Diaverum boosts QA with test automation as a service
Renal care providers Diaverum wanted to make their software QA processes more efficient. A four-week effort from System Verification gave them a test automation framework to build upon.
Diaverum is a leading provider of renal care. The company employs about 14,000 healthcare professionals and has more than 460 dialysis clinics across the globe. New technology and digital platforms play an increasingly significant role in delivering high-quality, efficient and personalised care.
Einar Valgeirsson is a Development Team Lead of the Digital Development department at Diaverum. From the head office in Malmö, the Digital Development team delivers digital applications and solutions for patient information management, medication, treatment guidance and more.
“In short, we want to help Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) patients to live a better life. Our task is to simplify things for our health care staff to ensure they can spend as much time as possible where it matters – with their patients.”
Improving their digital deliverables and making their processes more efficient are constant ambitions for Diaverum. That’s where System Verification came in.
“We had helped Diaverum with test consultants in the past and now we started to discuss how we can help them evolve how they work with QA. A natural next step was to bring in a higher level of automation,” says Bobby Kociski, Sales Manager at System Verification.
How to address the challenge? With a packaged solution: Test Automation as a service.
Jens Johansson, who works a Tech Lead at System Verification and is the product owner of the solution, explains:
”We have merged a variety of solutions and experiences into a packaged service, which we then fine-tune to the customer’s needs, applications and databases. We always make technical adaptations to optimise for the customer’s unique environment.”
The service consists of three separate steps – Analysis & prototype, Implementation and Operation – and is designed to be flexible and support customers at the level they need.
“The packaged service is an efficient way to deliver added value to our customer. Traditionally, our industry sells consultant hours, but here we focus on value instead of time. The software Quality Assurance field is under constant development. This way of working helps us as a company deliver top-quality expertise while meeting the challenges of increased demand and skills shortages – QA people are hard to find. Test Automation as a service includes a framework and a well-proven Way of Working. Moreover, the customer gets access to the combined knowledge of System Verification,” says Bobby.
Diaverum chose the first step, where the framework prototype serves as a proof-of-concept Einar Valgeirsson’s team can continue to develop further with new suites.
“Applications are becoming increasingly advanced and complex. To keep testing these manually is simply not sustainable in the long run. With a test automation framework, we avoid repetitive, time-consuming manual labour – and we can test more, faster, in the same way every time. The main benefit to us is we got an implemented test framework optimised to our applications in just four weeks. That serves as a baseline as we move forward. We wanted System Verification’s expertise to help us make the best decisions as we chose the right path for us.”
To offer the customer flexibility is a part of the philosophy. Bobby elaborates:
”Again, as experts, our job is to add value. Our process always includes a handover to the customer – if they want to manage the operation phase themselves. And if they are not staffed to do that, we’re of course happy to assume responsibility for continued operation and maintenance as well.”
Einar had grand expectations. So does he feel they were met?
“Well, the System Verification guys hit the ground running. They had the first working test case checked in on day two, they blended in perfectly with our development team straight away and were extremely professional. Everything was fast, smooth and well documented. Moreover, they were really committed and eager to ensure a good handover of their work. I am super happy.”
And that commitment is very much another part of the philosophy. The technical solution is of course important – but it is not everything.
“The other part is the softer values – our dedication, that we take responsibility for and ownership of our delivery. That adds a lot to our quality guarantee. And to listen to Einar is an acknowledgement that we’re working in the right way,” concludes Bobby.
