for selecting and adopting the new solution to the benefit of key stakeholders and those in their charge

Like the proverbial frog in the pot, however, it can be difficult for enterprise leaders to detect when itâs time to look under the hood because their operational technology is no longer serving them well. Here are five signs itâs time for a checkup:

Lacking an owner of the end-to-end organization-wide technology and operations flow to know the process journey with associated data that flows through the organization, through departments, in and out of every system, then into a platform of record
Lacking a periodic end-to-end audit of the organization-wide technology and operations process flow
Existing operations require a manual process or data entry to transfer, share, or archive data between departments
Excel spreadsheets are still a central tool in the operational process
In the absence of an end-to-end technology and process audit, redundancies in apps, shelfware, and tolerated manual processes haven't been identified

Lynn Holland is a business development executive with 18+ years of experience taking operational, IoT & retail technologies, products, & consumer engagement to market with a focus in petroleum & convenience retail.

Carla Biasi, Personal Stylist

IT expert, information technology concept

There are a few signs I would look for if you think your company's IT operations are failing.

First, do you consistently have the same issues? We understand there are hiccups with technology, but they should be resolved or in the process of it. If your IT problems do not get fixed, there could be bigger issues at hand.

Secondly, is your company outsourcing its IT operations? If there is no in-house department to work on IT issues, it makes sense a company would outsource this function. If there's an in-house IT department, they should be handling many of the issues.

And lastly, is there a lot of turnover or employee unrest in the IT department? If so, that could be a sign of interdepartmental issues that are resulting in poor performance from the team.

Carla Biasi is a personal stylist living on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. She currently has her own business and works part-time at an upscale women's boutique and as a virtual and kit stylist for a womenâs specialty brand.

Ana Smith, Talent Architect & Global Learning Strategist

IT operations, system error, information technology concept

IT operations is a lot like your car: if something's not right, you'll know!

If your car isn't making the right noises when you start it, or if it's taking longer than usual to get going, that's a sign that something is wrong. There are other signals too: check the oil; look for leaks; check the tires and make sure they're properly inflated.

The same is true for IT systems. If your network isn't performing up to par or you're experiencing performance issues with applications and services, there could be something wrong with your infrastructure.

IT operations failure is often caused by poorly managed assets, so it's important to regularly monitor utilization levels and ensure that assets are appropriately sized for their workloads. Failure to do so can lead to increased costs due to underutilization or overprovisioning, which in turn leads to poor user experiences that negatively impact productivity and customer satisfaction levels within an organization.

My bottom-line comment would be to get a get-go alignment of metrics and expectations across different stakeholders and then measure and adjust as needed!

Ana Smith helps people & organizations achieve their full talent potential by developing and co-creating people strategies and customized solutions, and turning them into impactful outcomes and collaborative relationships, using coaching as the "red thread."

What are some other signs your company's IT operations are failing? Join the conversation inside Work It Daily's Executive Program.

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Executive Spotlight: Signs Your Companyâs IT Operations …

You receive a patch (with release notes) to fix a couple of bugs in your ERP. Do you really need to test, or can you just install the patch? If you install without testing, then you introduce the risk of having unintended results/consequences. Does that risk outweigh the time savings of not testing?

IT is responsible for understanding how the system is intended to be used and will do some of the testing but not all of it. IT performs testing such as unit, integration, and system testing. The business is responsible for deciding what/how to use the system. Since the business owns the system, they have testing responsibilities too and are responsible for user acceptance testing (UAT).

3 Key Components Of Testing

The testing effort involved will vary depending on the type and size of the change (e.g. patch/bug fix versus major upgrade/release), but the testing process is typically pretty consistent. There are three (3) key components:

1. It starts with having a test environment separate from the production environment. Individuals can enter different practice workflows without affecting production. Not only can the test environment be used for testing, but it can also be used for training purposes if itâs not cost-effective to have a separate training environment.

2. Creating comprehensive test documents (test plans and scripts). Test for items such as required fields, valid values, and date ranges. Also doing regression testing and stress testing as well as testing system performance and interfaces. The business should specifically test different scenarios from âcradle to grave,â common processes making typical user mistakes, security profiles (including those who shouldnât have access), reports, etc. Yes, the business should have written UAT test plans/scripts so that they know what they did (and didnât) test.

