| The IT Infrastructure Library ® (ITIL) is a collection of | | | | - Plan and design test |
| books owned by the UK Governments’ Office of | | | | - Verify test plan and test design |
| Government Commerce (OGC) and available to the | | | | - Prepare test environment |
| public. | | | | - Perform tests |
| After the first publication of ITIL, the amount of books | | | | - Evaluate exit criteria and report |
| quickly grew to about 30 volumes. The second set of | | | | - Test clean up and closure |
| ITIL publications (v2) was published with a specific goal | | | | It should be noted that when implementing these |
| of ensuring ITIL was more accessible to those | | | | activities for <a rel="nofollow" |
| interested in it, and to consolidate the information into | | | | onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackPageview', ' |
| sets that grouped these guidelines in to differing | | | | outgoing/article_exit_link']);" href= software testing < |
| aspects of applications, IT Management and services. | | | | a> they will not be undertaken in sequence. In fact, |
| However, the cost of these ITIL manuals is still | | | | several activities should be done in parallel. |
| significant, particularly for non-commercial use. | | | | While ITIL does mention many different approaches to |
| ITIL version 3 outlines a broad set of testing guidelines | | | | testing, one of the main objectives of Service Testing |
| and best practices. It does not restrict the project to | | | | and Validation is to provide quality assurance and |
| following one testing methodology, but rather | | | | establish that the project will deliver a product that is fit |
| encourages the selection of principles that best fit the | | | | for purpose and use. Risk Based test approaches |
| requirements. It does emphasize the need to reduce | | | | support these objectives and, in particular, reinforce the |
| risk early in the project lifecycle and provides several | | | | Project Wide Risk Policy established during the |
| suggestions as to how to do this. | | | | Strategy phase. By determining and populating the |
| Test processes are outlined within the Service | | | | appropriate Risk Matrix for an organisation or project, |
| Transition portion of the ITIL lifecycle covering the | | | | the Risk Policy can be better enforced through the |
| management of change, risk and quality assurance. | | | | Testing Process. Using a Risk Based approach, ITIL |
| Prior to Service Transition, project management is | | | | can provide a systematic method to: evaluate |
| encouraged to develop policies that apply to the | | | | requirements; improve test effectiveness and |
| project as a whole. These include: Service Quality; | | | | efficiency; report progress; and gain consensus on high |
| Risk, Service Transition, Release and Change | | | | risk requirements, can only further support these |
| Management policy. One of the primary goals of | | | | overall objectives. |
| Service Transition is to ‘minimize the risks from | | | | As a final point, ITIL is considered the world’s most |
| transitioning the new or changed services into | | | | advanced set of IT practices. These practices cover |
| production’, by applying a uniform set of policies to | | | | many functions and activities, including software testing |
| the project as a whole and have them applied | | | | best practice. The enormity of ITIL can be daunting |
| throughout the project lifecycle, the various teams are | | | | and it can be tempting to view it as too big or requiring |
| better able to enforce and follow through on set quality | | | | too much bureaucracy to implement successfully. |
| standards. By ensuring early understanding and buy | | | | Certainly there are many initiatives to implement ITIL |
| in from Senior Management and/or Clients regarding | | | | practices that have failed and there are many that |
| processes and policies it allows the project teams to | | | | have introduced excessively bureaucratic processes. |
| focus on core deliverables rather than re-educating or | | | | But there are many more organisations that have |
| re-negotiating policies repeatedly throughout the | | | | benefited from implementing improved practices from |
| lifecycle with the risk of altering expectations midway. | | | | ITIL that have helped alleviate problems that had |
| While the Service Transition documentation does not | | | | previously plagued them. If an ounce of prevention is |
| restrict the project in the test methodology used, it | | | | really worth a pound of cure, then ITIL could be a |
| does state the following test activities should take | | | | metaphorical answer to tackling obesity in our IT |
| place: | | | | practices at a time when we are all conscious of the |
| - Validation and test management | | | | needto get into a healthier shape. |