Is Testing be considered as a separate COE in ServiceNow?

[PreetiRai]

Hi All

Just wanted to know if we can consider Testing as a separate COE in servicenow as its an essential and important part of any project development for error free delivery. 

Please share your answers with the explanation if you agree or disagree 

[YaswanthKurre]

Hi @PreetiRai ,

Testing can and often can be considered a separate COE and depends on the organization.

And for some org, testing is embedded within each COE (e.g., ITSM COE handles its own testing).

Please mark this as helpful and correct if this helps.

Thanks,

Yaswanth.

[Dr Atul G- LNG]

Hi @PreetiRai 

It depends on how large your organization is and how much importance is given to testing.

I’ve worked with companies that had a dedicated Testing CoE (Center of Excellence), and also with companies where just 3–4 testers handled all projects.

In general, it’s beneficial to have a separate and well-established Testing CoE that can collaborate effectively with other teams or CoEs to ensure quality and consistency.

[ChrisP_AMP]

I think the common response here will be it depends, but it also depends on the methodology you are following for platform management and development. If you consider the various delivery models across Devops, Waterfall/Agile, SAFE and so on (the list is quite long), each has pro's and con's.

Personally I have always embedded testing and the accountability for it in the Platform COE with the core development team. The scope of this testing tends to be more foundational/functional in nature as part of the 'Definition of Done'. As you then adopt tools, automation and mature ways of working, you can start to 'shift-left' towards Business Process Owners and Product/App Owners, who can do more contextual process related testing. 

The Dev team know how and if a field is mandatory. The Process/App Owners know when and why it needs to be mandatory in the flow of the process.

COE Methodologies should encompass the end to end flow and the outcome to be achieved, compared to being built around a traditional organisational / P&L structure.

Happy to explore this topic further with you and collaborate.