Whilst TAG employs a rigorous internal testing and quality assurance process, it is recognised that external and independent quality assurance is vital. TAG has knowledge of a number of companies who provide this service within the sector, and having spent some time evaluating these companies, has chosen to partner with Testhouse. Established in February 2000, Testhouse is an IT consultancy specialising in software quality and IT risk management, committed to delivering their services using industry best practices. Testhouse was awarded with ISO 9001:2000 and TickIT in March 2006. A key consequence of this is that the company is now regularly audited to ensure that the standard of their internal processes are maintained and remain compliant. Testhouse has also been certified by Investors in People since 2004. All Testhouse staff are required to hold a minimum of an ISEB foundation certificate in software testing, with the majority going on to attain product certifications in various software testing tools in categories such as test management tools, automation tools, performance testing tools, requirement management tools, configuration management tools and security testing tools. It is also worth noting that Testhouse has recently won the contract for external quality assurance on a number of high profile projects including a framework agreement with BECTA to provide quality review services on the forthcoming ‘Education Learning Services’, as well as other contracts for I2Q and Harper Collins. Testhouse has worked with TAG on a number of its most recent web-enabled development projects, specifically, the creation of an ePortfolio Handling System for AQA and for the development of Phase 3 of the eScape project. For more on Testhouse, click here.