Strategies offers intensive usability testing targeting international clients and organization targeting their customers with user interfaces. For doing usability testing it is important to understand that what the terminology usability testing means.

Usability testing services is done to help companies evaluate the ease with which end users can learn as well as use their product. According to ISO 9241-11 (1998), usability is the "extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context of use." And this is exactly what our usability engineers try and determine when testing a product for usability. It is still the tendency in software development to focus more on functional testing than non-functional testing (e.g.: usability, security, reliability). Even though usability testing does not get the recognition it deserves, it has been proven to offer many benefits to all stakeholders: project managers, sales, developers, designers, support teams and users. To test for usability is to evaluate how easy a system is to learn and use.

Usability testing can be done with testers (no user involvement) or by involving the users themselves.

Usability testing with testers
In this testing method we use general user characteristics; attributes common to most people. Examples of such characteristics are: how much we can remember, the way we see the world and norms of society. Testing techniques such as Heuristic Testing and Keystroke Level Model will be discussed. One of the techniques will be performed as well.

Usability testing with users
In this testing method we use specific user characteristics; attributes unique to a specific user. Examples of such characteristics are: level of skill, limitations (e.g. disabilities) and context of use. Testing techniques such as Card Sorting, User Observation and User Testing will be discussed. One of the techniques will be performed as well. Usability testing is an important phase of overall product design. The goal of usability testing is to determine how effectively a given user interface performs when a typical user with no prior expectations or preconceptions interacts with it. Strategies has found that direct one-on-one usability testing is far more capable at achieving this goal than are focus groups or other market research and product evaluation methods commonly in use.

Black-box (functional) testing
Black-box testing implies that the tester only knows the input and the expected outcome but not how the program works. During this testing, the tester does not examine the programming code and does not need any further knowledge of the program other than its specifications. This is the most common and simple type of testing and is often performed externally. Being fairly simple, it has several important

Advantages:
• The test is unbiased because the designer and the tester are independent of each other.
• The test is done from the point of view of the user, not the designer.
• Test cases can be designed as soon as the specifications are complete.

White-box testing
White-box testing involves knowledge of the program organization and code. The data for this testing is carefully chosen and requires more skillful testers.

Performance testing (including profiling and benchmarking)
This type of testing can be rather complicated. If conducted by specialists, it can show not only if the system performance conforms with specifications, but also the possible bottle-necks and improvements for parts of the code that are crucial for the system performance.

Configuration testing (different platforms, operation systems, browsers)
We can test any application working on any platform, including Windows, the UNIX- family, and MacOS.

Stress testing
We check to see how the system works with a maximum specified load and stress.

Automated testing
Sometimes the testing process can be greatly accelerated and facilitated by the introduction of automation. A lot of routine work can be programmed and repeatedly performed by the machine. This saves a lot of time and effort.

Software Testing
Our core testing team typically works with CIOs/senior managers in I.S departments of large customers, Product Assurance Managers in Product Companies, QA & Testing Divisions of System Integrators and Consultancies to deliver on all testing projects. We have completed a large number of projects (spanning legacy, mainframe, client- server, EAI, e-business and web applications) demonstrating value addition and customer satisfaction.

• Integration/Systems Testing
• User Acceptance Testing
• Performance Testing
• Regression Test Suite creation and automation
• Product Assurance and on-going Release Testing

Integration/Systems Testing
Using base-lined specification documents and associated project records, we create the scenarios, test conditions, cases, scripts and test data guidelines required to ensure full coverage of the functionality of the application. This is followed by efficient test execution using simulated data in a controlled test environment. Defect management and pre-determined test start/exit criteria ensure test completion within the stipulated time frames.

User Acceptance Testing
Our domain knowledge has led us to work with clients right from the Requirement Definition stage and to effectively participate and manage the user acceptance testing process. Starting with the Business Requirements document, the Black Box approach is utilized to produce full-coverage end-to-end business scenarios to uncover critical defects. Wherever required, test beds are created using in-house tools to simulate large volumes of data. The entire approach is from the business user perspective to ensure the system satisfies user requirements.

Performance Testing
We have notched up an enviable track record of successful projects in Performance testing using both domain knowledge and technical skills to help clients identify and remove bottlenecks in their applications before release to production and regular use.

Regression Test Suite Creation and Automation
We build (and optionally, automate) Regression Test suites that are executed while testing the enhancements to ensure that the change in code does not change existing functionality. Regression test suites could be executed manually or with the help of an automated tool. It helps our clients to reduce overall maintenance testing costs and timelines.

Product Assurance and On-going Release Testing
We have engaged with Product Companies to maintain and continuously run comprehensive test suites to ensure that every product release is defect free and complies with stated features and requirements.

