IFSM 438 part 6

DISCUSSION 1 RESPOND TO IT

charles

1. From a risk management and project management point of view, in what situation(s) should a system be more robustly tested?

From a risk management standpoint, any system that is introduced into an environment that has never been utilized and/or configured before should be vigorously tested before integrating into the business. In this scenario, the system would have to be tested for its reliability, functionality, and stability. Without doing so brings about a bunch of high risks that the business should always look to avoid. For example, my company wanted to resolve the issue of migrating a physical system that was end-of-life to a virtual machine (VM). Instead of going with the process that we have done before in the past to accomplish this task, the manager wanted to utilize a method in which was new to the organization and had never been tested for its reliability in getting the job done. Although the manager was warned multiple times that this new method was not tested and should be, he proceeded to task his team to use it. Long story short, It failed completely and the estimated completion of the task had to be adjusted to account for the wasted time and effort.

b. In what situation(s) might less testing be acceptable?

 

If a system has been used in the environment multiple times over the years and has already gone through the testing as I stated before, then less testing may be acceptable. But in the same nature, if the system has had any recent updates or upgrades, additional testing will be needed. It will be a poor decision to implement the system based on how it previously performed during the testing of an older version.

c. Suppose you were the project manager facing pressure from your customer or executive sponsor to reduce testing time when you believe more robust testing was needed.  What approach would you use to try to convince the executive manager to follow your advice?

I would present an accurate picture of potential disasters that could occur from improper testing. This presentation will include potential time as well as financial loss. I would explain that both the company and customer will be way more disappointed with the results of a loss than the wait. If this does not appease the executive sponsor or the customer. I would ask the executive sponsor to sign a memorandum of understanding excepting my declaration of concerns about the risks taken with a less robust testing period.

Reply to Thread

DISCUSSION 2 RESPOND TO IT

Eric

2. A system should be robustly tested when there is a high concern that a new system might fail, especially when the stakes of loss from system failure are very high such as loss of life or loss of high value. Robust testing on the system should be focused on the systems functionality, reliability and stability. Through testing of a new or upgraded existing system should be performed to ensure the system does not fail when it goes live and functions according to plan (Cohen, 2005). It is also immensely valuable to detect errors in the testing phase of the system life cycle than in the implementation phase.

B. 

Less testing may be acceptable if the system has been previously proven to function well and does not have a great impact to losses if the system fails or if their are contingency systems in place if the system fails. Also, if the system does not impact safety and stakeholders need the system up and running as soon as possible, less testing is appropriate, but the system should be monitored for failures or possible errors and be corrected immediately. 

C. 

If I was the project manager facing pressure from the executive sponsor to shorten testing and I felt that more vigous testing was necessary, I would formally present a detailed explanation to the executive sponsor or customer of the potential risks that may arise if the project fails. I would document the potential impacts to time, financial implications and reputation if the project fails due to issues that could have been found in more robust testing (Camacho, 2021).

References: 

Camacho, R. (Robustness Testing: What Is It & How to Deliver Reliable Software Systems With Test Automation. Retreived July 23, 2022 from  https://www.parasoft.com/blog/what-is-robustness-testing/

Cohen, J. (April 2005) Robustness Testing of Software-Intensive Systems: Explanation and Guide. Retrieved July 23, 2022 from  https://resources.sei.cmu.edu/asset_files/TechnicalNote/2005_004_001_14492.pdf

DISCUSSION 3 RESPOND TO IT

3. From a risk management and project management point of view, in what situation(s) should a system be more robustly tested?

Simply put, the more grave the impact of system degradation or loss, the more robust the system test should be. For instance, if a system to be installed is expected to provide five nines (99.999% uptime or less than 6 minutes of unscheduled downtime over the course of a year) because it is used for financial services and downtime costs millions of dollars in losses, then the testing requirement is far more dire than that of testing a courtesy wireless access point in the lobby of a small business. 

In what situation(s) might less testing be acceptable?

Though my free WiFi example above is fairly illustrative, a more general guidance would be to allow more streamlined testing in cases where the loss or compromise of the system/service does not have significant cost/impact. 

Suppose you were the project manager facing pressure from your customer or executive sponsor to reduce testing time when you believe more robust testing was needed.  What approach would you use to try to convince the executive manager to follow your advice?

When making risk decisions, it's vital to implement a risk assessment model of some sort to identify aspects that present risk, analyze what the risks are and what the costs associated with those risks are, make decisions as to whether or not those risks can be managed to an acceptable level, implement controls or corrective measures (the testing falls into this category), and oversee the execution/implementation to include controlling measures. When trying to convince an executive to utilize the analysis derived from the appropriate risk management model to effectively convey the costs associated with streamlining or eliminating the robust testing, and illustrating how the thorough test enables you to reduce the risk of incurring potentially catastrophic costs to a manageable or otherwise acceptable level.

References

Techopedia. (2015, November 30). Five Nines. Retrieved July 22, 2022, from Techopedia.com website:  https://www.techopedia.com/definition/14235/five-nines

Operational Risk Management (ORM) - Safety - Naval Postgraduate School. (2019). Retrieved July 22, 2022, from Nps.edu website:  https://nps.edu/web/safety/orm

The Project Risk Management Process | 5 Tips for Success. (2020, March 25). Retrieved July 22, 2022, from Northeastern University Graduate Programs website:  https://www.northeastern.edu/graduate/blog/project-risk-management/#:~:text=In%20project%20management%2C%20risk%20management,duration%20of%20a%20given%20project.

4.  Research and find various SaaS and ISP solutions:

https://pointofsale.com/pos-hardware/#hardware-tab-standard-retail

https://fungtu.com/pos-systems/saas-pos-system/

https://beanninjas.com/blog/10-best-bookkeeping-tools-for-saas-companies/

https://www.highspeedinternet.com/va/alexandria

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