In my role as Business Systems Consultant at Telent Technology Ltd I was expected to cover a lot of ground, Business Analyst and Test Manager were the prime functions I was expected to cover.

My primary role was Test Manager. My team supported a number of bespoke applications all based on an SQL Server 2000 database with a variety of front-ends, from Access, VB6, VB.net and Intranet based XHTML/ASP. At the time of my arrival there were no formal test plans or scripts in place, no test environments, and no user involvement in the testing process. My role was to change all of that.

As there were no formal test tools or procedures in place I had to start by formalising the process. In the beginning this meant that I actually had to get both the business users and the developers into the practice of informing of the changes planned for release and to get sight of the change requirements prior to them being released for test.

My next key step was to involve the business users in the testing process. Although resistant at first I was able to bring them on-board by showing them the testing process that I would implement in system test, showing them the results and the process of getting faults fixed, and by preparing the test plans for them. Eventually they would take on some test plan preparation themselves, based upon my system test plans.

The third key step was to make my project manager aware of the need for a Test Management database that would store test plans, scripts and results and move away from Word documents and Excel spreadsheets..

Prior to Telent Technology Ltd, I had spent 20 years working in the mainframe environment around the full project lifecycle and have been involved in all levels of testing from Unit, System, Regression and User/End-to-End phases.

At Direct Line Insurance (RBS) I would represent the development team on Change Control Board meetings and work with the System Test Team to ensure the smooth passage of change into the live environment. To this end I would supply the test team with detailed unit test plans, link test plans and results as well as keep them advised of the nature of the change.

When at Marks and Spencer as Technical Team Leader I would not only design the fundamental changes to our batch process but also prepare the test plans for execution by other team members. This included an extensive plan to ensure millennium compliance. I was also part of the test team of an IBM managed project that was seeking to replace the Customer Marketing Database (of which I had been the Technical Team Leader).

At Dixons Stores Group where I was a developer I would not only produce detailed Unit Tests but was also heavily involved in the system test phase as there was not a separate test team. All my test plans and results would be reviewed by a QA team before transition to live. I was also the principal lead on the User End to End test of one major project.