[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Evergreen and QA

[W. Brad LaJeunesse]

Fellow Evergreeners:

At the "future of the staff client" developer meeting Quality Assurance
(QA) came up repeatedly. This is a serious issue that affects every one of
us. It obviously affects all users of Evergreen, whether staff or customer,
but it also greatly affects Equinox in that bugs and other software defects
increase our support load and also decreases overall satisfaction with the
Evergreen product. It's an issue we've been deeply concerned about for some
time.

A few years ago, there was a formal and concerted QA effort. GPLS was
generous to fund it, and we were making good headway with nightly builds,
tests, etc. However, with funding cuts and other issues becoming priority,
QA has largely been ignored and we've all felt the result. As a community,
we need to correct this.

Equinox would like to be part of the solution and we very much want to
re-launch and lead the QA effort, but we need the community's help and
support. We have a formative plan and we have resources we can devote, but
we need funding to make it happen.

We propose that Jason Etheridge will be responsible for the QA project and
will direct and manage appropriate Equinox resources. Jason will have
authority to pull in any Equinox developer (or any other
personnel/resources), as needed, to get the job done. We propose that
Equinox devote a total of one FTE to the QA effort as well as any
server/hardware required. Jason will work closely with community
stakeholders, coordinate, and make sure Equinox's efforts are in line with
community needs. We expect, in the least, to have nightly builds and
increased automated test coverage.

We believe that a 3-month period is enough to get started and see if this
effort is fruitful. We're looking for $30,000 to fund a 3-month effort. If
we're successful, then we'll search for further funding to keep rolling.

I understand budgets are tight and we're all looking for ways to make
everything fit, but QA is an important and worthwhile project and we need
your help to make it happen--to make Evergreen better for all of us.

If you're interested in making a pledge, just let me know.

Thanks for your consideration.

-- 
W. Brad LaJeunesse
| President
| Equinox Software, Inc. / The Open Source Experts
| phone: 1-877-OPEN-ILS (673-6457)
| email: brad at esilibrary.com
| web: http://www.esilibrary.com
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