User Support
Due to our intense involvement in the Testing and Consulting arena we are in a unique position to provide additional support services that include

• Web Based Business User Training
• Expert Led Business User Training
• Roll Out Support
• User Manual Preparation
• Web Based Business User Training
• Web based training solutions allow clients to
• Train business users on new applications
• Ensure faster roll out of systems in new geographies, regions/markets
• Train new business users on existing applications
• All this is achieved with the convenience of anywhere-anytime cost effective training.

Expert Led Business User Training
With knowledge of the business requirements, application functionality and end user scenarios, our domain consultants and business analysts conduct classroom training, hands-on training, or a combination of both, to assist business users in the understanding of the features and operations of the new system. During such focused training, individual members of an organization benefit from the personal attention that they receive.

Roll Out Support
Strategies Roll Out Support Service helps ensure that business users put software applications into productive use at the earliest. During the application rollout, business users will be guided from planning through evaluation stages get the best out of the new application as quickly as possible. The client organization benefits by having a help desk that gives end-users the knowledge and skills necessary to use the new software productively, on the job. The client organization will have the right support, avoiding user frustration.

User Manuals Preparation
Strategies helps client in preparation of comprehensive business user/operation manual. This is done by using the application knowledge from business requirements, functional specifications and testing. The aim is to provide business users with documentation assistance. This is done by giving the user

• An overview of the application
• An explanation of how the application delivers functionality
• FAQ's
• Common errors
• Troubleshooting tips
• Help

Third Party Testing
If you are a software development or services company looking for a highly competent testing system to evaluate your software product's quality, our testing systems and practices would just do the job and give you the results that you need. Apart from third-party testing, we also provide support to companies for testing the software products that are bought. Whether you are trying to augment your core testing team or looking for an independent, third party evaluator for your testing process and results, Beagles has the knowledge and expertise to fulfill your requirements. The third party testing team comprises of experienced project managers and CQSA certified QA engineers, who work with the clients' product development teams to ensure high quality levels.

Product quality problems take two general forms-
• Programming bugs
• Design flaws

Strategies offers superior test result with minimum subject pools. More complex applications or extensive research efforts use twice or occasionally three times as many subjects, longer test sessions, and more sophisticated group-testing techniques.

Wizard Testing
In this process, the application under test is a preliminary design as simulated by a live experimenter. The subject calls what he or she thinks is an IVR application. Instead, the telephone is answered by a human experimenter who speaks on behalf of the design. The testing is called as wizard testing because the caller is expected to pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. The wizard must be specially trained to speak the machines part of the dialogue in a consistent and IVR-like manner. The wizard interprets user input by observing touch tones on a detector or by recognizing caller speech and uses this input to follow the logic of the design, thereby simulating the proposed user interface. As a low-fidelity simulation, live wizard testing provides coarse information about call flow and scripting. It is not useful for generating new design ideas, but it is quite effective at identifying problem areas, revealing logic or sequencing problems, and exposing jargon or unclear wording in prompts.

To increase fidelity, wizard tests may also take advantage of certain software tools common in the human factors arena. Preparation for so-called automated wizard testing deposits pre-recorded prompts into a playback system which is then connected to the telephone. The test itself then proceeds in the same fashion as a live wizard test the human wizard views touch tones or listens to user speech. To present voice responses to the caller, however, the wizard selects one of a number of audio files and then plays the audio automatically into the telephone. The wizard does not speak. Automated wizard tests exhibit higher fidelity because the pre-recorded prompts are invariant.

Prototype Testing
Once a design is roughly validated with wizard tests, a high-fidelity simulation can be created in the form of a prototype. Clients often engage us to create the prototype for the purpose of testing and demonstrating a product prior to the final commitment to develop. In addition to development, We are often asked to coordinate a formal usability test as part of the larger development effort. Usability testing of a prototype relies on the same effective subject acquisition methods that Strategies use for other usability tests. Recognizing that the goal of usability tests is to study the behavior of the user interface and not to debug the prototype, test cases are carefully designed to exercise those parts of the application that are thoroughly tested and known to be bug-free. The prototype is also loaded with professionally-recorded prompts for accurate assessment of scripting. Subjects are then acquired, brought to the lab, and asked to call the prototype.

Validation and Acceptance Testing
After an application is complete and ready for Alpha Test, we are often asked to perform a final usability test designed to confirm that the application works as designed and that the design remains effective among real users. This phase of testing is most effective if it follows wizard and prototype testing, as it uncovers details associated with system latency, host-based errors or scripting flaws, or other problems that may not have been replicable in earlier tests.