Client’s challenges
After performing a detailed analysis of the commercial bank’s IT operations, the financial authority - one of the world's most important central banks - found some critical issues in regulations that had to be solved. It was crucial for the client’s business to transfer the regulatory problems into requirements, close them, and establish them through processes. One of the obstacles to fulfilling the regulatory requirements was the fact that release and test management had not been established as an organizational entity, leading to fragmented processes and low adaptation of company-wide guidelines. Another major issue was that there was no strict separation between operations and development. There was also a need to improve acceptance in the bank for the test and release management. More challenges arose from the fact that there were not enough integration tests and no central test environments available. Also, with over 500 systems in place at the bank, it was very challenging to define standardized processes to fit the different needs of these systems, especially as the bank had embarked on an ambitious digital transformation journey.
The client had struggled with the process standardization and improvement project, especially in terms of user acceptance, so they turned to Sixsentix for support.
Sixsentix’s solution
Sixsentix's consulting approach encompassed the processes analysis from the client's perspective and the application of the extensive experience to discover those areas that required improvements.
In order to achieve the goal of fulfilling the specified regulations and implementing them successfully in the organization, Sixsentix had defined certain objectives and work packages that had to be delivered first, such as the central release calendar, central test plan, concepts for system integration test requirements, bundling and impact analysis etc. The implementation procedure for each of the work packages was always the same: Sixsentix developed a multi-layered, multi-staged process to discuss the feedback with the respective stakeholders from the client's business departments, IT (development and operations) and internal compliance / worker's council. There were 3-4 steps in the collaboration and feedback process, and several cycles for the concept documents creation, based on the provided remarks. Upon completion of the feedback process, on one hand Sixsentix used the established concepts and implemented the new processes, or reshaped and adapted the existing ones. On the other hand, they were utilized to create handbooks or templates, which the client could use on their own in their daily business. Sixsentix also introduced a community for the Test and Release Managers and the final step included the start of a test and release management department.
“Improving regulatory compliance had become the focus of the efforts in the bank’s IT department, and meeting these standards was no small task. Sixsentix assisted the client in solving all the required regulatory requirements. Our methodological consulting approach brought about the enhancements in the client’s processes, resulting in them being significantly improved and, most importantly, accepted by the stakeholders and affected roles. Additionally, Sixsentix performed the enablement by providing the client with the handbooks and templates which they could use further on their own, without Sixsentix support.”
Sixsentix Project Lead
Value delivered
The most important goal of closing all the regulatory issues has been successfully achieved with the support of Sixsentix. The client now has future-proof, accepted and more efficient processes, systems and roles.
Sixsentix helped the client to improve the required test management process and key evidence. Also, Sixsentix introduced the four-dimensional release plan calendar and test plan template which could be used centrally for every project and release in the client's organization
All the work packages were completed according to the planned time and budget. Sixsentix transferred all the changes to the processes and built up the needed teams, accompanied by client training, onboarding and coaching sessions.
