Software Compatibility
Background
This is a temporary workstream with the simple aim of forming a collaborative pool of resource to test the main Local Government business applications and tools against the latest Microsoft Operating Systems. The initiative is in conjunction with Camwood who are application testing specialists who have worked with resource from London Borough of Camden, Lewisham and Newham, City of London and Leeds City Council.
It was started in 2008 to test against the Vista operating systems and culminated in a report (see Deliverables) that compliments Microsoft's application and compatibility tools by providing an answer to the question 'How compatible are my applications with Vista?' The answer to this question is provided through the appTitude platform within days, removing the need to setup test environments, deploy integration tools or install and run each application typical to more traditional manual testing strategies with timelines measured in months. These rapid results are achieved by interrogating a protfolio of Microsoft Installer packages (MSIs) and their associated files to predict install and run-time issues that are likely to be exhibited when deployed on Vista.
The workstream will be re-opened when the next Microsoft Operating System is available for testing.
The Vision
To provide a large resource pool that can work collaboratively on behalf of UK Local Government with Microsoft and other application providers to identify risks and issues prior to the roll-out of any new operating systems.
Objectives
- To reduce risk of failed operating systems upgrades due to business applications being non-compliant with the latest operating system releases;
- To reduce the cost and timescales involved with Microsoft Operating System upgrades;
- To provide a collective voice with suppliers of applications to ensure new application versions are fully compliant.