The Danish Agency for Green Land Conversion and Water Environment (SGAV) – Strengthening Testing Through Maturity Analysis and Training

The Danish Agency for Green Land Conversion and Water Environment (SGAV) is a public authority under the Ministry of Environment, tasked with promoting sustainable land use and ensuring a healthy water environment in Denmark. The agency plays a central role in implementing national and EU-regulated initiatives aimed at supporting biodiversity, improving water quality, and creating more resilient landscapes. IT plays a crucial role in this work, and to continuously enhance the quality of their IT solutions and deliverables, SGAV conducted a test maturity analysis within one of their departments. The analysis identified several areas for improvement that could strengthen the testing efforts and create a more efficient testing process.

Focus on Further Developing Testing Competencies

The analysis identified several areas where testing efforts could be optimized:

Testers experienced challenges in prioritizing their testing tasks, which could lead to suboptimal resource utilization.
Opportunities existed to improve collaboration between testers and development teams within the agile setup.
Test design methods could be strengthened to ensure even better test coverage.
There was a need for greater awareness of the value of testing across the organization to better support testing activities.

A targeted and customized training program was developed for testers, Product Owners, team coaches, and Business Analysts, focusing on providing development team members with a shared understanding and common language around testing. The goal was to strengthen testing awareness within teams, increase focus on testing as an integrated part of development work, and promote a more structured and unified approach to everyday testing activities.

Customized Training for Testers, Product Owners, Team Coaches, and Business Analysts

To address these challenges, we collaborated with SGAV to design a tailored training program that targeted the identified issues:

Risk-based testing: Testers were trained to prioritize their testing efforts based on risks, creating a more focused and efficient testing process.
Testing in agile setups: Emphasis was placed on strengthening collaboration between testers and developers as well as improving communication and workflows.
Test design techniques: Testers were introduced to structured methods that can help achieve better test coverage and reduce the risk of errors.

In addition, Product Owners participated in training focused on test strategies and principles to foster a better understanding of testing efforts and their value within the overall development process.

A Key Initiative with Ongoing Focus on Development

Following the completion of the training programs, SGAV has experienced several positive outcomes:

Improved prioritization: Testers have gained more tools to focus on the most critical areas, contributing to a more targeted testing effort.
Enhanced test coverage: The application of test design techniques has supported a more structured and systematic testing process.
Increased understanding of testing: Product Owners, team coaches, and Business Analysts have gained greater insight into testing activities, which has strengthened support for the testing work.