In the past, testing was not a demanding task of any software development. All you needed was a computer, limited datasets, some awareness about security and privacy, and that’s it. However, things have become pretty complex now when it comes to testing. If you wonder how to automate the process of data flow with help of technology, learn more about what is dataops.
Testing is an inevitable part of every business these days. With new legal requirements and data regulations, managing test data is becoming complicated. Ignoring any aspect of this can jeopardize the whole system, but the whole business at risk, and become a security threat for people whose data has been recorded. Other costs are compliance fines and lawsuits. Therefore it is highly critical to get your test data right and have a team of professionals to handle this aspect of your business.
In this article, we have discussed five practices you must implement for test data management. With this checklist, you can ensure that the right process has been followed. Let’s take a look at these steps to ensure better results.
1. Data Extraction/Generation
For test data, you’ll require data from databases, LPARs, and systems. At times, you would even have to retort to external data for this. To get the right data you first need to define contours and criteria which should determine the qualified data. This can take quite some time, however considering its significance; it is worth investing your time and other resources. You must identify the types of data your test teams need, the source of data, and the way to get access to this data.
The test team requires the right skills along with a clear understanding of different databases and schemas, to access the production data.
Last, you need to define how frequently you should refresh the data extraction to keep it current.
2. Protecting Sensitive Data
In big corporations and particular industries, sensitive information of customers is retained by companies. Protecting this information is significant not only for the sake of compliance with legal regulations but also because it is a moral obligation of all businesses to protect the confidential and private information of their customers. With the enactment of GDPR, laws, and regulations devised to ensure customer privacy, it has become inevitable to ignore this aspect of company data. If a company fails to protect customer data, it is rather committing an offense. So during testing, make sure you are masking, scrambling, and encrypting the test data. If you outsource testing, then there is no way you can take any chances with customer data.
3. Planning
There can be a huge amount of data available to you for testing, however; you can’t possibly use all of it. Therefore, you need to devise a mechanism to select the representative subset that could suffice the testing need. To carry out the testing effectively, within the defined budget and time, you can rely on standardized testing across the system, during your planning phase.
4. Maintenance
The acquired test data must be stored, maintained, and updated regularly. It is noteworthy that the cost of storage maintenance can be noticeable, however; there are cost-effective ways of managing and maintaining the information.
5. Auditing
Quite often, a data set that has obsolete data values is used. It not only jeopardizes the quality assurance of the system but doesn’t serve the purpose of testing. To ensure the referential integrity, and the format correspondence, you must get your team to audit the test data. This will make sure that the test data is relevant and reliable.
Final Words:
If you feel that all of the above-discussed steps are difficult to follow, you can get yourself the services of an experienced and qualified testing team. At GenRocket, our team is qualified and experienced. With the right tools to generate test data and the right strategies for test data management, we can ensure that you have a thoroughly tested and quality assured software. We also offer the services of EDI Testing. To know more about us or get a quote, talk to our representative now.
