Our team ensures quality work by implementing a complete quality management process that begins at the planning stages of the project and follows through to final implementation of the site. Quality Assurance is part of each stage of the project, and is the responsibility of our entire team. Our approach to Quality Management encompasses:

• Quality Planning - we use a variety of tools incorporated into a Functional and Technical Requirements Document to plan the project requirements
• Quality Assurance - throughout the development process we monitor quality using a variety of industry-leading techniques including front-loading, peer review, and workflow management
• Quality Control Process - our well-documented, independent Quality Assurance testing program includes a dedicated test team to thoroughly test the complete site, all functionality and document the entire process

VAULT works closely with you to identify special testing requirements and incorporates those requirements into our testing process. A few of our strategies include:

Front-Loading

Using this best practice systems and assumptions review technique, we design our development schedule to put early alpha versions of the site onto a 'production-like' staging server, to uncover any possible conflicts and issues, giving us the information we need to anticipate and solve problems before they affect the delivery schedule. The result is shortened timelines, and reduced delivery risk.

Build Zones

VAULT establishes three build zones: development, staging, and production. Each zone represents different states during the build process.

Development—Project members, specifically development and creative staff, access the development zone. As solutions stabilize, versions are promoted to the staging zone.

Staging—Our testing team reviews the entire site against the functional specifications, and any bugs are reported, tracked, fixed, and retested, before closing the bugs. Once fully tested, the team prepares the site for the client’s UAT (User Acceptance Testing). At the UAT stage, client sponsors and testers validate the construction of the site against the specifications in the staging zone. Bugs and modifications are again reported, tracked, fixed, and retested prior to deployment.

Production—Finally, the application is deployed to the production zone which is the area where "live" web sites become accessible to end users.

Independent QA Testing

The independence of our testing team is critical to our Quality Management strategy. Because our testing team is not part of the development team, they are able to look at the site objectively. And because they specialize in Web Quality Testing, they are able to design and implement a test process that ensures successful quality sites every time.