Outsourcing delivery does not outsource accountability
Vendors may perform testing, but the organization adopting the solution still owns the business and operational consequences of failure.
Internal QA oversight should remain independent enough to challenge scope, evidence, and risk.
Define expectations early
- Test strategy
- Scope
- Roles/RACI
- Environment responsibility
- Test data
- Traceability
- Defect process
- Automation
- Evidence
- Exit criteria
Review vendor strategy critically
A vendor test strategy should describe actual coverage, not generic methodology. Look for integration, regression, cutover, operational readiness, environment synchronization, tools, ownership, and evidence.
Require independent evidence
Do not rely only on vendor status summaries. Review representative test cases, execution results, defects, traceability, and high-risk scenarios.
Clarify release accountability
Vendor sign-off does not automatically equal customer acceptance. Internal stakeholders should determine whether quality evidence is sufficient for organizational release.
Use risk-based oversight
Increase oversight where impact, customization, integration complexity, data migration, or vendor dependency is high.