Testing best practices

A course that does not load or behave as expected can be very frustrating for learners and can even lower the perceived value of a training program. Testing courses before distributing them can greatly increase learners’ overall success and satisfaction—as well as reduce the support they might need.

We recommend testing one course from each OpenSesame publisher you expect to use and in the IT environments your learners will be using.

In this article:

• Plan
• Pre-testing
• Testing
• Post-testing

Plan

Each organization has different needs, resources, and timelines. The following suggestions for this phase can be particularly helpful for larger organizations.

❏  Identify internal stakeholders
❏  Identify which platform(s) will be used to distribute courses
❏  Review the second tab of the OpenSesame Plus Testing Tracker* (spreadsheet file)
❏  Decide who will do the testing
❏  If multiple people will test, decide where to collect the results
❏  Identify supporting internal resources, such as IT experts, learning platform administrators, or implementation specialists
❏  Create a testing timeline to accommodate your target launch date
❏  Share the timeline with your stakeholders

* This tracker offers a helpful model even if you do not subscribe to OpenSesame Plus. Testing can be limited to the publishers you plan to use.

Pre-testing

In this phase, which is crucial for a smooth process, you will confirm that all requirements have been met before adding courses to your learning platform for testing.

❏  Share the OpenSesame Plus System Requirements with your IT team
     ❏  Ask them to confirm that your IT environment meets or exceeds the minimum requirements
     ❏  Ask them to allow any necessary publisher domains**
❏  Review the OpenSesame Plus publisher details and course completion requirements
❏  Obtain course packages*** from your OpenSesame Implementation Specialist, Customer Success Manager, or from OpenSesame Support

** If you’re unsure if this will be needed on your network, we recommend beginning the testing process then working with IT as necessary.
*** Please test using whichever file format you’ll be using in production.

Testing

During this phase you will load test courses into your learning platform and ensure that they behave properly there and in other learner environments. It is critical to test with all variables that your learners may encounter, such as mobile devices or remote access.

You do not need to complete each course you test. Pick a short course when testing completions, and in other courses you can spend as little as two to three minutes.

In addition to production environments, some platforms offer pre-production environments, which may be described as “demo,” “QA,” “staging,” “UAT,” or “sandbox.” We recommend testing wherever is most convenient for you.

❏  Load the course packages into your desired testing environment for your learning platform
❏  Use the Testing Tracker* (spreadsheet file) to track your progress
❏  Launch your courses and test them, using the criteria on the tracker’s second tab
❏  Test for the following variables (as applicable):
     ❏  Any mobile applications that will be used
     ❏  Using a VPN
     ❏  Bandwidth restrictions
     ❏  Any other unique IT environment, browser, or domain that will be used

* Again, this tracker offers a helpful model even if you do not subscribe to OpenSesame Plus. Testing can be limited to the publishers you plan to use.

Post-testing

In this phase you will address any uncovered issues, update stakeholders as needed, and prepare for your target launch date.

❏  Review the results captured in the Testing Tracker
❏  If any issues were discovered, troubleshoot as needed with your IT team and/or OpenSesame Support
❏  If you tested in a production environment, remove the test course packages from your learning platform
❏  Update your internal stakeholders as needed
❏  Contact your OpenSesame Customer Success Manager or Implementation Specialist and let them know you are ready for next steps

If you have any questions along the way, please reach out to OpenSesame Support for assistance.