Testing, Testing; 1,2; 1,2
We are a week away from starting to formally pilot our new applicant tracking system so we wanted to take this opportunity to tell you a bit more about what we’ve been up these last few months.
Like candidates who are applying to permanent civil service positions, we too had to pass several critical exams, and so far it appears as though we have passed each successfully though there are of course more to come.
Testing is a critical step in any software development or implementation project. System testing comes in several flavors from basic functional tests, user acceptance tests, and real-world tests. We have now run through all three of these with our non-civil service hiring process, and we are preparing for production, and for you to get a first glimpse at what this project has been all about.
And Then There Were Three
One of the first real-world tests for SmartRecruiters, our new applicant tracking system, was hiring the newest member of the San Francisco Human Resources Modernization Team, our Technical Lead, Nate. Nate joined the team earlier this month and has hit the ground running. He is bringing with him a wealth of experience working with government business systems and integrations, having spent time in high-profile organizations both in California and the Washington D.C. region. Nate will be ensuring that our new HR systems are stable, secure, and ever improving.
User Testing
This month also marked a major testing milestone for the project as we completed our first round of formal User Acceptance Testing (or UAT, because another acronym to remember is just what we all needed). User Acceptance Testing is the process of walking real users through the steps that they will use on a day-to-day basis. Users are given the opportunity to identify strong points, as well as areas for opportunity. We can then use their feedback to make improvements to system functionality, documentation, and training materials. We were able to conduct User Acceptance Testing for our non-civil-service processes, and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive.
Coming Up Next
We are in the process of incorporating the feedback we received during UAT and will then begin the work of bringing this dream to reality by configuring and deploying SmartRecruiters more formally. Next week we will in fact be piloting real life job advertisements in the new system! In parallel, we are still working on our custom application (now called “Merit Bridge”) to modernize our civil-service processes, and hope to see that getting tested and rolled out in the coming months.
