As part of our service, we offer to partner with you to work with your Project team and Business SMEs to perform the testing for the new solution. Using our experience in testing, we can identify the various test scenarios that are needed to provide you with confidence that the solution will continue to support the continuity of the business.

Using tools, assets and numerous years of experience, we will take away the noise and confusion of what to test and how much testing is enough.  Think of us as your insurance policy, assuring that you never have to make a claim!

We also play a key role coordinating the User Acceptance test (UAT) phase.  Supporting the Business in preparing for acceptance and attestation that the solution is ready for business use.  We often find that the co-ordination of test scenarios, use cases, test environments and test data can be unfamiliar with a business subject matter expert.  So that they can focus on ensuring that they are happy that the solution meets their needs, we focus on ensuring the process of UAT is managed efficiently and effectively.

Software testing is where a solution undergoes and an assessment to provide stakeholders with information about the quality of the software product or service under test. Software testing can also provide an objective, independent view of the software to allow the business to appreciate and understand the risks of software implementation. There are many different types of testing performed, at Accuteque we focus on Business Process Testing (BPT), Business Process Verification (BPV) and User Acceptance Testing (UAT).

BPT & BPV  is performed to verify that a set of end-to-end business processes function as intended. If there is a bug in one or more business applications that support a business process, or in the integration or configuration of those systems, then the consequences of disruption to the business can be serious.

Whether you are implementing a new solution or upgrading another, ensuring that your system is ready for business use is essential. That’s where we come in, we ensure that your business processes can continue to function with the new software. Systems that need to interface to one another, do so with ease and that users are able to perform the process, free of bugs.

BPT or BPV can be performed manually or using automation tools and typically follows a role-based approach ensuring that the business processes are validated and where hand-offs between different roles are required, these are performed as per authority levels. Business Process Testing gives confidence to the business that the new solution is fit for purpose and can support the day to day operations of the business. This is further supported by UAT.

Acceptance Testing, which is also known as User Acceptance Testing (UAT) is where the end-user validates that the solution meets their needs. In traditional approaches, this testing phase would normally occur at the end of the development lifecycle.

More contemporary models would see that the Acceptance criteria is predefined by the End User, typically called a Subject Matter Expert) as part of the design phase and is used to drive development. Test conditions are subsequently created which generates test cases for all testing types (functional and non-functional). This is commonly known as Test Driven Development (TDD) and is aligned to Agile Ways of Working.

Accuteque is passionate about harnessing and applying the power of Automated Test execution. We work to empower Project and DevOps teams to deliver working products regularly and with confidence. We work closely with the development team to plan and design for integrated Automation Test capability, resulting in a reduction in validation timeframes and reinforcement of Test-Driven Development and CI/CD principles within the team.

This includes the following services:

• Delivery of Automation test scope definition
• Delivery of Automation test framework design & implementation
• Automation test tool selection
• Unit test design consultation
• Automated test development
• Automated Test script execution and results analysis
• Meaningful automation test reporting

• Improve quality through automation
• Enable greater coverage of functions
• Enable greater coverage of scenarios
• Repeatable and reusable tests
• Programmable to run same test with varying datasets
• Cost reductions can be achieved
• Ability to stand up Test environments as needed
• Ability to load test data
• Enables CI/CD

Functional UI automated testing is testing from the perspective of an end user.  This allows for testing of the user interface including the testing of logic, malformed input and UI flow. Automating this type of testing allows for the complex combinatorial functionality to be covered.

API Testing ensures the API transactions work as expected.  This includes data types, permissions and API logic.  It is beneficial to also add malformed data tests (Fuzzing) to test for API resilience and security during these tests.

Here we scans dependencies used by the code against known common vulnerabilities and exposures (CVEs).  This is useful because, dependencies are commonly used within projects and access to the source code may not be possible.  If a dependency is flagged as a potential security issue, this can be verified manually and either suppressed or remediated as required.

Static Application Security Testing (SAST) will check the source code for security vulnerabilities according to a set of predefined rules.  This scanning can take place via an IDE plug-in while coding and during build time as part of the CI/CD process.  This allows for checkpoints to be added preventing the build from progressing once security issues have been found. SonarQube allows for testing of Salesforce/Apex code.

Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) will run active security checks against a live system.  Ideally these systems should be connected end to end and a performance load running in the background.  This will allow us to determine both the security impact of the test attacks should they be successful, as well the performance impact on users while they are using the system should the attacks be unsuccessful.

Implementing the above automated tests types into the CI/CD pipeline will give your project quick feedback on the progress of the software in development including its functionality, performance and security posture.  This will allow for project stakeholders to make timely decisions around feature planning, production deployment and remediation when deficiencies are found earlier in the project, rather than the end of the project.

Security and Penetration testing, provides you with the comfort at night that your vulnerabilities have been assessed and the risk of a breach is managed as part of your overall security controls.

We offer three core services:

1. Audits
2. Vulnerability Assessments
3. Security & Penetration Testing

Before we perform any security or penetration testing, we would ask for the Security Audit.  A security audit is a systematic evaluation of your enterprise IT infrastructure defences.

A robust security and penetration testing process ensures a repeatable and thorough method for verifying and validating the effectiveness of security controls. The security testing process that is followed needs to provide a method that applies rigour and accountability to vulnerability assessments and penetration tests.

The goal of security testing is to measure the effectiveness of security controls, using this information to contribute to the remediation of shortcomings to fulfil the security requirements.

Security testing is not a standalone process and serves as an input to several other software and security processes, including:

• • Asset vulnerability identification within the IT Security Risk Management process;
  • Security control effectiveness review within the IT Security Certification and Accreditation process; and
  • Companion testing to component, system and integration testing within the System/ Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC).

If a security audit has not been performed, we would perform the audit on your behalf.  over the course of this assessment, our security experts will measure how well your security protocols comply with a list of established criteria to validate your security and risk posture.

Typically, a Security audit should be conducted on a regular basis to secure your data and digital assets. If you’re in a highly regulated industry, engaging in this activity will also help your business ensure compliance (like HIPPA, GDPR, PCI-DSS, SOX, etc.).

Before you conduct a security audit, the security team will have to decide on the scope of the analysis.  A typical security audit will assess the following:

• Bring-your-own-device initiatives
• Data- and access-related items (like cards, passwords, and tokens)
• Email and Mail Exchange
• Hardware configurations
• Information-handling processes
• Network
• Physical configuration of the system and environment
• User practices
• Smart devices
• Software configurations

The audit evaluates each of the above against past and potential future risks. This means that your security team should be up to date on the latest security trends and the measures taken by other organisations to respond to them.

At the end of the security audit, an in-depth report will be prepared covering the strengths and weaknesses of your current security arrangements. Whenever a vulnerability is identified, the cost of securing it should be evaluated against the cost of a breach.

Whenever your security protocols fall short (when compared to the latest hacking trends), it’s imperative to act fast, as a single vulnerability could lead to a significant data breach.

As part of our testing services, we perform the following tests to gauge the level of vulnerabilities that may exist.  With a well-established penetration testing methodology based on industry best practices and our own specialist techniques, we ensure that you will receive reliable and repeatable results that minimise the risk.

We start by profiling the most likely threats to your business. We examine your business processes, information flows and the technology that supports your operations.  Once we have a better understanding of how your organisation works, we perform a suite of penetration test scenarios that are similar to those used by malicious attackers.

Penetration Testing is ethical hacking with the aim of penetrating your system by checking how well you have protected your organisation against malicious attacks. 

We replicate the same methods that are typically employed by those who are looking to expose the vulnerability of an organisation for the purpose of doing harm.  We attempt to breach the system to identify whether we can compromise the network and systems. 

Here we scans dependencies used by the code against known common vulnerabilities and exposures (CVEs).  This is useful because, dependencies are commonly used within projects and access to the source code may not be possible.  If a dependency is flagged as a potential security issue, this can be verified manually and either suppressed or remediated as required.

