Summer 2005 Newsletter: Maximize Test Results
Originally published July 20, 2005

Another quarter has gone by. 2005 continues to be a very busy year for IQ Services. The Contact Center Market continues to grow and change everywhere. “Convergence” is the buzzword in the industry, bringing a steady stream of new ideas on how streamlining communications can improve agent and worker productivity. IVR self-service applications are rapidly converting from DTMF to spoken inputs. The current generation of consumers is becoming totally comfortable with the new technology and the benefits of a new kind of customer service. VoIP has been anointed as the replacement for traditional telecommunications. All of this change has created thousands of opportunities for vendors, consultants, and service providers.

Convergence drives a level of integration that demands even more emphasis on testing through the entire life cycle of developing and maintaining a new or improved business solution. Well-designed unit or subsystem level testing that ensures you are ready for fully integrated system level testing is key to a successful project. Integrated testing that exercises all channels for inquiries into an enterprise system is critical to having confidence a business solution works correctly before it goes live with real customers. Every agent and employee workstation is critical to the productivity of individuals and the organization. The challenge is maximizing the up time for the entire infrastructure that supports your customers and your employees.

At IQ Services, we are dedicated to helping our customers implement and maintain business solutions. We hope all of you have great success in this rapidly changing communications environment. If you have topics you would like to see discussed in the newsletter, please let us know. As always, we want to provide our readers with information that will be helpful to their business activities. Thank you for participating.

Sincerely,

Jim Jenkins
Publisher President & CEO

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Simple steps to get the most value from your results

As IQ Services has grown, we have worked with customers around the world to test their contact center and communication systems. Throughout this time, we have identified three key steps that help make the testing process a success: the preparation phase, the testing phase and the post-testing phase. This article will provide a short summary of each of these phases. It is my hope to provide you with a “high level” view of the testing process.

Preparation Phase

The preparation phase lays the groundwork for a successful testing session, so it’s important to spend some quality time working with IQ Services and your team during this phase.

The most important question to ask is, “Why are we testing?” We’ve learned that many customers know they want to test their systems, but they do not take time to set up definable objectives that quantify what should be accomplished during the testing process. In order to do this, you must set up pass/fail criteria for your system. These criteria will allow you to make the most of your testing session and walk away with tangible results that can help your company.

It’s also important to keep in mind the production date for your system. Typically, customers use their production date as the “end date” for testing and work backwards from there to determine a testing schedule. As you create a schedule, make sure that you leave enough time between the first testing session and the production date to allow for trouble shooting and retesting that may be required after the first testing session. The IQ Services team helps you create a testing schedule and plan that works for your company.

After setting clear objectives and creating a workable timetable, the next important element of the preparation phase is assigning responsibilities within your team for the testing project. You need to determine who will be working with IQ Services, who will be working with the internal customer and who will be working with vendors. This may be one person or several people; it is important to clarify responsibility now to ensure smooth testing down the road.

At this point, we are ready to help you select how to test your system. We help you determine what type of call scenarios will best fill your system with live traffic that simulates customer usage and best meet your test objectives. Once we determine the test cases, you provide IQ Services with any data needed as part of the input for the call (SSNs, account numbers, PINs).

The final, and most important aspect of the preparation phase is making sure that your system is ready for testing. I can’t tell you the number of times we’ve begun our set up calls only to find out that the system is not configured to function the way the customer expects. It’s important to communicate with your entire team and confirm functionality before IQ Services begins StressTest™ set up. Once we begin placing setup calls into the system, you need to freeze the system to all changes. If we begin set up calls and find the system improperly set up or run into coding changes mid-setup, your StressTest™ could be delayed hours or even days.

Testing Phase

After fully preparing, we are now ready for the actual testing session. Just before the scheduled test, IQ Services sends a small number of test calls into your system to confirm that no changes have been made to the system since setup.

You will also need to confirm the entire environment is ready for the test. Check on host availability, planned batch processes, switch maintenance and any other outside influences that might affect the testing environment. If any of these is not available, we may have to delay testing or have unexpectedly skewed results. You’ll also want to address the issue of internal logging and how it could affect the testing.

At this point, all of your team members and the necessary IQ Services team members should be present on the conference bridge. Your team should also have access to ORCA™, the Online Reporting and Charting Application™.

Since its 2004 introduction, ORCA™ has become one of the most important and useful tools for customers during the testing process. ORCA™ provides real time access to information about test progress and system response. Your team can see system issues—as they develop—through their Internet access. One of our customers maximizes their ORCA™ access and uses two PC monitors during the test. One screen displays the current testing session and the real time data. The other monitor displays ORCA™ data from past testing sessions so they can compare and track the success of changes to the system. ORCA™ has many valuable uses such as this. IQ Services can help you learn more about using ORCA™ to maximize your specific testing session.

Post-Testing Phase

After we complete the testing session, you’ll receive the data you need to evaluate the results against the objectives you set earlier in the process. IQ Services provides this data in three basic formats. The first, and fastest, is the data from ORCA™, which you can print as soon as the testing session is complete. The second and third formats are report options: the scatter diagram report and the call detail report. Once you complete the StressTest™ and experience your system performance, you will then be able to decide the report type you would like. This is an important part of the process because different types of reports can better aid you in analysis of your system. We will use our experience to help you decide what report format will be best for you.

