QA Process

We test your products before they appear on our Web site.

Testing ComponentSource wants to ensure that when a customer tries a product for the first time that he/she has an enjoyable experience. We therefore test all products for successful installation based on the pre-requisites provided and check for known viruses.

The tests carried out by your Technical Account Manager include:

• Install: We test that the product will install correctly on all the operating systems or application servers that are supported. We have test machines for virtually all flavors of Microsoft Windows and many Linux and UNIX platforms. We also check various Java VM and other application server environments.
• Un-install: We test that the product will un-install correctly on all the operating systems or application servers that are supported. We have test machines for virtually all flavors of Microsoft Windows. We also check various Java VM environments for de-installation.
• Demos and Trials: We check that the quality of the material submitted is suitable for inclusion in our marketing program. We test the submitted files to make sure they launch correctly - including: Acrobat Files (PDF), Demonstrations, Evaluations, Help Files, HTML (links), etc...
• Sample Projects: All products should ideally have a sample project that can be run. This helps the customer get started more quickly by writing 90% of the code they will initially need and showing them code snippets or best practice guides. Remember that if a customer is not using the component within a few minutes during the evaluation period it is unlikely that they will buy the product. Sample projects also help us test the product and establish that an installation has successfully completed by allowing us to rapidly instantiate a process or component inside the chosen IDE, such as C# or Java.
• Virus Check: We scan all the software materials submitted for any viruses.
• Encryption: We encrypt the product and write detailed installation instructions for the customer to read. These instructions are provided in a CSReadme.txt file which is downloaded when a product is purchased.
• Decryption: We test the decryption and make sure that the installation instructions can be followed and that the product will install.

Product Description, Positioning, Loading and Publication on our Web site(s). When the product passes the quality assurance tests your Technical Account Manager will load the product into our database ready for the next available Web site revision.

The load process involves:

• Loading: We review the details from the Product Submission Form and load these details into our Product Catalog database using our Reusable Component Specification to describe the product. We also use the results of the testing process to modify installation instructions, pre-requisite software requirements and compatibility claims. This may be an iterative process with you the Publisher - as we receive clarification on questions, or in some cases re-submission of products for further testing.
• Categorize: We review the Product Materials and Product Submission Form to correctly position the product within the categories in our Product Catalog. Where necessary we will create a brand new product category to help customers find a specific solution to a problem. We also create keywords for the Product inside our search engine.
• Set Price: We enter your List Price details so that customers can buy in $, €, £ and ¥ - plus 16 other currencies.
• Review and Edit: A second person from the Product Testing team now reviews the Product entry for any basic missing details. The Product is then edited by our Product and Technical Editor, who pays particular attention to the 75 word short description, category and keywords. Finally the Product is released to the Web site and reviewed by our Webmasters and Customer Services team. Any omissions or errors are corrected immediately.
• Feedback: We also listen to feedback from both our Publishers and our Customers. If we hear for example that a product claims to work with a specific development environment, such as FoxPro or Delphi, but clearly doesn't based on specific customer experiences - we will remove the claim on the compatibility section and advise the Publisher. When a new submission is made we re-test the Product to check that the issue has been resolved and re-instate the compatibility claim.
• Customer Reviews and Discussion Groups: We also review the submissions made to our Web site every day by customers trying out Products either as evaluations or as full retail Products. We would ask that you regularly check the Web site for reviews and feedback on your Products and post timely and professional replies for us to publish to the customer concerned.