Preface from the chairman

We all know how risks result in headlines. Risk control is vital, sometimes literally. It is no different in our IT world - risk control has never been more important.
The fact that business and IT are moving closer, combined with the growth of these chains to far beyond the organisation, country and market boundaries, can lead to significant (reputational) damage for the chain partners if a problem occurs in the chain. It goes without saying that this must be prevented. Prevention starts with the business defining chain requirements and IT delivering in a controllable and specification compliant manner. The focus here must be on the desired result of the (automated) collaboration between the processes of the chain partners in question rather than the individual information systems.
There is a trend to make use of business and technology services (pieces of functionality) that organisations publish via the internet. Such services require special attention in terms of reliability and accessibility. Clearly, the interconnectedness of these services in separate applications and therefore in the chains inherently increases the associated complexity. This obviously implies that the chains must be subjected to high test demands and methods. The test workers in this area of expertise must also comply with high standards. In addition to thorough knowledge of testing, they must also have knowledge of the processes and organisation and, quite naturally, of the market(s) in which the chain is being used. Mapping the chain risks and understanding the reliability of the chains represents a significant professional challenge.
End-to-end testing with TMap NEXT^® The book is the first to describe this methodical approach in the world of testing and is an absolute must for all parties involved in end-to-end testing. I wish you a lot of reading pleasure.

Nijs Blokland
Chairman International Testing Community
Sogeti Group