Andy Edgar Email & Phone Number

I am an ISEB certified Senior Test Engineer with demonstrable experience of the private and public sectors. I have over 16 years working as a professional test analyst backed by 15 years experience of scientific method. Throughout my career I have gained considerable exposure to various technologies, systems and validation exercises. I possess a thorough understanding of test methods and I have experience of developing and implementing testing standards.Striving to work to the highest professional standards I have experience of Test Planning, Specification, Execution, Results Analysis and Defect Management, I pride myself on being a diplomatic communicator and thrive when working in a team to deliver projects to the highest achievable standards.

Personal ProjectThroughout the COVID furlough of 2020-2021, I have been the primary carer for a vulnerable family member, a role no longer required as the risks have markedly diminished. During this time I have developed a new skill set in 3D Graphic Design (Blender) and downstream implementation by 3D printers as a form of rapid-prototyping. I am pleased to say that the time availed by the furlough has enabled not only the opportunity for additional training but I have now successfully demonstrated, to my satisfaction, the proof of concept.With the concept phase now complete, I am endeavouring to generate capital through a return to contract work before embarking on the next step of my business plan.

Manchester, England, United Kingdom

Fashion Rider (https://fashionrider.com/) Technical Uplift, Revised User Experience, Accessibility Business and Software Test AnalystThe client was undertaking a grass-roots overhaul of the implementation in order to take advantage of emergent technologies and better complement a revised business model.Initially engaged to lend insight as a Business Analyst my role quickly evolved to that of Test Analyst as the client had an excellent grasp of the direction required for her business and how to achieve it. I was responsible for the end-to-end test cycle with additional testing to elicit confidence in a satisfactory end-user experience for prospective customers across a variety of browsers and devices.

Corby, England, United Kingdom

Project: Control Tower – Track and TraceRole: Senior Software Test Analyst Project Model: AgileTest Lead responsible for the test design, execution and defect management phases of the SOA solution for the Track and Trace project across successive Sprints. Upon the successful completion of the SIT phase of the project my contract was extended to lend support to the in-house UAT team by providing domain expertise and production of technical test artefacts, files and data to facilitate their test strategy.Technology• Ready API – SoapUI, LoadUI (SOAP, REST) • xmlSpy• Test Rail• JTRAC • JIRA• Sharepoint

Preston, England, United Kingdom

I sometimes take protracted time off between contracts to undertake personal projects; most aren’t relevant to a CV e.g. exploring the dive sites of West Scotland. However as this was a particularly long period and perhaps of some interest it warrants a mention, quite simply, I took the time to write a novel.

Corby, England, United Kingdom

Projects: Services Framework. Global Compliance Solution. Global PlanningRole: Senior Software Test Analyst Project Model: Agile and WaterfallServices Framework: The SOA Governance provides a global framework for managing a number of IT Services as an asset across the whole of the RS Components business estate.Test Lead for the definition of the Smoke, Functional and System Integration Testing including preliminary Load and Stress/Performance Testing and nominal Authorisation Testing across a secure network (credentials and authorisation). Added complexity was managed across multiple service streams for Gold, Silver and Bronze service levels.Analysis of the Error Service, Logging Service, Registry and Invoice Services for each and every transactional pathway.Responsibility for Defect Management and Triage including progress reports and Test Team representative at Project Management and Stakeholder meetings.Global Compliance Solution: This was a project that sought to integrate the Amber Road global trade management solution into existing RS Components IT infrastructure for the management and labelling of hazardous materials in transit.Responsible for representing the interests of RSC and assessing the efficacy of the proposed solution by devising and executing a test strategy to verify the implementation.Global Planning – Global Stock/Inventory Management: Utilizing an established SAP implementation the company was seeking to expand the efficacy of its stock management across the whole of their international estate utilising an innovative IT solution.Responsible for the UAT phase of the project; initially formalising the content/quality of the UAT test cases, later providing preparatory technical briefings to the Users and Stakeholders to facilitate the execution of the UAT. All 3 projects completed successfully.Technology• Ready API – SoapUI, LoadUI (SOAP, REST) • xmlSpy• Test Rail• JTRAC • JIRA• Sharepoint

