The field of software development is on a constant rampage of change where it’s becoming really hard for companies to stay relevant anymore.
Given any kind of scenario, the need is for the companies to have a proper testing strategy in place that has components like Test Data Management (TDM).
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The TDM (Test Data Management) Fundamental
TDM or test data management could be termed as a process of managing the data that is necessary for fulfilling the needs of the automated tests with little to no human intervention. This makes TDM solution a fast and a responsible venture towards creating a required test data that fulfill its needs.
It should however ensure that data is retained in the highest quality possible because the poor quality of data is of no use for the enterprises and organizations in general.
Another important requirement is the fidelity which needs it to resemble the real data from the production servers as closely as possible.
The TDM process, however, should also guarantee that the test data is made available. There’s no use to possess high-quality data which is realistic yet doesn’t get to the test cases when it has to.
This means that the TDM process has 3 common goals:
Providing test data which is of high quality, is realistic and available as well.
Why does TDM (Test Data Management) Matter?
As we already know that test data management is actually data available for most of the data. And now if you are wondering what the significance of TDM is, here are some of the main reasons why Test data management actually matters.
An automated testing sequence needs data readily available
TDM needs to ensure the quality of the data along with its availability at the ‘correct time’.
Notice how I quoted ‘correct time’?
A crucial responsibility of test data management is that it ensures that the test data is made available at the right time. It doesn’t matter if your data is of the highest quality, there is no need for it when it’s not available when we actually need it.
In such a scenario, it would actually be preferable if the data is of low quality but available.
This automatically suggests that high-quality data that is readily available is the thing we prefer.
The need is for the quality data
In case you pump in a very low-quality feedstock to any industrial process, you really can’t expect much, can you? It doesn’t matter how much you sow into something, if it’s of bad quality, you really can’t expect something great when you read it.
The same happens during testing.
No matter how great of an approach you have adopted during testing, if your data quality is bad, you are going to get bad results.
The quality of the test data is something that needs to be seriously considered. If you don’t focus on it, it’s very similar to throwing your money at unnecessary projects.
You need a fast debugging process
Bugs, as soon as you find them and get rid of them, the more money you are going to save.
The fixture of a great test data management process ensures that your automated testing process goes as per the plan. This means, your debugging process isn’t going to take a lot of time or cost a lot of money.
This is one of the most significant benefits of automated testing. And since TDM is one of the best testing strategies, it’s only safe to include it in your testing practices.
You want to align with the Data Regulations
Something that you should take seriously is the exposure of sensitive client data. Sensitive data is actually one of the biggest assets an enterprise has, which needs to be retained safely, or it could have catastrophic damage to your business.
There are different laws and regulations that bind with consumer data. One of the most common of these regulations is GDPR (among many other regulations).
It really doesn’t matter what specific regulations your very own jurisdiction has, the only thing that matters is that you align with those regulations.
And just in case you fail to do that, your business is prone to face a lot of serious consequences that include both the financial and the legal problems, let alone hurt the reputation of your business.