QA Console Features

The QA Console is an automated quality assurance tool for CA Gen allowing project administrators to enforce coding and object standards simply and effectively via automated reviews.  It is available for both the Host and Client Server Encyclopedia as standalone software or integrated into Access Gen Windows.

The QA Console framework has been designed to be as flexible as possible. The software comes with a set of configurable Base checks and also the capability to construct and incorporate bespoke (Custom) QA checks. Both can be extended with minimum impact to the users of Access Gen.

Base checks

The QA Console is supplied with a set of Base checks covering common CA Gen development review standards. These can be configured based on individual requirements. The QA Console architecture allows for the expansion of the Base checks without the need to re-install the software. There will be ongoing development effort to expand these based on customer feedback, with the emphasis being on the development of checks applicable to all CA Gen development. They will be distributed via periodic updates made available from the Support Centre of Response Systems' website. Customers will be notified of the availability of a new set of base checks via email and website announcements.

Custom checks

The Base checks can be augmented with custom written checks that can be incorporated into the QA framework. These are developed using a Software Development Kit (SDK) supplied with the base software. The SDK provides all of the necessary tools to create and maintain Custom QA checks using the CA Gen workstation toolset. Customers can therefore leverage their own existing development skills without the need to engage specialist technical services.
This includes a Template CA Gen model corresponding to the customer Schema level and a Test Harness application that can be used to unit test Custom checks against encyclopedia data prior to deployment.

QA review outcomes

The existing Access Gen interface provides for several ways to search for objects of interest. Once they are located, QA review features become available returning their outcomes in one of three ways.
QA Report (Summary) - a summary report where multiple Base or Custom checks can be run simultaneously against multiple objects. A pass/fail matrix displays the outcome of the selected checks for the listed objects.
QA Report (Detailed) - a detailed report that gives additional contextual information about the outcome of Base or Custom checks against objects. This is available for both multiple objects in the Pick List pane or for individual objects in the Navigate pane.
QA Browse (integrated version only) - a unique feature to the QA Console is the QA Browse facility. It works with the Base checks and is used to display action diagrams highlighting the statements that have failed any action diagram QA checks. For certain checks, the QA Browse also offers an Automated Correction Facility*. This provides the option to correct the failed QA check without the need to download the object. For example, where an entire view is identified as unused (not referenced in the logic of an action diagram, placed on an associated screen or dialog flow, or used in view matching) and the action block/procedure step is not checked out, there is an option to delete the unused view directly in the encyclopedia.
Using the QA Browse to correct failed QA checks updates the last updated timestamp and user ID in the same way as if the object is changed using the CA Gen toolset.

QA Configuration utility

To support the management and configuration of QA checks, a configuration utility is supplied with the software. This stand alone executable can be used by project administrators to enable or disable checks, to register custom QA checks that are ready for deployment and/or configure checks with the input parameters that define how they are applied.

* Automated Correction Facility available for CSE installations only