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# Design Phase

Before testing starts, QA determines what to test and creates the necessary tests and checklists. QA then tests the software. The product is ready for beta site testing when QA determines that Software Development has completed the functional programming and that data flows through the system without critical software bugs. At this point, major software design issues have been resolved, a preliminary draft of the user’s guide has been completed, and QA has tested the data file conversion programs with live data. When beta site testing starts, QA begins work on noncritical functions such as help, sample data, GENERAL Report Writer data, ODBC data dictionaries, Global Inquiry, and EIS functions.