Static Application Security Testing (SAST) will check the source code for security vulnerabilities according to a set of predefined rules.  This scanning can take place via an IDE plug-in while coding and during build time as part of the CI/CD process.  This allows for checkpoints to be added preventing the build from progressing once security issues have been found. SonarQube allows for testing of Salesforce/Apex code.

Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) will run active security checks against a live system.  Ideally these systems should be connected end to end and a performance load running in the background.  This will allow us to determine both the security impact of the test attacks should they be successful, as well the performance impact on users while they are using the system should the attacks be unsuccessful.

Implementing the above automated tests types into the CI/CD pipeline will give your project quick feedback on the progress of the software in development including its functionality, performance and security posture.  This will allow for project stakeholders to make timely decisions around feature planning, production deployment and remediation when deficiencies are found earlier in the project, rather than the end of the project.

How do you solve for this?  Simple, check your speed and responsiveness.  Or in other words, get your skates on and run some performance tests!

Since 2011 Accuteque has been conducting performance testing for a range of clients, across both internal applications and public apps or websites. The experience and skills of our team is what will drive quality and value for you.  Our exceptionally talented team will provide you with an insight of what’s performing, how’s its performing and where you may need to address issues.

A typical performance testing engagement can be between 3-10 days and are costed on an affordable Fixed-Price basis.

Performance and volume testing is a critical part of software quality assurance that ensures your systems can handle real-world user demand without compromising speed or reliability. At Accuteque, we simulate high-traffic scenarios to identify bottlenecks, measure system responsiveness, and validate scalability across internal applications and public-facing platforms.

By integrating performance testing into your CI/CD pipeline, we help pinpoint issues early, improve user experience, and support disaster recovery readiness. Whether you’re preparing for a product launch or optimising an existing solution, our expert-led testing services deliver fast, fixed-price results that boost your digital performance and resilience.

Whether you are following a traditional or Agile delivery model, we work with your business continuity and IT engineering team to ensure that the operational testing types are built into your delivery model, ensuring a safe landing into production.

We work with the business to understand the Business Continuity Plan, undertake a Business Impact Assessment and a Technical Impact Assessment – this helps inform the Operational Acceptance Testing that is needed to be performed prior to go-live.

Operational Acceptance, or sometimes referred to as Operational Acceptance Testing (OAT) is critical in ensuring that the solution can be supported in production post go-live.

With DevOps becoming more common, this type of testing is incorporated earlier on in the delivery lifecycle, ensuring that the supportability of the platform is possible. Part of Service Management Planning, these tests are critical for the seamless transition into a BAU service of the solution and is key for the ongoing maintenance and support of the solution.

Accuteque has experience in many areas of operational and readiness testing. See below for the different elements of Operational Acceptance Testing that we can help undertake to ensure your systems are sustainable, supporting your business continuity.

Once you have gone live with a solution it is critical that you have confidence that monitoring is working. Testing of the Monitoring and Alters throughout the delivery model are becoming more common when teams are practicing within a DevOps model. However, when teams do not have this ways of working, stand-alone Testing of the Monitoring and Alters is needed.

This testing ensures that transactional monitoring along with system wide monitoring is in place and is able to be integrated into the wider organisational monitoring solutions.

Ensuring that a server, network or software can be patched once in a productive state. Patch updates delivered from the vendor are required throughout the life of the software. Being able to patch the solution without having to undertake a large project is critical for maintaining the software, particularly for security patches.

This testing ensures that you can patch a server in production. This will identify what type of outage would be required, providing confidence that this can occur in production within an outage window, reducing the impact on the business.

Most software systems have installation procedures that when followed render the system available for use. Testing these procedures to achieve an installed software system that may be used is known as installation testing.

When we test a release, you may need to roll back, this is often performed during the delivery lifecycle to ensure that Developers who release their code are able to back out their code using a simple process.

With the increase of CI/CD, this process is usually built into the development pipeline solution and tested as part of the management of these tools. An installation however is a little different, this is usually when you are testing an installation of a solution and ensuring that it can be uninstalled without leaving any residual files.

Logically, it’s fundamental that you make sure that users do not have any trouble when installing your software. If your software’s installation is successful, your customer will be satisfied, but if the installation fails, not only will the software not work on that system, but it could have damaged the user’s system.

