Enterprise Testing: A Strategic Decision to Mitigate Technical Debt

Health and Human Services agencies are under constant pressure to deliver enterprise transformations (e.g., Medicaid Enterprise Systems (MES), Integrated Eligibility Systems (IES), and Comprehensive Child Welfare Information Systems (CCWIS)).

Worse, as vendors of these systems have increasingly adopted “product” models using Agile development methodologies and cloud architecture technologies like Continuous Integration / Continuous Deployment (CI/CD), development timelines have compounded into shorter and shorter intervals. This has pressured HHS agencies to get more done, more quickly, often with the same footprint of staff.

However, this race to market often comes at a cost: technical debt.

Technical debt is often accumulated through shortcuts taken to meet accelerated development timelines and by continually extending outdated systems. It's also a common product of poorly planned development cycles that do not provide enough integration with testing that has been shifted left in the development life cycle. Technical debt can silently erode a government agency’s ability to adapt, scale, and maintain its technology stack.

Left unchecked, it leads to increased costs, delayed releases, and frustrated teams. Enter enterprise testing—a strategic decision that not only curbs the adverse effects of technical debt but also positions organizations for long-term success.

Understanding Technical Debt and its Ripple Effects

Technical debt is not just a buzzword; it is a tangible liability. It manifests as brittle codebases, untested features, or legacy systems that become more expensive to maintain than to replace.

While it frequently starts as a “small” compromise—say, skipping comprehensive testing to meet a deadline—it compounds over time. Bugs multiply, performance degrades, and satisfaction with a system plummets. For systems focused on providing forms of economic or medical assistance, or certainly child safety or placement, for example, reliability and scalability are non-negotiable. Technical debt in these systems can translate into a failure of mission, with lasting impact to Citizens. There are multiple stories in the press of HHS Agencies across the country having system outages and severe disruption of operations due to systems rolled out with inadequate quality.

The irony? Some agencies still view testing as an expendable cost rather than a proactive investment. Yet, the data tells a different story. Studies consistently show that fixing a defect in production can cost up to 100 times more than addressing it during the development phase. Technical debt thrives in environments where testing is an afterthought, and the longer it festers, the harder it becomes to unravel. Thus, it is vital for Agencies to consider the problem differently.

Enterprise Testing as a Strategic Countermeasure

North Highland’s enterprise testing services flip the script. By embedding robust testing practices into the initial stages of the software development lifecycle (SDLC), organizations can identify and resolve issues before they snowball into costly problems.

This is not just about catching bugs—it is about building a resilient foundation that reduces the accumulation of technical debt from the outset. Consider these benefits:

1. Early detection, lower costs. Comprehensive testing— at the unit, integration, and system-level—catches defects when they are cheapest to fix: during development. North Highland’s automated testing suites, for instance, can run thousands of checks in minutes, ensuring that new code does not introduce regressions or destabilize existing functionality. Our proactive approach to embedding early in the SDLC and leaning into automation minimizes the need for expensive rework down the line.
2.  Improved code quality. Testing enforces discipline. When developers know their work will be rigorously evaluated by an independent third party, they are incentivized to write cleaner, more maintainable code. North Highland is highly adept at techniques like test-driven development (TDD) take this a step further, making testing a prerequisite to coding itself. The result? A codebase that is easier to update, scale, and hand off—directly countering the entropy of technical debt for your agency.
3. Faster delivery through confidence. Paradoxically, investing in testing accelerates delivery. When teams trust that their software is stable and dependable, they can deploy with confidence, avoiding the last-minute fire drills that plague under-tested systems. Also, continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines, underpinned by North Highland automated testing, enable agencies to release features faster without sacrificing quality.
4. Mitigating legacy system risks. Many agencies grapple with technical debt tied to legacy MMIS, IES or CWIS systems—outdated platforms that are too critical to replace yet too fragile to enhance. North Highland strategic testing, including regression and performance testing, ensures these systems remain functional as they are modernized or integrated with newer solutions, preventing a cascade of failures.

Making Testing a C-Suite Priority

For agency testing to truly combat technical debt, it must transcend the IT department and become a strategic priority at the executive level. This means allocating budget for testing tools, testing talent, and testing training, and fostering a culture that values quality over quick wins. Leaders should champion metrics like defect escape rate, test coverage, and mean time to resolution—not just as technical KPIs, but as indicators of business health.

Consider the alternative: another agency, bogged down by technical debt, struggles to pivot during a policy or regulatory shift, while your organization, buoyed by a tested and adaptable tech stack, seizes the opportunity. That is the strategic advantage testing delivers.

Technical debt is inevitable, but its impact does not have to be. By embracing enterprise testing as a deliberate strategy, agencies can transform a potential liability into a competitive strength. It is not just about reducing bugs—it is about safeguarding innovation, agility, and speed to value in an increasingly complex digital world.