Tip #1 â create and use a meaningful naming convention for the test plans/scripts. It will make it easier to identify the purpose of each document without trying to figure it out by reading the entire document.
Tip #2 â create a description for each test plan/script including creation date, security role, and any special data requirements needed to perform the test.

3. You need to have sufficient data (corresponding to the test plans/scripts) in the test environment to test properly. You can create data manually or use an automated test data generation tool to create test data. Another option is to copy production and obfuscate (aka obscure or scramble) any sensitive data.

Final Thoughts

Issues discovered during testing should be logged on an issues list, tracked, and remediated. Once the business has completed user acceptance testing (UAT), they should formally sign off that they approve. Then it goes through change management, and IT loads the change into the production environment during the next scheduled maintenance window (unless itâs an emergency).

When you have the three components, then you can continue building on them. With each change, you add/clone more test plans/scripts to the testing documents library. Over time, youâll have an expansive testing documents library. So, the next time you have a single patch to install, does the risk of not taking the time to test really outweigh the possibility and inconvenience that a potential outage would cause?

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The Value Of Testing (And How To …

Who Should Own the ERP System? Hint: It’s Not IT.

Besides payroll, one of your organizationâs largest spends is probably on technology. You spent thousands of dollars to implement your new ERP system. Years later youâre still using the same version with manual compliance-related workarounds. The ERP system needs to be kept current. What do you do?

As the business continued to grow, you struggled to make the ERP system work for you. There was no written documentation for the end-users, and you created manual workarounds. Training was done verbally so end-users werenât trained consistently, and they ended up having a lot of dirty data. In the end, the business was expending extraordinary time and effort muscling to use the ERP system, and only getting a small fraction of value.

How did this situation happen? Individuals thought the small IT group should be responsible for all technology including the ERP system. So, the business wasnât involved as much as it should have been.

ERP stands for enterprise resource planningâthe entire enterprise should be involved including finance, information security, internal audit, regulatory compliance, and legal.

ERP System Responsibilities For Each Department

Although the ERP is a system (with a significant investment), the sole responsibility cannot be put on IT. Instead, the business needs to take the lead and own the system. The ERP consists of multiple modules and those âownerâ departments have a vested interest to keep the system current and to maximize using the features and functionality.

IT is responsible for understanding how the system is intended to be used.

The business is responsible for deciding what to use.

One way to break out the responsibilities is as follows:

Dept	Sample Responsibilities
IT	Obtains release notes for bug fixes, patches, and upgrades; explains features/functionality to the business Configures settings and security based on business decisions Recreates any issues reported and works with vendor on issues, bugs, custom code Creates and maintains testing documents (test plans and scripts) and performs unit, integration, and system testing Loads tested code into production environment â change management
Business	Departments âownâ their respective modules (e.g. finance, human resources, operations), which includes the internal control system Decides which features/functionality to use Creates and maintains master data records Creates end-user documentation (workflows and procedures), and updates documentation when code is updated If youâre using the system out-of-the-box and following the vendorâs best practices, the vendor should be able to give you standard end-user documentation for the basic workflows, procedures, and training materials. Then the business just needs to customize the standard documentation, and then create any outstanding end-user documentation. Creates and maintains user acceptance testing (UAT) documents, and performs user acceptance testing Reports issues to IT
Training	Maintains training documents, videos, and cheat sheets per business, and updates documentation when code is updated Offers ongoing training classes (for new employees, refreshers) If there isnât a separate training department, then this responsibility reverts to the business.

Summary

In the end, the business has the most to gain (or lose) by utilizing the ERP to align with the business needs and growth. Similar to the idiom it takes a village, the entire enterprise should be involved to keep the ERP and other major systems current and maximize their use.

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Who Should Own the ERP System? Hint: …

Whether you're a college student trying to figure out where your true calling lies, an experienced professional getting back to work, or someone just looking for a career in another field, you need to make your choice carefully. With women making considerable strides in fields that were previously male-dominated, the lines of career limitations have blurred.

There are more career choices available to women now than ever before. A woman plays many rolesâsister, daughter, friend, wife, mother, confidante, breadwinner, and so on. You, being a multitasking woman, need to find a career that not only pays you well, but allows you to be a career woman without having to compromise on any of these roles.

If you think this is impossible, think again!

