Understanding the technical validation levels of a version
Any version released goes through 2 phases (2 levels) of technical validation
- The first phase (level 1) is a semi-automatic phase performed by specific software robots.
- The second phase (level 2), which takes place after the first phase has been validated, is mainly based on human actions.
Phase 1 (level 1)
The first phase is performed by software robots.
This phase is equivalent to thousands of man-days of testing.
The source code of software robots alone represents several million lines of code (which themselves generate code and objects).
A great number of machines is used 24 hours a day to cover all operating systems, the main databases and a wide variety of hardware configurations.
Software robots run several thousand sophisticated test scenarios and analyze the results.
A regression test is performed on the whole product, examples, wizards, etc.
Errors are then analyzed throughout the product, examples, wizards, etc.
Accepting any correction will require restarting the entire first phase.
Once phase 1 reaches the required quality level, the second phase is started.
Versions that have successfully completed phase 1 are generally made available to interested users via download. These versions are marked with "This version has not yet completed the second level of validation by the Quality Department".
It is therefore not recommended to distribute applications developed with this version. This version is provided for testing purposes, and for your teams to keep making progress on developments that will be deployed later.
Phase 2 (level 2)
Phase 2 is a mainly human phase, where actions that are difficult to automate are rechecked.
Generally, phase 2 allows detecting only a few rare bugs, but is still necessary because a single bug or a single regression considered "minor" can have a very negative impact.
Versions that have successfully completed phase 2 are usually made available to users via download.
Note that in all cases, PC SOFT is the first tester of new versions, since all internal applications (management applications, ERP, CRM, HRM, EDI, etc.) are migrated and used before being released.