Make All Tests Repeatable
Most regulated industries have standards for tests. Their standards are so reasonable that all testing
efforts should follow them. Among the standards is that all tests must be repeatable. To be compliant
with the standards, you must be able to re-create the data set used, the exact action performed,
the exact result expected, and the exact result seen and recorded. Pre-production tests for validation
of the application must be performed on the production hardware. Moving the application to
different hardware requires retesting the application. The tester and the business users must sign
off on all tests.
Chapter 5: Developing and Implementing Applications 133
Most people, on hearing those restrictions, would agree that they are good steps to take in
any testing process. Indeed, your business users may be expecting that the people developing the
application are following such standards, even if they are not required by the industry. But are
they followed? And if not, then why not? The two commonly cited reasons for not following such
standards are time and cost. Such tests require planning, personnel resources, business user
involvement, and time for execution and documentation. Testing on production-caliber hardware
may require the purchase of additional servers. Those are the most evident costs??”but what is the
business cost of failing to perform such tests? The testing requirements for validated systems in
some health industries were implemented because those systems directly impact the integrity of
critical products such as the safety of the blood supply.
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