Helping Kineo keep quality moving with agile development

Kineo, part of the City & Guilds Group, provides workplace learning and learning technology solutions.

Its PIVOT platform helps employers and training providers manage apprenticeships, bringing together the systems and information needed to support apprenticeship delivery.

Making the move to agile development

As Kineo moved towards agile development, it needed a testing approach that could keep pace with frequent changes to PIVOT.

PIVOT brought together several connected systems to support apprenticeship management. As Kineo introduced new features and adapted the platform for different customers, it needed confidence that changes wouldn't disrupt existing functionality or the people relying on it.

But testing demand wasn't consistent. Some sprints required more support than others, making a permanent, full-time testing team an inefficient fit.

Kineo needed a partner who could help establish the right QA process and provide experienced testers when they were needed.

Testing that worked around the sprint

Rather than introduce a separate testing process, we worked with Kineo to make QA part of its three-week development cycle. Our testers joined sprint planning sessions, giving us visibility of upcoming changes and helping both teams agree where testing effort would be most valuable.

We developed a repeatable approach covering test planning, scripting, execution and verification, with testing capacity adjusted to suit each sprint.

This gave Kineo a consistent testing team familiar with PIVOT, without needing the same level of resource throughout development. Our testers also worked across real browsers and devices, giving Kineo broader coverage than its own available hardware could support.

More time to focus on developing PIVOT

With a testing process that could adapt to each sprint, Kineo was able to concentrate on developing new features and responding to customer requirements.

Our ongoing support helped the company deliver PIVOT to a growing range of major customers, with testing expertise available as the platform evolved.

Over time, our testers developed detailed knowledge of PIVOT and became experienced users of the system, helping us identify issues efficiently and adapt our approach as new requirements emerged.

For Kineo, the partnership provided a reliable QA process without the overhead of maintaining a full-time testing team. It meant the company could keep improving PIVOT and responding to the needs of employers and training providers, with testing support that adapted to each stage of development.