One of the big challenges in TDM and software testing is data management.

In this article, you will learn how automating TDM can help you reduce waiting times and increase the quality of your software.

1. Software testing and TDM.

The changes that IT environments are experiencing have created the need for a methodology to run agile, secure and more efficient application tests. It is in this context that Test Data Management (TDM) arises.

The primary goal of TDM is to generate subsets of secure test data that should be similar to actual data for database software. This means that it is data that seems real, but it is not.

2. What are the benefits of automating software tests?

In 2017, 47% of QA specialists identified test data management automation as the next big trend according to the World Quality Report. Nowadays, test automation has become a mandatory task, especially within agile-focused tests.

What are the benefits of automating test data management?

• Decrease in process and waiting times. These times can be cut in half or even shortened by up to 5 times their original duration.
• Improved software quality: you can test more and faster.
• Thanks to technology, hours of manual work, repetitive and more prone to human failure, can be freed. Testers no longer have to spend that much time preparing data for testing.
• Reduction of storage and tester costs.

3. Four examples of TDM automation.

Sensitive data identification.

A good example of TDM automation is the automatic identification of sensitive data. Over the years, there are many professionals who manipulate the data of a corporation. The team that came up with the database model is likely to no longer be working there, or there can even not exist a record of how it was run.

Through a software, sensitive data can be analyzed and captured on a map. This objective is achieved through the automation of the data discovery and inventory processes. The end result is an inventory of data with the type of information they contain and a proposal to anonymize them.

Test data design.

It is well known among QA professionals that half of the time is spent on waiting to get the data. This causes a drop in test productivity. However, test data design is another area that is also automatable through software. Automation is presented here as a solution as it can greatly reduce waiting times.

At this point, it is important to have a software that can evolve and adapt to the specific needs of the company to make a good fit with the test automation.

Data dissociation.

The real data of production environments may be affected by the legislation in GDPR. Not only can software identify this data, it can also automate data disassociation work so that it can comply with the law and be more secure in a test environment.

It is essential that the data generated this way must have the consistency and richness of the real data to be useful for testing. The more realistic the data, the more valuable it is to TDM. Or in other words: the names of the clients have to give the impression of being real even if they are not. Besides, the tax identification numbers need to be in the proper format to be used in Test Data Management.

Automatic check of results.

Another area that can be automated is checking results. This implies the following:

1. The expected test result is stored associated with the test case.
2. The rules make it possible to define how to check the result of the execution.
3. The test result is fully verified (if we take the data perspective into account).
4. Failure information is readily available to resolve incidents.

Conclusions.

The automation of software testing has gone from being a trend to something practically mandatory within the TDM methodology. This fact is justified thanks to its great benefits such as: the reduction of costs and times, and the increase in the quality of the tests.

Some examples of actions that can be automated in test data management are identifying sensitive data, designing test data, disassociating data, and checking results.

All these examples of test automation can be done through the Icaria TDM tool. If you want to reduce times and improve the quality of your tests, request a demo now with this link.