BrDR Beta Testing TAG
March 20, 2023Before each release of the AASHTOWare BrDR software, a group of dedicated engineers/testers review the software via the Beta Testing process. While the Alpha testing process provides quality assurance of the software utilizing the contractor’s staff, the Beta testing process provides a review from the perspective of the agencies who use/license the software. This testing phase provides different user perspectives and with a wide variety of structure type testing. The Beta testing process allows each tester to review the software and provide comments and report any issues before the software is released to the user community.
Why Beta test?
Beta testing provides a means for vested users who are not directly involved with the development of the software to provide feedback and test existing bridge structures or newly input bridge structures. Involving multiple user agencies provides a variety of testing scenarios before the final release of the software. Similar to standard BrDR support, the Jira site is used to track and resolve beta issues submitted by the testers. In addition to Jira reporting, a Microsoft Teams site has been set up that allows direct communication between the beta testers and the contractor.
Testing/fixing in real time
An Internal Release Utility (IRU) has been developed to facilitate the report/fix/update/retest loop during testing. The software has a simple interface that will download and install the latest development version of the software. It is available to the beta testers to update versions quickly and often multiple times a day. Previous versions of the software (known as changesets) are also available in case the tester needs to step back. Frequent updates allow for an expedited process of report/fix/retest and produces a tight loop form of testing. The IRU (see sample interface) allows beta testers to download the latest BrDR updates as changes are made. The IRU is only available for alpha and beta testing.
Beta TAG participants3
Beta Testing is a critical part of the Quality Assurance process of the AASHTOWare BrDR software and the project team thanks the Beta TAG members who are working hard to produce a Quality bridge software product!
| Name | Agency |
|---|---|
| Abdullah, ABM | Virginia DOT |
| Albert, Joseph | New York DOT |
| Befikadu, Elizabeth | AI Engineers |
| Boehler, Ruben | Illinois DOT |
| Bucci, Mark | Louisiana DOTD |
| Chan, Sylvia | California DOT |
| Chernioglo, Igor | California DOT |
| Crudele, Brenda | New York DOT |
| Curtis, Beckie | Michigan DOT |
| Devkota, Manji | Virginia DOT |
| Dietsche, Joshua | Wisconsin DOT |
| Fuda, Julianne | New York DOT |
| Gao, Yihong | Minnesota DOT |
| Hagos, Michael | Manitoba |
| Haney, Tyler | Jacobs |
| Hankins, Sean | Indiana DOT |
| Hart, Jennifer | Indiana DOT |
| Hennessy, Melissa | Idaho DOT |
| Huang, George | California DOT |
| Iqbal, Mohammad | New York DOT |
| Iser, Craig | West Virginia DOT |
| Johnson, Michael | Idaho TD, Chair |
| Jones, Daniel | Alabama DOT |
| Jung, Jun Ki | California DOT |
| Lopez, Santiago | New York DOT |
| Luger, Matt | North Dakota DOT |
| Mascarenas, Amanda | Colorado DOT |
| McMunn, Creightyn | Michigan DOT |
| Metcalf, Billy | Louisiana DOTD |
| Pence, Alex | Wisconsin DOT |
| Rasmussen, Stephanie | Colorado DOT |
| Ruby, Jeff | Kansas DOT |
| Silverstrim, Damian | AI Engineers |
| Spencer, Andrew | Kansas DOT |
| Stone, Crystal | Illinois DOT |
| Tempinson, Don | Michigan DOT |
| Thompson, Todd | South Dakota DOT |
| Tomjanovich, Kelly | Wisconsin DOT |
| Vinayagamoorthy, Vinacs | California DOT |
| Waheed, Amjad | Ohio DOT |
| Wall, Mike | Alabama DOT |
| Warner, Dave | Montana DOT |
| Westerfield, Scott | Mississippi DOT |
| Woldemichael, Berhanu | New York DOT |
| Zimmerly, Elsa | Idaho DOT |