Test area

Creating a test area has to be the least used but most important concepts in moving an application into production. The test area is an exact replication of the production area. All files needed to run the application need to be included in the directories. This includes executables, databases, tables, metadata, external source code files (like reports ), language translation tables, parameter/setup tables or INIs, ActiveX controls, COM objects, data conversion programs, problem solving utilities, help files, shortcuts, and any other files used in production. For existing systems getting an update, copy the base set of files from the current production directories to provide a true experience of what to expect when you work on the production implementation. This is the area to run a complete dress rehearsal of the implementation without directly working on the production files.

It is important to understand this is a separate area from the beta test area you have been using all along for customer acceptance testing. Using the beta directories introduces the possibility of bad data or errant test versions of the code, which might introduce invalid test results that are hard to reproduce in the development test environment. This final test area provides you and the customer one more chance to test the implementation steps necessary to ensure a successful production implementation. Each test should start out with a fresh copy of the environment so you might want to make a second copy of the files before making the first test.

There are several items to complete final testing at this point of the process. You might have to test various machine configurations at different customer locations. For instance, you can install on a machine with older runtimes, one with no runtimes , older processors vs. current ones, and various memory and video combinations. You are not looking to be surprised that the application will not work on these configurations at this time, just confirming the implementation goes smoothly.