How QA Center of Excellence Transformed Home Depot's QA Process
Industry | Retail Services
Home Depot is the world’s largest home improvement retailer with approximately 475,000 orange-blooded associates and more than 2,300 stores in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The typical store today averages 105,000 square feet of indoor retail space, interconnected with an e-commerce business that offers more than one million products for the DIY customer, professional contractors, and the industry’s largest installation business
Due to the scale of business operations, Home Depo faced inefficiencies in their QA processes, including high manual testing efforts, inconsistent test execution, and a lack of automation. These issues led to delayed releases, increased bug rates, and higher operational costs.
Challenges
- Inconsistent test execution, which led to inconsistent variations in test results
- The cumulative effect of these inefficiencies led to delayed releases, increased bug rates, and higher operational costs.
- Lack of automation in QA processes further exacerbated the problems
- Significant inefficiencies in Quality Assurance (QA) processes as a result of high manual testing
Solutions
- Conducted a thorough evaluation of the client's current QA process, identified gaps, and recommended a tailored QA strategy, including the adoption of a Test Automation Framework and N-1 approach.
- Automated high-volume test cases, integrated automated test scripts into the CI/CD pipeline, and implemented In-Sprint Automation QA to align testing efforts with Agile sprints.
- Provided training and skill enhancement programs for the client's QA team, established Quality Gates, and monitored key QA metrics to identify areas for improvement and refine processes.
- Selected and implemented automation tools, developed a robust Test Automation Framework, and standardized testing processes to ensure reusability and efficiency.
