Healthcare.gov – An IT Teachable Moment

Healthcare.gov

As A Major IT System Rollout Healthcare.gov Testing Cycles Required

 

    • Unit or Function Test – The goal of function tests is to make sure all the functions of the module perform as expected. In this phase, the code is checked independent of any other components. Completion of this phase is the responsibility of the developer/programmer. In the healthcare.gov case, there were 55 different vendors and some ungodly number of developers attempting to build the system and test their code.
    • Integration Test – In this phase, a number of modules are brought together to see if they perform as a unit. For example, if we use the construction of a hotel as a comparative illustration, this could be the testing of all the plumbing to ensure that water is flowing and that there are no leaks.
    • System Test – As the name implies, system tests are designed to make sure the system as a whole operates as planned. The ACA system is much more than the website that needs to be tested. There were 112 different systems that had to come together and work in harmony. The systems interface with a number of other government systems and databases, as well as insurers. Items that had to be tested include authentication, eligibility, income, privacy, security and subsidy levels, to name a few, in just the real-time component of the system test. Then there are the reports that need to be generated for management and members of the exchange. It was evident from initial reports that some of these functions didn-t work and never worked. In addition, any weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual tasks must be checked and audit and compliance elements have to be verified.
    • Stress and Volume Tests – Performing system tests without stress and volume tests won-t guarantee the system will survive the realities of production usage. In fact, systems incur unique problems that arise when stress or volume tests are conducted that can cause the system to collapse, and 14.6 million visitors to a site within the first 10 days of its launch can do that.
    • Ease-of-Use Testing – This isn’t typically a required step, but if you’re building a system that you hope your customers will enjoy using and returning to, you have to test to see if it appeals to users in terms of look and feel, flow, performance, search and the ability to achieve the visit objective. You also want to ensure that upon return visits, the site knows who you are and make repeat visits smoother and more personal.

 

 Ask Probing Questions

Like healthcare.gov it is imperative that business and IT executives should never go live with a new system until they know the levels of testing have been completed and the risk exposure is within acceptable limits. While the people behind healthcare.gov may not be burned by their actions, it could in the business world damage a company’s reputation or, in the worst case, destroy its ability to survive. “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead” isn’t a motto for success, especially with IT development projects. It’s up to business and IT executives to ask probing questions, not shoot the messenger, and make intelligent go/no-go decisions.

Many business executives are timeline driven and fail to understand the impacts of IT development. Testing shortcuts can be destructive and costly. It’s up to the IT executives to make the business executives aware of and accept the consequences of premature delivery.

Other articles by Cal:

A Walk in the Cloud

Small Business Can Get High Availability From IT

Leasing Contracts: Not All Are Equal

15 Reasons it Makes Sense for IT to Lease

 

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