Software Deployment

I think that depends entirely on what's meant by 'QA'.

At one client, I built a script which interrogated the tables in an MSI and checked that certain properties were present and were set to their approved values (e.g. ALLUSERS). It's also possible to automate MSI validation.

Those two things go a long way to produce a QA-type environment. The additional advantages are that a) you can build a set of scripts which do exactly what YOU require (rather than trying to make a third party's product accomodate your requirements) and b) it costs somewhat less than the commercially-available tools.

Thanks for the quick response.

I work in a validated environment so I need to ensure the integrity of my core build and applications remains solid after installing or uninstalling a new package. I also need consistent reporting of these tests for validation purposes. While homegrown tools can definitely help get scripts through a thorough QA process in one run I will need a more robust QA cycle than that.

if your worried about uninstall i would be looking into conflict management. This will identify whether you even need a "QA" process to follow.

no point running QA on applications which are completely stand alone. CMDB will identify these items quickly and easily.

as for test software

rational robot, or the mercury group of products like winrunner, loderunner etc should suffice.

ORIGINAL: jmcfadyen
rational robot, or the mercury group of products like winrunner, loderunner etc should suffice. IIRC, all of these products would sit nicely under the 'expensive' heading, too but, if Jason (the OP) wants 'thorough' and eschews the home-grown approach, I think money is going to have to be spent. Jason, don't forget to factor in the inevitable consultant time in your sums.

for a freebie product you can look at AutoIT.

But by no means is it likely to be the best product for the job but it does work and the price is right.