SITUATION
As IR rolled out the first stage of its transformation project, it acknowledged shortcomings in the traditional approaches to IT delivery, which follows a ‘design, build, test, deliver’ process – but with testing predominantly from a systems' perspective. This can result in products delivered which aren’t fit for purpose from a customer’s point of view, despite meeting technical specifications.
With Assurity engaged to provide testing services across the transformation project, IR and Assurity worked together to find ways for IR’s customers – tax agents, individuals, businesses, third-party software providers and more – to play a direct role in influencing systems design (and development) based on real customer testing.
The suggestion from Assurity was that real customers should get access to newly-developed functions as they became available and be asked to perform critical actions and tasks using their own data. This would gather their ‘real-life’ experiences at every iteration, allowing for developers and technical staff to maintain constant contact with the people for whom the systems are being designed.