E2E Geek Week

This week’s agenda in India: another round of “end-to-end” testing. A few weeks ago the “E2E” tested the UI elements of each of the 200 ZIMS screens, or, in regular human language, how well the screens worked for the user. The testing this week is far more geeky - the team is testing the integration between the layers of ZIMS: the Database Layer, the Data Access Layer, the Business Logic Layer and the UI (user interface). The UI is the only part of ZIMS you will ever see.

In other words, this week we are testing how every single action on the 200 ZIMS screens works with the database where, eventually, all of your data will be stored.

Earlier E2E was about how logical and easy the experience was for the user. This week’s testing is about all the things the user never sees: how well the data moves from the clicking keyboard, through the maze of ZIMS filters to be stored in (or retrieved from) the Database Layer. We are looking for glitches, bugs and broken lines. After the testing, it’s another round of fixing bugs.

ZIMS continues to be on schedule for final User Acceptance Testing and for deployment beginning March 2010.

Scope Freeze!

As of today we have frozen the Release 1 scope. What does this mean in non-technical language? It means that major development on ZIMS Release 1 is now complete. From this point forward, the work (still difficult) involves detailed testing and fixing “bugs.” ZIMS is on schedule for delivery of Release 1 in March 2010.

ZIMS is now entering the early stages of deployment. ZIMS deployment is a two-step process:

• In March, 2010 all ISIS members will begin accessing the ZIMS database. Even while your staff is still using ARKS, that data will enter into and ZIMS and you will retrieve information from ISIS via the ZIMS database. All ISIS members will be “on” ZIMS at this moment.



• At that time, ISIS members will begin transitioning from entering data into ARKS software to using the ZIMS interface for data entry, along an orderly schedule. This will involve training your staff to use the new ZIMS software.



• You will need to make some important decisions regarding your own institution’s transition to ZIMS. The start of that process is the “ZIMS Readiness Assessment Survey” which your institution will be receiving within the next few weeks.