QA Oversight When Your Vendor Owns Testing

You want the new release live, but every time you test it yourself, you find another gap. If the vendor owns QA, you need independent checks that are fast and friendly—not another process monster.

Typical QA red flags

• Test evidence is missing or written in tools you cannot access
• Critical paths (checkout, onboarding, journeys) are only covered manually
• Bugs keep surfacing in production because acceptance criteria were fuzzy

Oversight in three steps

1. Set acceptance criteria upfront – Use plain language (“User can upload a CSV up to 5 MB and see a success message within 3 seconds”). Log them in a shared spreadsheet.
2. Request proof per build – Ask for screenshots, test logs, and defect lists tied to each criterion. No evidence, no approval.
3. Run a focused spot check – Spend 30 minutes testing the riskiest scenarios yourself and record findings. The goal: verify the vendor’s proof, not redo their entire QA.

What to ask from the supplier weekly

• Test coverage summary (automated vs. manual)
• Defects found and their status (must include owner and ETA)
• Non-functional checks (performance, security) if they influence go-live

Sign-off criteria you can reuse

When to involve an outsider

Bring us in if:

• Releases keep slipping due to “late” issues
• The vendor resists sharing raw test data
• You have a go-live coming up and no independent sign-off

We review the test approach, spotlight the risky gaps, and help your vendor close them fast so you can ship without sleepless nights.