Manchester, England, United Kingdom

For this role I returned to a client I’d previously been engaged with as a business analyst but this time the requirement from the client was to assess accessibility and usability of the website and a thorough review of content quality. Additional assessment of compliance with a variety of internet browsers was undertaken including cross-platform analysis for consistency on PC’s, Android and Apple (iOS) machines.Test Activities:• Requirements analysis • Browser compliance (IE, Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Safari)• Accessibility and Usability Testing • Defect management and prioritisation

Milton Keynes, England, United Kingdom

Project: Vantage ProgrammeRole: Senior Test AnalystProject Model: Agile and WaterfallThe Open University was undertaking an extensive technical uplift of its existing IT services whilst developing and incorporating new products under a Service Oriented Architecture model. Engaged as a test specialist for the Systems Integration Test team, specifically for the services and service operations under development. In addition to my specialised responsibilities I also fulfilled the more traditional remit of a senior test analyst by determining test strategy, writing test scripts and execution/investigation for a wide spectrum of sub-projects within the Vantage Programme.With sole responsibility for the conception and execution of the SIT test strategy for the SOA Pilot prototype, I also undertook the role of SIT team liaison with the UAT team and provided oversight as to their test approach. I was also tasked to write and give presentations to stakeholders and business users.Test Activities:• Requirements analysis • Risk analysis and defect prioritisation• Load testing and analysis using LoadUI • Service and Service Operation testing using SoapUI• Test analysis, scripting and execution with documentation throughout the entire test cycle.Technology:• SoapUI• LoadUI• Oracle Service Bus• SQL Developer• Microsoft TFS• Microsoft Test Manager• Multi-Browser Viewer

Project: Serco – Prisoner Escort and Custody ServiceRole: Test ManagerProject Model: AgileInitially engaged as Test Lead and soon after, Test Manager, this project proved to be one of the most challenging in my career. PECS is a service based contract, which aims to provide web-based services to the prison, police and courts to manage the escorting of prisoners between locations. With a Test Plan already established by my predecessor and Test Cases well underway by the time I arrived on-site my responsibilities were chiefly; to determine the test strategy and analyse/formulate the UAT approach to demonstrate compliance with Ministry of Justice expectations of the system, in addition to managing a test team of six staff.Test Activities:• UAT requirements analysis.• Liaison with business users and mentoring of end users. • Risk analysis and defect prioritisation.• Reporting and progress assessments, especially paramount as the PMO was off-site.Achievements:• Initiated and hosted workshops with the business.• Formalised the Agile work strategy into a coherent model.• Initiated and hosted SCRUM meetings.• Developed the UAT strategy and managed the execution thereof.• Achieved all deadlines set against a very aggressive development strategy.Technology:• Trac• Zoom Text 9.1• Unix• Accessibility: Internet Explorer, Safari, Opera and Firefox• Dragon Naturally Speaking 11.0• Jaws 12.0

Manchester, England, United Kingdom

Project: E-Commerce WebsiteRole: Business AnalystFor this role I was engaged to help consolidate the client’s ideas for a commercial website into a comprehensive business model. Central to the brief was a requirement for a scalable enterprise such that a clearly demarked bread-crumb trail could be followed to expand the website in concert with the anticipated demands of the business over time.• Requirements analysis.• Website storyboards and Use Case modelling.• Development prioritisation and scalability modelling.

