The VTS Activate platform's always improving and updating on a weekly basis. New features and functionality are added, known issues are addressed, and the look and feel of the platform evolves for easier and more intuitive use. Here's how we make sure you're getting the best.
New features
Before a new feature's released, it undergoes extensive testing and validation at multiple levels:
- Design Reviews between designers and developers to understand what new features look like and how they'll perform.
- Code Checks and Code Reviews to guarantee the new code meets established standards.
- Functional verification by the Quality Assurance team to make sure the new code does what it's supposed to do.
- Regression Validation through a series of automated tests to make sure the new code doesn’t break any existing code.
- User Acceptance review with the Product Design team to ensure the new feature meets the initial design specifications.
- Multiple releases on different instances of the platform, from Development to User Acceptance Testing to Staging and finally Production.
Reported issues
In a complex platform with so many moving parts, issues come up sometimes—or even reoccur. When it happens, the issue's reported and logged, then sent back to development for further review. Here are the types of issues we cover:
- Client-reported: issues reported by a customer logged as a Help Desk ticket and reported internally with the development team.
- Regression: issues where a new feature or fix affects existing functionality or causes a previously fixed issue to recur.
- Automation: issues found through automated testing performed on each build.
- Feature Request: issues reported when the platform is functioning as designed, but a request is logged to improve the experience.
When an issue's found and reported, the support team tries to re-create it on another channel or instance to isolate the cause. If the root of the problem's a misconfiguration or a misunderstanding, VTS will give you the solution with any articles or documentation available. If it's due to a bug, VTS makes an internal ticket assigned to the right people to resolve it.
The development team works on a prioritized list of issues each week called a sprint. Once a weekly sprint's complete, they send the new code through a multi-step process for validation before it goes live.
Once a developer has a fix, a member of the QA team checks it against a list of Acceptance Criteria. It might be accepted or sent back to the developer if any issues are found.
Regression testing
For every release, there's a list of test scenarios involving integrations and basic functionalities that VTS always executes, including mobile access integrations, notifications, SAML integrations, purchases, and more.
Regression test cases are automated as much as possible to cover the most common admin workflows including the content editor, content targeting, publishing, and basic admin functionality. Tests are run at least twice daily on all developing code, against a variety of scenarios and test cases.
Mobile Apps
Each internal environment (Development, UAT, and Staging) has a corresponding mobile app for testing on iOS and Android. This allows for testing on mobile at each stage of the process, and for testing mobile-only features.
White Labels
Normally all testing is done on the Activate White Label (Lane’s core application) versus our clients’ branded applications, since the only main difference from other White Labels is branding.
Integrations
When new integrations, such as connections to Angus, HID, and other solutions, they follow the same process as with new features. Product Design and Product Development work together to ensure the new integration meets the design specifications and fits with existing features and functionality.
Conclusion
Product Development is a complex process with many moving parts. If you have any issues to report, contact the Help Desk as support@vts.com and we will be happy to help you investigate, report, and track the issue towards a successful resolution.