Of course, this is not a desirable position to be in. Installation testing has become more complex with time, this owing to the many different ways software can be distributed nowadays. Whereas in the past software was distributed in the physical format of disks, nowadays it is commonplace for software to be installed from the internet, a network location or pushed to the user’s machine.

Ensuring that a solution can be upgraded to a later version once in a productive state. Often when a solution or package is implemented (excluding SaaS or PaaS), it often needs to have regular upgrades to maintain the functionality, performance or security of the solution.

This testing ensures that you can upgrade the solution once it has been released into production. This will identify what type of outage would be required, providing confidence that the upgrade can occur in production within an outage window, reducing the impact on the business.

With the move to cloud and cloud services being reasonably stable, we are seeing this type of testing being shifted to the cloud hosting provider however it is essential that organisations have tested this to ensure business continuity.

Simple backups should be tested frequently, at least one a quarter and whenever this is a major hardware or software change to your backup system. It is important to run a test after upgrading your firmware in your backup system to ensure that the new firmware works as expected.

Often performed as part of the Disaster Recovery testing, this testing provides you with the confidence that you have your system and data restored in the event of a failure.

Often coupled within the Disaster Recovery testing, failover and recovery is essential more so given the level of complex integrations that organisations have. Failover in computing terms is when the solution switches to a redundant or standby server, system, hardware component or network if there is a failure or abnormal termination on the active server, system, hardware or network.

Failover is an automated process an operates without warning. Failback is the process of restoring the server, system, hardware or network back to it’s original working state.

The purpose of Disaster Recovery (DR) testing is to assure that information technology systems can be restored if an actual disaster occurs. As part of a DR plan, companies typically engage a disaster recovery team, whether this is internally or specialists to recover the systems.  Effective disaster recovery testing can reduce downtime and save your organisation time and money if an actual disaster is experienced. There are a number of various methods that can be applied for a DR Test:

• Paper test: This is where the test plan is read, and recovery plans are reviewed
• Walkthrough test: A group of people come together and walk through the plans to identify issues and identify changes that may be needed.
• Simulation: A group of people come together and walk through business scenarios to better understand whether the plan caters for these various situations. This is ensuring that emergency response plans, call trees are up to date and adequate.
• Parallel test: Recovery systems are established and tested to see if they can perform business transactions to support key processes. Primary systems still carry the full production workload.
• Cutover test: Recovery systems are established to assume the full production workload. All primary systems are disconnected.

Some simple steps can be followed to identify any errors during individual tests ad correct those before you do comprehensive tests. This saves time and the costs associated to errors interrupting a comprehensive test that engages a lot of people.

• Understand how frequently you should perform each type of test
• Test individual components – ensuring that the component can restore
• Perform wider tests including multiple components – ensuring that restoration at a point in time is possible and any interfaces can recover without loss of data
• Test the entire DR Plan, including all call trees and manual activities

We provide customised software testing coaching services that cover every stage of the quality assurance process, from writing test strategies and planning test cases to executing tests and managing defects.

Our experienced coaches work alongside your team to improve testing practices, streamline workflows, and ensure your QA efforts align with business goals. We also support modern testing challenges like AI bias, ethical testing, and feedback culture, ensuring your teams are future-ready.

Key Focus Areas:

• Quality Assurance Foundations
• Introduction to Testing
• Writing a Test Strategy
• Writing a Test Case
• Test Planning
• Test Execution & Evidence Capturing
• Defect Management, Tracking & Reporting
• Test Summary Reporting

In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, delivery high-quality software is essential. Accuteque’s Test Engineer coaching service is designed to build internal capability, enabling your teams to adopt best-practice testing methodologies and deliver with confidence.

Test Engineer Coaching is a strategic service designed to uplift your organisation’s testing capability by embedding best-practice techniques and mentoring your team through real-world scenarios.

It goes beyond training, our coaches work directly with your staff to guide them through test planning, execution, defect tracking, and reporting, while fostering continuous improvement and ownership. This approach helps build resilient, high-performing QA teams that drive better software outcomes.