The scatter diagram report provides a complete picture of what happened during the test and provides additional data that may not have been visible on ORCA™. These reports can focus on a variety of data, depending on customer needs. Our engineering staff analyzes the test data when they create these reports and often pick up information that was not readily seen during the testing process. The call detail report is an Excel spreadsheet that allows the customer to view the data in any manner they choose.

Other considerations for the post-testing phase include determining who will receive the reports and how this person will distribute them. You will also need to determine what objective levels indicate success or failure, and who will make this decision. A key part of answering this question that often gets overlooked is creating an action plan in the event of system failure. These plans frequently include trouble-shooting and subsequent testing sessions.

We’ve learned that following these steps and addressing the issues surrounding them at the appropriate time can help customers get the most out of their testing sessions. With well thought out goals, communication and planning, you can experience a more valuable and cost-effective testing session with clear, quantitative results.

Gregg Williams

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Asked & Answered

If you have a question that you'd like to see answered in our quarterly newsletter, contact us!

Q: I know I need to test my new solution, but I have no idea how to do it. Can you help me?

A: Yes! We frequently work with people who need assistance to define the testing component of their new system implementation plan. IQ Services’ testing experts have years of experience calculating proper load levels for a solution, configuring test cases, determining test objectives, selecting appropriate report styles and much more. We will help you every step of the way. Our simple implementation documents make it easy for you to submit the information we need to set up your StressTest™. Before your test, we’ll help you understand what you’ll be able to see in real time via ORCA™, the Online Reporting and Charting Application, as well as how we’ll formally report the analyzed test results.

If you need help over and above what we provide standard with our test support services, we offer consulting services to help you with more in-depth needs. One of our consultants can work with you to create an RFP, respond to an RFP, develop a business solution life cycle test plan and define acceptance criteria to help you determine when a new or upgraded solution is ready for production. We also have the expertise to provide testing project management support that goes beyond the limits of the StressTest™ or HeartBeat™ implementation. This is only a sampling of the work our consultants can provide. Once you’ve realized you need to test your business solution, contact IQ Services for help throughout your project.

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Fermintations

There are a number of specialized terms used to describe various wine experts. Some work in wineries and some work in wine shops and/or restaurants in the hospitality industry. The following terms and their meanings are offered to provide a basic background about the various grape wine experts that you may encounter in a restaurant.

A Sommelier is a French term for the individual who has been trained in how to match each wine on a wine menu with the various foods on a restaurant menu. In finer restaurants you can recognize the Sommelier by the “taste vin” (small, nearly flat tasting cup) that hangs around her neck on a large decorative chain. The shallow indentations in the metal cup allows the Sommelier to evaluate the robe (color) of the wine; the flat shape provides adequate evaporation to evaluate the nose or bouquet of the wine; and by tasting the wine, she can evaluate the flavor of the wine before it is served.

A Master Sommelier is a member of an elite group of individuals who have been trained to a higher degree of wine knowledge. Master Sommeliers usually associate themselves with a particular winery, wine shop or restaurant (their sponsor) and they usually teach wine tasting classes.

You may hear of a Member of the Court of Master Sommeliers. Members of this group specifically work in upscale restaurants. Instead of concentrating solely on wine, they also study food pairing with beer, spirits, and even cigars!

At the top of the heap is a Master of Wine, the top level of certification by the Institute of Masters of Wine that takes multiple years to complete. Members are tested on a broad range of knowledge about wine and wineries. Becoming a Master of Wine is truly an achievement since only 233 people in the world had this certification at the close of 2004.

When dining at a posh restaurant that employs one of these wine specialists, you may want to know how best to use their services.

Once you have reviewed the wine lists, wait to see what each person is having as their main entrée. It is a common mistake to order your wine first and then order your entrée later only to learn that you could have made a better choice of wine for food pairing. If you are in charge of ordering wine, make sure you understand what each person is having for his or her entrée. (Another common mistake: ordering a ros é simply because you think it will go with everything.) If everyone is having steak, your task is easy. One good red wine will do the trick. If each person orders different entrees, you might consider ordering wine by the glass or ordering two different wines to suit the diners appropriately. Make sure you are comfortable with food pairings before attempting to go this route. The best bet is to ask the wine steward or sommelier make a recommendation for one and all.

Remember, when choosing a wine from a restaurant's wine list, the main goal is to accomplish a suitable pairing with the entrees of your party. If the food orders are too different to generalize with one wine, consider purchasing splits or ordering by the glass. Waiters, wine stewards, and sommeliers are there to answer your questions, but availing yourself to their services and advice will be much more beneficial if your questions are relatively specific.

For example, don't ask the sommelier, "What goes well with a rack of lamb?" Rather, ask, "I'd like to balance the spiciness of the lamb with a full-bodied, Syrah-based Rhone. Do you have any favorites?" Your effort will be appreciated and the interaction will be more seamless. I guarantee that you will be pleased with the outcome.

One final note – if you use the wine experts, expect to tip them for their service separate from the regular food bill. Most restaurant customers tip 15 to 20 percent on the entire bill (wine included), and that tip, though ostensibly given to the waiter, will be divided among the service staff, which usually includes the wine steward. However, if a wine steward or sommelier has been especially helpful or has suggested wine and food matches that really made your dinner great, a small tip just for him or her may be in order. Generally, 5 to 10 percent of the bottle price is appropriate.

Next time: Navigating through the wine lists…

- Chuck Blethen, Vigneron in Residence, Black Mountain Oasis Vineyard, Scottsdale, AZ

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