University of Illinois

“Software never works the way you want it to at first,” admitted Extension Specialist Paul Schuytema. Working in the Office of Creative Software Development at the University of Illinois Extension, Paul led the latest redevelopment of MarketMaker – an interactive mapping system that connects businesses and consumers with producers in local agriculture markets. As previous versions gained popularity, Paul saw the need for a formal QA process, but didn’t see the money for it in the budget.

Their prior method of testing, he explained, primarily involved customers reporting bugs. It was certainly cost-effective, he joked, but not all that useful in assuring quality. And so with a tightening budget, no QA team and a fast-approaching deadline for their next release, Paul began hunting for a simple, scalable testing solution. “We knew we had to try something different,” he said. “We just didn’t know what it was going to be.”

As a historic hub for all things software related, the University of Illinois has cultivated some of the industry’s most innovative thinkers. Because of this culture, Paul was introduced to uTest’s global community by a colleague, and signed up in October of 2008. Through functional and compatibility testing, uTest’s QA professionals enabled Paul’s development team to produce a variety of new features, for new customers. With more iterations of MarketMaker now in the works, Paul said their usage of uTest will only increase.