Top 5 Considerations For A Strong Test Data Management
“I think I lost my homework pages,” “I think the dog ate my homework.”
Remember the above lines which we used to use for humorously teasing our teachers for not having done the homework?
Sometimes, a tester has the same feeling and want to convey the exact words, when a particular set of data is not found. But…. Helpless!!
Situations have changed, and unfortunately, no such lines can be used by a responsible professional at work.
Test Data Management(TDM) is a vital and crucial component of an IT organization. The business is at risk if any failure is observed in the production environment and shows that you don’t take the test procedure seriously until it reaches the production stage.
For having an optimal functionality of the software/application, you need to address all the subsequent breaches and carry out the testing effectively. Envo8 crafted down a list of considerations for effective test data management.
Test only relevant data:
Sometimes unplanned trips work out the best, but risks are involved. The same way, testing all the data, has pros and cons both. This is because, while testing all the data, you do not have the exact idea of the scenario in which that particular test data should be tested. This procedure consumes a lot of time and money.
On the other hand, when you create a testing process where you jot down the test cases and the need for the environment, it becomes much easy. For example, if you are validating the login page, you know the scenario of which information would be specifically needed to confirm the same. When you keep iterating, you will be able to find more bugs, and you will need more real data. Hence, start with a small set of test data, and then gradually proceed towards complex ones.
Avoid having sensitive data for testing:
Ever since the GDP lawsuits concerning the data protection came into implementation, more companies have started taking the security issue seriously for the IT test environment Management. Auditors prefer that only limited people should have access to production environments. Only these people will be responsible for customer data handling. Any data leaked, the privileged people will be held for legal representation. Mask the data that can reveal the person’s identity; you can also follow the irreversible methods for the same.
Refresh the environment:
This may sound challenging, but it is crucial to refresh the testing environment correctly and continuously. It may have unanticipated side effects, but once your foundation is in place, everything will work right.
Automate the process:
Imagine if you can centrally manage the data creation process, masking, cloning, and organizing automatically! You have so many automated tools that allow you to do the same and gives an automated solution. You can set up sequential testing and keep track of the test data.
Testing should be done up to date:
Your software/application will continuously evolve once it is launched. For this, the test scenarios and test data need to be changed from time to time, depending on the test data generated. It is also necessary to make some test scenarios obsolete, and hence, some data will also become out-of-date.
For practising this, you need to have discipline and proper communication within the team members. It is developers responsibility to inform everyone which data are relevant and which data needs to be removed. This process ensures a higher quality of output from the TDM.
Deploying an effective Test data management solution is an imperative way to identify, secure, and manage the right test data. By doing this, you will have sync between the company’s requirements, test cases, test data, and all the virtual assets.