Testing a Molecular Modeling software and Chemical Informatics product for one of the Top scientific software development companies - Onsite Task

Q3's global sourcing model gives the maximum benefit to customers in terms of cost savings, improved quality, access to highly talented professionals, flexibility of operations and reduced time to market.

Company Profile

The client is one of the leading scientific software development companies. They help pharmaceutical companies and research facilities around the world to successfully accelerate the identification and optimization of new compounds that exhibit the potential to become drug products. Headquartered in Missouri, this company serves more than 1,000 customers spanning over 46 countries.

 

Its innovative product technology aids companies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology domains to accelerate their drug discovery cycle. The products help the drug discovery cycle to accelerate the identification on drug targets, optimization and pharmacokinetic analysis. Bioinformatics and Chemoinformatics are the major areas of work of this company. They provide software platforms to run the molecular modeling simulations, energy optimizations, protein-ligand dockings, pharmacophore hypothesis & analysis and they also provide services to pharma and biotech organizations helping them find the right tools customized to their daily research activities. Its products are widely used in pharma & biotech companies, top academic institutions and health care organizations.

Business Situation

 

The business requirement of the client was to test its top line molecular modeling software and a Benchware discovery product, working closely with the software development team on-site. Plan was to be at the client site and work in the team to understand the product and process. Further a technology transfer was to be carried out for the rest of testing cycles from Q3. The task was to setup an offshore Software Testing team in Q3 and provide long-term QA services to them for all its products right from inception to completion as a product support team. Recruitment and resource management, product training, QA management services, product support were the main areas of our outsourcing portfolio as the major delivery to the client.

 

The products to be tested were developed with C and C++ code base and they were to be installed on Linux, Microsoft XP, 2000 and Vista, Unix platforms. The functionality of the modules were to be tested and validated which included:

 

• Molecular 2D & 3D visualizations
• Molecular Energy calculations
• Geometry optimization
• 3D-QSAR and Combinatorial library generation
• Topomer search and molecular shape analysis
• Protein-ligand dockings
• Pharmacophore hypothesis and Analysis
• Advanced search and statistical analysis of molecules and molecular and scientific data from a vast research database

Solution

 

Q3 developed a plan to provide product support to the client in the areas of QA and Software testing. Recruited experienced professionals with domain expertise in Bioinformatics and Chemoinformatics tools with good hands on work done in Software testing. Q3 developed a strategic plan to set up an efficient management system and work model to provide the best of industry software testing services. Working closely with the client, Q3 developed a systematic plan and process to carryout the Regression testing, Defect management cycle for both Alpha and Beta testing phases. Q3 won accolades from the client to be a major contributor for its product release which was the top revenue generator for them.

 

Q3 services in QA and Software testing were

 

• Exploring the product and their functionalities, developing and writing effective Test Cases as per requirements
• Manual regression testing cycles, Exploratory or Ad-Hoc testing on various flavors of Windows operating system on various builds
• Effective defect reporting, categorization and tracking with the help of IBM Rational’s suite of products (Clear Quest)
• Alpha, Beta and System level testing were covered with effective test coverage
• Developed a managed metric system to measure and analyze testing phases with effective test coverage and defect management system
• Weekly meetings with Client to discuss the status, updates and strategies of testing for new releases
• To carry and provide uninterrupted services. A set of very high performance servers was deployed in house to support the client 3-tier architecture software platforms with high speed VPN access to the client machines
• Rational’s suite was deployed as a management tool for all QA activities. Req. Pro, Manual Test, Clear Case, Clear Quest and Test Manager were the modules used in the process.

Benefits

 

• Entire testing was done by Q3 Team so client was benefited by manpower with less cost and above all supporting 24*7 work environment
  * Testing was done in user’s view so the bugs entered were realistic as interaction with developer happened rarely.
• Q3 Team was honored so as to impart its best support activities to the software development cycle.
• Talent and quality was appreciated by Client which was evident by the involvement of Q3 in Sales meeting after the release of the product
• Strict quality adherence standards for testing resulted in fewer problems for end- customers
• We were the successful contributors to the product’s first release which was the client’s major revenue generator for that financial year.