Thales
Thales Transport & Security Ltd is a market leader in providing large scale software solutions across 50 countries, including the Manchester Metrolink extension and upgrade.
The role entailed establishing the test strategy to integrate a new SCADA software solution into the existing Manchester Metrolink tram network. The Test & Integration Team was created in July of 2009 in order to prove that the solution offered by Thales can seamlessly be incorporated into the existing tram network.
Although the solution is largely comprised of Off-The-Shelf components, there was still a considerable amount of configuration involved. This leadto a near infinite amount of variables which will need addressing.
My role initially required deriving test cases from Customer requirements & multiple Functional Specifications in order to ensure that all branches of functionality are covered. This involved reading every statement in the Functional Specification and highlighting the branches (if, else, then etc) for test. In total, there are some 900 tests which need executing.
After deriving the cases, the tests required scripting. This included the User Acceptance Tests – out of the Test Engineers, I was solely responsible for communicating with the Customer and ensuring that we are ready for the User Acceptance phase of the project, such as agreeing the User Acceptance Criteria and managing User expectations. This not only included the Customer directly, but also the Operators using the software & also the tram drivers themselves who would be impacted by the new software.
As a team, we were all heavily involved in constantly reviewing the Test Strategy in order to ensure we were adhering to the quality process laid down by Thales.