Hemel Hempstead, England, United Kingdom

Project: Trusted Borders Role: Software Test AnalystProject Model: “V” and Agile A Central Government SOA project for Trusted Borders. The project objective was to create an event-driven and standards-based messaging engine utilizing an Enterprise Service Bus (ESB). My remit was at first to formulate and execute a Component Integration test strategy, later revised to incorporate Product and System Integration testing. Test Activities:• Requirements analysis.• Formulation of the Test Design specification using a variety of Commercial-Off-The-Shelf Tools (COTS).• Writing test harness scripts for SOAPUI and configuring Mock Services.• XML/XSD and WSDL schema validation.• Manufacturing of Test Data. • Component Tests.• Product Tests.• System Integration Tests.• Risk; analysis, prioritisation and tracking throughout the release process and handover to a project partner.Achievements:• I led the inspection of various Interface Control Documents before handover to the Authority client.• Facilitated the Project Estimation, Resourcing and Scheduling. • Created the model for the Test Approach, formalised it into a spread sheet, expediting team effort and future proofed the approach in anticipation of migration into a more formal test tool, notably Quality Centre.• Selected to lead the cross-partner system integration tests to verify the Extract, Transform and Load (ETL) of data across the message broker and into the database.Technology:• ClearCase and ClearQuest• Oracle with TOAD and SQL• DOORS• Unix• SoapUI• JIRA• VERIF• XMLSpy• Eclipse

Hemel Hempstead, England, United Kingdom

Project: ProgressRole: Business Analyst and Software Test AnalystProject Models: Waterfall, "V"During this period, I acted as a Business Analyst and as a Software Engineer in the development of a bespoke web portal application on behalf of Central Government for the Ministry of Justice (CJIT). I started with the project shortly after its inception and by the end of the contract I had been involved throughout the entire project cycle. Test Activities:• Requirements analysis; grooming and prioritisation of the requirements. • Use Case modelling.• Framework formulation for the Test Execution phase using Quality Centre, notably Test Director.• Test execution;• Full test lifecycle; from Component, Integration, Security through to End to End System Testing.• Regression Analysis.• Defect management, prioritisation and tracking throughout the release process.• 2nd Line Support of the “live” application together with end-user liaison and mentoring. Achievements:• Led the creation of the Requirements Catalogue.• Led the peer review for the User Acceptance test cases.• Promoted to assist in the liaison workshops; Q&A sessions with end users and representatives of the client.• Led the knowledge transfer, presentations and post deployment support for handover.• This project has successfully gone live as of 2008. Technology:• HP Quality Centre and Test Director• JIRA• VERIF• XMLSpy• Eclipse• Accessibility: Internet Explorer, Safari, Opera and Firefox• Oracle with TOAD and PL/SQL• DOORS• Unix

Brighton, England, United Kingdom

Role: IT Consultant and Software Test AnalystI entered the IT industry as a permanent employee of the solutions company, FDM Group. Working for FDM enabled me to gain an awareness of a diverse range of IT disciplines (UNIX, HTML, Oracle and SQL, JavaScript, Java and Testing Methodologies) and in addition to in-house project work I was also deployed as an on-site consultant.A clarification of the apparent overlap in dates; as an FDM Group employee I was deployed as a consultant to Steria for the CJIT project detailed above, upon conclusion of my contract with FDM, Steria elected to re-hire me independently. During my tenure with FDM I undertook in-house project work. I devised and executed the test approach for the second generation of Candidate Application web pages ensuring compliance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).I also wrote test cases to be incorporated into the FDM Java training programme, used by the tutors to quickly assess the veracity of a students work and also to introduce aspects of the test cycle into the “Model Office” used by FDM Group to simulate a real-world working environment.

Brighton, England, United Kingdom

Client: VODAFONE (April to December 2006)Domain: TelecommunicationsRole: Software Test AnalystProject Model: “V”An integration project written primarily for the Vodafone Configuration Warehouse, this was part of their upgrade initiative from 2G to 3G telecommunication systems. During the project, I gained extensive experience of Quality Centre, notably Test Director, for the administration of the test implementation. Technology:• HP Quality Centre and Test Director• Unix• Oracle with TOAD and PL/SQL

Brighton, England, United Kingdom

Client: HEWITT BACON & WOODROW (April to October 2005)Domain: Pension AdministrationRole: Database ConsultantProject Model: Waterfall The project objective was the migration of all the company pension data from an existing Oracle database to an SQL Server database utilising an Extract, Transform and Load (ETL) model. The project was facilitated by the execution of a set of generic SQL scripts that I had customized to meet each of the HBW client’s specific requirements. I then devised and executed a “control total” methodology to test the output.Technology:• Unix• SQL