WISQA.org - August 2002

Wisconsin Information Systems
Quality Assurance

Question #3: How to keep a regression database up to date and not lose integrity? Functionality changes, so does time, how do you keep up with time without losing the integrity of the data you have for regression testing?

Need to continuously maintain the regression database.

It needs to be someone's job responsibility to maintain the data and the regression test scripts.

Should be continuously running and maintaining regression tests. This will keep data current.

Level of maintenance required will vary. The level of detail needed in your test plans (manual) will also vary depending on who is expected to run the tests.

Be selective about what will be included in the regression test - doesn't make sense to include everything.

Can use a date aging tool to keep data 'current' with time.

Another approach for dealing with date sensitive data: When regression data initially created, create data for various points in the future. Some data will be current; other data will be dated 3 months out, 6 months out, etc. Will extend useful life of the data.

Creation of automated data pull - based on criteria-based data extraction methods. Don't specific particular data VALUES to select (i.e. select customer 123), but set up the extract to select data that meets particular criteria. This data extract can be re-used to refresh the test data. Test plans should also be based on data criteria.