The productivity impact of systems integration testing on the systems development life cycle

The purpose of this correlational research study was to determine the impact of systems integration testing (SIT) on the systems development life cycle (SDLC) in terms of software quality, project time, and costs. The goal was to enable information technology (IT) leaders to further enhance existing product testing and quality measures. A quantitative research model was developed to examine the performance of SIT on multiple aspects of the SDLC. The study also addresses a significant gap in existing IT research related to complex software project cycle metrics. Information technology leaders must understand the impact of SIT on the SDLC, considering that product testing accounts for 50% of all software project costs. The results of this quantitative study indicated SIT does have a significant impact on the SDLC in terms of cost, quality, and time. A review of the impact of SIT on the SDLC at a large financial organization revealed adding a SIT testing phase will negatively impact the project in terms of time and initial costs and positively impact the project in terms of quality. The correlation between SIT and SDLC also has significant leadership implications considering quality enhancement and improved organizational performance benefits both internal and external shareholders. Further research is also indicated to further explore the nonquantifiable variables that enable innovative approaches to traditional IT product design, development, and quality assessments.