Lots of women have found careers that balance beautifully with their family life. So, now that you know it isn't unthinkable to achieve work-life balance, how about making it happen for yourself?

With a plethora of options, you may have a tough time deciding which career would be most suitable for you. Of course, no two women are the same and neither are their choices. But some careers provide women with the best opportunity to achieve both career success and work-life balance.

Here are the top eight career choices for women:

1. Entrepreneurship

Woman entrepreneur working at her own restaurant

For women who want a chance to do what they really love doing, who have always dreamed of starting their own business, entrepreneurship could be the perfect career.

Wouldn't it be great to work from a place of your choice and at your own time? This would give you the flexibility to allocate time to your business and family as needed.

This is also one of the biggest challenges you will ever take up in your life as every decision will rest on your shoulders. Your employees would depend on you for their livelihood. Hence, this is also a great way to contribute to society.

Being an entrepreneur lets you be in charge because it is you who runs the show. Instead of putting in efforts to generate profits for other companies, why not channel those efforts towards creating greater profits for yourself?

2. IT

With IT companies starting up and mushrooming rapidly, it's little wonder that this field has become so popular among women.

Young women can take up a career in the IT sector after earning a certificate or bachelor's degree in an applicable field, like computer science, informational technology, and cyber security. There are also many programs available to women of all ages who want to learn how to codeâone of the most useful and in-demand skills in today's job market.

The ease and excitement of working on the internet, designing software and apps, implementing IT solutions for businesses, security, gaming, smartphones, etc. could be a huge draw. This is another field where you can make a difference as well as earn good money.

3. Medicine

Whether you choose to be a pharmacist, a surgeon, or a nurse, a career in the medical field provides women with the ability to achieve career success and wealth. Plus, there's good job security.

As a qualified professional, you will always be in high demand, and once you've gained significant work experience, there's going to be no looking back.

4. Teaching

Teaching has always been considered one of the most women-friendly careers as it allows women to spend sufficient time with their families, de-stress, go on vacations, and balance home and work. It's also one of the most rewarding and important careers anyone can choose to pursue.

The best part of being in the teaching field is that recession or no recession, your skills will always be sought after.

5. Human Resources

Woman in HR talks to a potential employee

This field is perfect for women who have a penchant for working in the corporate world and interacting with people to solve organizational issues.

The job involves shortlisting and interviewing candidates, hiring and training them, setting their pay, benefits, and perks, designing appraisal systems, formulating policies and leave structures, looking after employee welfare, and settling disputes.

Every large organization needs qualified and experienced HR personnel and they are paid quite well, too.

6. Psychology

Woman therapist talks to a group of people

No one solves problems like a woman does.

Given the fact that most women are good observers, empathetic listeners, and great communicators (all soft skills employers want in employees), they're sure to excel as psychologists or therapists.

A career in this field allows you to help those struggling to overcome many different personal and family problems. With substantial work experience, you can stand to make a lot of money and even charge on an hourly basis.

7. Interior Design

Woman chooses interior design as a career

You've probably put in a lot of thought and effort into designing your home and making it look stunning. From selecting the perfect hangers for the closet to picking out the most exquisite lampshade, you know what it takes to make a home beautiful.

Now, how about extending this talent a little further and helping others make their home look gorgeous, too? A career in interior design is a great option for women who are creative, organized, and detail-orientedâwho don't want a boring office job.

As you develop your career as an interior designer, you also gain the flexibility to pick your clients and appointments and get paid immensely well.

8. Media

For women who are creative, good at communication, and love research, media is the place to be.

All companies nowadays have (or should have) social media accounts that need managing, in addition to their primary marketing and PR departments, so this field is only growing.

Writing, advertising, public relations, journalism, photographyâthere are many choices available for women who want to pursue a career in media.

Women today can achieve it all, from financial independence to a family, and from a progressive career to a great personal and social life. And, why not? Your decisions have the potential to give you all that you desire.

So, make sure you decide well!

If you're a woman struggling to find the right career for you, we can help.

We'd love it if you joined our FREE community. Itâs a private, online platform where workers, just like you, are coming together to learn and grow into powerful Workplace Renegades.

It's time to find work that makes you feel happy, satisfied, and fulfilled. Join our FREE community today to finally become an empowered business-of-one!

This article was originally published at an earlier date.

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