Singularity Partners IV&V service is an unbiased independent assessment and evaluation of current state of processes and deliverables throughout the project lifecycle.  The primary focus of IV&V is to determine if requirements are being met (verification) and whether program objectives and goals are being met to achieve a successful outcome (validation).

 

Detailed below are examples of what will be examined as part of this service:

• Requirements Verification - which includes a comprehensive assessment and evaluation of overall requirements against the current state of the solution development phase

• Solution Design Verification - which includes a comprehensive assessment and evaluation of current state of the solution design phase. Specific areas that will be examined include design completeness, conformance to industry best practices and quality standards, etc.

• Software Test Plan and Software Test Description Verification - which includes a comprehensive assessment and
      evaluation of the current state of the test phase

• Implementation Verification - which includes a comprehensive assessment and evaluation of the current state of the implementation phase of the solution (i.e. phase readiness, etc.)

• Program Management Validation – which includes a comprehensive assessment and evaluation of the current state of a program focused on scope, schedule and budget

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Our IV&V staff will work directly with project teams and examine all relevant artifacts to prepare a Health Check Management Report that will be provided regularly to program leadership. Our IV&V Team will prepare risk mitigation plans, track progress towards abatement, and assist in technical and programmatic issues resolution when needed.

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Singularity Partners IV&V Risk Register will be used to track project risks and provide a risk management report to the project management team in a timely manner. The following information detailed below is an example of key information that will be included in the report:

• Detailed descriptions of risk(s), issues and concerns identified during the assessment phase with  supporting information

• Risk register

• Risk mitigation plans with detailed supporting information

• Recommended actions with detailed supporting information

• Framework for future improvements with subsequent phases

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Assessment & Evaluation

The activities described below are intended to be an overview of what our IV&V team will focus on as they perform the IV&V assessment and evaluation process. Our IV&V service offering is comprehensive and customizable to allow our customers to choose what areas they would like the IV&V team focus on to meet their business needs. 

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Verify Entrance/Exit Phase Criteria

One of the key responsibilities our IV&V team is to focus on the current state and progress of a program or software build. The team will examine, evaluate and verify that each phase entrance and exit criterias meet acceptance standards and completion criterias established prior to the execution of the program.

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One of the exit criteria for each phase will include a plan and set of deliverables for the subsequent phases of the program.  Our IV&V team will review this plan and its corresponding deliverables for consistency, completeness and conformance to program objectives and goals.

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Technology Management/ Software Product Build

The process ensures that the technology solution being implemented or software product build meets  business, technical and quality standards established by the program. The focus will include, but not limited to: 

• Verification and validation of overall program requirements against current state of the technical design and development of the solution

• Verification and validation of the solution design against industry best practices standards and quality specifications

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Solution / Software Product Assessment Activities

Singularity Partners IV&V team will review all relevant project documentation to assess the degree to which the documents meet overall business and system requirements. Our team will review phase or iteration dependent documentation using guidelines for consistency, adequacy and completeness. At a minimum, the IV&V team will evaluate planning, requirements and design specifications for completeness and conformance. Optional tasks may include the review of selected code and/or user documentation.

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Risk Analysis

Singularity Partners IV&V team will assess the target system functions for criticality and risk. Criticality analysis will be based on the potential consequences associated with an error in or failure of the function. Risk assessment will be based on the likelihood of an error in or failure of the function. Our IV&V team will document the assessment rationale and rank both criticality and risk. The results of this analysis will be used to identify catastrophic, critical, and high-risk functions and to focus IV&V resources on the most critical aspects of the system design. Our IV&V team will verify and validate proposed approaches for reducing technical, schedule, and cost risks. At each major milestone, our IV&V team will perform a formal risk analysis, while conducting brainstorming sessions with the project team to review and rank potential risks to the program, and highlighting those requiring immediate attention.

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We will assist in the preparation of risk mitigation plans, track progress towards abatement, and assist in technical and programmatic issue resolution. We will create and update a Risk Register that will be used to track project management related risks as well as software product build risks.

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Test Plan Verification and Validation

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Our IV&V team will focus on all test related requirements, approaches and plans and will ensure

that the solution being designed developed and implemented meets business and technical requirements and specifications, and also validate if the technology solution or software product being build meets business and user expectations. Some of the areas that will be examined such as test plans, processes, etc. will include, but not limited to:

• Unit testing – Validates that individual units of product are working as designed 

• Integration testing – Units of product are combined and tested as a group

• Function testing - Involves validating product functionality against defined requirements

• System testing – Testing of both hardware and software on a completely integrated system

• User acceptance testing – Black-box testing of product functionality to obtain release acceptance

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Benefits

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IV&V offers several benefits, which make it a popular practice according to many industry articles written about it. Industry research firms such as Gartner, Forrester, IDC and other leading research institution have reported an increased activity with Fortune 1000 technology organizations acquiring  IV&V services to mitigate risks and improve financial value, operational efficiencies, and increased quality on how technology solutions are managed, developed and implemented.

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Financial Value

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According to various industry studies, many senior management teams believe that IV&V is cost prohibitive.  Full-phase IV&V increases development costs 10 percent to 20 percent.  This only translates to 3 percent to 4 percent of total lifecycle costs.  However, the savings through earlier and more thorough detection can be 200 percent or more than the cost of the IV&V work itself.

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From a maintenance perspective, one of the more crucial support items is documentation.  An accepted fact (supported by numerous studies) is that post-deployment maintenance accounts for approximately 60 percent to 80 percent of the true life-cycle cost of an application.  To facilitate effective post-deployment maintenance, the delivered documentation must reflect the actual application design, implementation and operational profile.  The constant oversight of the IV&V group along with the insistence of the group that noted anomalies are addressed and resolved results in higher quality documentation and training materials.

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Operational Value

The benefits derived from employing IV&V are substantial and span the product life cycle, beginning with improved requirements specifications and ending with a complete, more maintainable application that meets user needs.  In effect, IV&V can be viewed as an effective risk mitigation strategy that significantly increases the probability of producing a quality application, on time and within budget.

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Quality Benefits

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Singularity Partners IV&V service offering will diligently review and analyze results, challenge and recommend processes and proactively protect the interests of its customers to achieve a successful outcome, and achieve highly quality standards on how their technology solutions are management, developed and implemented.

 

Benefits associated to utilizing IV&V can significantly be achieved from even minor process changes that prevent just a small percentage of defects and/or detect those defects as close to the point of creation as possible.  In software development, the expense and time to repair defects increases exponentially the later a defect is detected in the process.  An ambiguous requirement that is detected during user acceptance testing will cost up to 100 times more to repair than if it is caught prior to technical specifications. 

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Furthermore,  Singularity Partners IV&V service will employ a rigorous assessment and evaluation of your project management processes for deviation and to constantly challenge comprehensiveness and accuracy of each deliverable and milestone achieved during any interval project lifecycle. 

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The following are other specific areas of focus that can be included in our typical IV&V services:

• Life Cycle Quality Management

• Business Technology Validation

• Project based Audit

• Security Testing

• Test Automation

• Performance Testing

• Test Process Consulting

• Reducing Post Production Defects

• Third party testing

• Integrated Functional Testing

• Full End-to-End Performance Testing

• Compliance & Statutory Validation Services

• Improving Solution/Product Quality

• Accelerating Delivery Schedules to meet faster time-to-market goals

• Go-Live Readiness Reviews (people, process and plans)