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As an HP Elite partner, Northway Solutions Group has the opportunity to do implementations of HP ALM and QC 11.X for our clients.  One of the biggest challenges that any company has when implementing is a new tool is leveraging the tool in a way that optimizes the value that the tool brings to the organization.  The company often struggles to learn how best to use the tool, and many times lacks the basic organizational “best practices” that would enable them to be effective right out of the gate with the new solution.  Members Read Entire Entry

Note: This article was originally posted on Loadtester.com, and has been migrated to the Northway web site to maintain the content online.
I have been studying the maturity model put forth by Mercury around performance testing. Here’s a graphic representation of it.

I have some thoughts about it, but before I get off on a rant, I thought it was only fair to put some brief points and descriptions around each phase. Obviously, this is borrowed from the CMM model.
Take a look at some of the qualities below that describe the stages an Read Entire Entry

Note: This article was originally posted on Loadtester.com, and has been migrated to the Northway web site to maintain the content online.
Those of you following my columns know that I have laid out in some detail how to begin building a Center of Excellence (COE) around performance testing, and centralizing it. Now I want to expound on three models that performance testing groups generally follow. Encapsulation refers to a silo approach. Enablement means allowing resources from other groups to self-govern their performance. Read Entire Entry

Note: This article was originally posted on Loadtester.com, and has been migrated to the Northway web site to maintain the content online.
In the past two sessions, I have defined one of the new product offerings from Mercury Interactive – the Performance Center product, and how it is used within the vision of Business Technology Optimization (BTO).
Here is the link to part 1 and here is the link to part 2.
Up to this point we have separated the Mercury product from the concept of a Center of Excellence (CoE). Now what about thi Read Entire Entry

Note: This article was originally posted on Loadtester.com, and has been migrated to the Northway web site to maintain the content online. This article has been modified for relevancy.

In part 1 of this series, we talked in general about the Performance Center product. Many of us out in the field who use LoadRunner are wondering if this is just a repackaging of old products to make them look new again, or if this a “revolution” as is claimed. We talked about the concept of a “Center of Excellence” and some of the qualities I had i Read Entire Entry

Note: This is an article originally written by James Pulley for Loadtester.com 11/23/2003 and has been migrated to the Northway Solutions Group web site.
It is unfortunately clear that everyday more and more people enter our quality assurance profession with very little software architecture of engineering background to draw from. This is bad enough on the functional side, but is getting darn near catastrophic on the performance side. And, by the way, this is for all vendors, not just Mercury. It just may be more apparent here due to Read Entire Entry

Note: This article was originally posted on Loadtester.com, and has been migrated to the Northway web site to maintain the content online.
In 2002, after reviewing the new launch of the Business Technology Optimization (BTO) initiative by Mercury at their Worldwide User Conference, I had the same feeling as when I first heard about .NET or “web services”. It was supposed to change the world, but no one could really explain what it was. I could parrot what I had heard, but it was not a revelation to me. This year, at the 2003 Mercury Read Entire Entry