As a tester, you have to test the ‘Examination Results’ module of the website of a university. Consider the whole application has been integrated and it is in ‘Ready for Testing’ state. ‘Examination Module’ is linked with ‘Registration’, ‘Courses’ and ‘Finance’ modules. Assume that you have adequate information of the application and you created a comprehensive list of test scenarios. Now you have to design, document and execute these test cases. In ‘Actions/Steps’ section of the test cases, you must mention the acceptable data as input for the test. The data mentioned in test cases must be selected properly. The accuracy of ‘Actual Results’ column of TC Document is primarily dependent upon the test data. So, step to prepare the input test data is significantly important. Thus, here is my rundown on ”DB Testing – Test Data Preparation Strategies”.

Properties of Test Data:

The test data should be selected precisely and it must possess the following four qualities:

1. Realistic: By realistic, it means the data should be accurate in the context of real life e.g. in order to test ‘Age’ field, all the values should be positive and 18 or above. It is quite obvious that the candidates for an admission in the university are usually 18 years old (this might be defined in requirements).

2. Practically valid: This is similar to realistic but not the same. This property is more related to the business logic of AUT e.g. value 60 is realistic in age field but practically invalid for a candidate of Graduation or even Masters Programs. In this case, a valid range would be 18-25 years (this might be defined in requirements).

3. Versatile to cover scenarios: There may be several subsequent conditions in a single scenario, so choose the data shrewdly to cover maximum aspects of a single scenario with minimum set of data, e.g. while creating test data for result module, do not only consider the case of regular students who are smoothly completing their program. Give attention to the students who are repeating the same course and belong to different semesters or even different programs. The data set may look like this:

There might be several other interesting and tricky sub-conditions. E.g. the limitation of years to complete a degree program, passing a prerequisite course for registering a course, maximum no. of courses a student may enroll in a single semester etc. etc. Make sure to cover all these scenarios wisely with finite set of data.

4. Exceptional data (if applicable/required): There may be certain exceptional scenarios that are less frequent but demand high importance when occur, e.g. disabled students related issues.

Test data preparation techniques:

We have briefly discussed the important properties of test data and it also elaborates how test data selection is important while database testing. Now let’s discuss the ‘techniques to prepare test data’.

There are only two ways to prepare test data:

Method 1. Insert New Data:

Get a clean DB and insert all the data as specified in your test cases. Once, all your required and desired data has been entered, start executing your test cases and fill ‘Pass/Fail’ columns by comparing the ‘Actual Output’ with ‘Expected Output’.  Sounds simple, right? But wait, it’s not that simple.

Few essential and critical concerns are as follows:

1. Empty instance of database may not be available
2. Inserted test data may be insufficient for testing some cases like performance and load testing.
3. Inserting the required test data into blank DB is not an easy job due to the database table dependencies. Because of this inevitable restriction, data insertion can become difficult task for tester.
4. Insertion of limited test data (just according to the test cases needs) may hide some issues that could be found only with the large data set.
5. For data insertion, complex queries and/or procedures may be required, and for this sufficient assistance or help from the DB developer(s) would be necessary.

Above mentioned five issues are the most important and the most obvious drawbacks of this technique for test data preparation. But if there are some advantages as well:

1. Execution of TCs becomes more efficient as the DB has the required data only.
2. Bugs isolation requires no time as only the data specified in test cases present in the DB.
3. Less time required for testing and results comparison.
4. Clutter-free test process

Method 2. Choose sample data subset from actual DB data:

This is the feasible and more practical technique for test data preparation. However it requires sound technical skills and demands detailed knowledge of DB Schema and SQL. In this method you need to copy and use production data by replacing some field values by dummy values. This is the best data subset for your testing as it represents the production data.  But this may not be feasible all the time due to data security and privacy issues.

This strategy deserves one separate post which we’ll discuss in next article ‘Database gray-box testing’ and precautions to take while testing database.

This is a guest article by Rizwan Jafri.
Author is having more than 4 years of experience and Currently working as a Sr. QA Engineer in Systems Limited Lahore, Pakistan.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in below comment section.

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Database Testing – Properties of a Good Test Data and Test Data Preparation Techniques

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Moreover, as the complexity of application increases the need of stronger and secure database emerges. In the same way, for the applications with high frequency of transactions (e.g. banking or finance application), necessity of fully featured DB Tool is coupled.

Currently, several database tools are available in the market e.g. MS-Access2010, MS SQL Server 2008 r2, Oracle 10g, Oracle Financial, MySQL, PostgreSQL, DB2 etc.  All of these vary in cost, robustness, features and security. Each of these DBs possesses its own benefits and drawbacks. One thing is certain; a business application must be built using one of these or other DB Tools.

Before I start digging into the topic, let me comprehend the foreword. When the application is under execution, the end user mainly utilizes the ‘CRUD’ operations facilitated by the DB Tool.

C: Create – When user ‘Save’ any new transaction, ‘Create’ operation is performed.
R: Retrieve – When user ‘Search’ or ‘View’ any saved transaction, ‘Retrieve’ operation is performed.
U: Update – when user ‘Edit’ or ‘Modify’ an existing record, the ‘Update’ operation of DB is performed.
D: Delete – when user ‘Remove’ any record from the system, ‘Delete’ operation of DB is performed.

It does not matter at all, which DB is used and how the operation is preformed. End user has no concern if any join or sub-query, trigger or stored-procedure, query or function was used to do what he wanted. But, the interesting thing is that all DB operations performed by user, from UI of any application, is one of the above four, acronym as CRUD.

As a database tester one should be focusing on following DB testing activities:

What to test in database testing:

1) Ensure data mapping:

Make sure that the mapping between different forms or screens of AUT and the Relations of its DB is not only accurate but is also according to design documents. For all CRUD operations, verify that respective tables and records are updated when user clicks ‘Save’, ‘Update’, ‘Search’ or ‘Delete’ from GUI of the application.

2) Ensure ACID Properties of Transactions:

ACID properties of DB Transactions refer to the ‘Atomicity’, ‘Consistency’, ‘Isolation’ and ‘Durability’. Proper testing of these four properties must be done during the DB testing activity. This area demands more rigorous, thorough and keen testing when the database is distributed.

3) Ensure Data Integrity:

Consider that different modules (i.e. screens or forms) of application use the same data in different ways and perform all the CRUD operations on the data. In that case, make it sure that the latest state of data is reflected everywhere. System must show the updated and most recent values or the status of such shared data on all the forms and screens. This is called the Data Integrity.

4) Ensure Accuracy of implemented Business Rules:

Today, databases are not meant only to store the records. In fact, DBs have been evolved into extremely powerful tools that provide ample support to the developers in order to implement the business logic at DB level. Some simple examples of powerful features of DBs are ‘Referential Integrity’, relational constrains, triggers and stored procedures. So, using these and many other features offered by DBs, developers implement the business logic on DB level. Tester must ensure that the implemented business logic is correct and works accurately.

Above points describe the four most important ‘What Tos’ of database testing. Now, I will put some light on ‘How Tos’ of DB Testing. But, first of all I feel it better to explicitly mention an important point. DB Testing is a business critical task, and it should never be assigned to a fresh or inexperienced resource without proper training.

How To Test Database:

1. Create your own Queries

In order to test the DB properly and accurately, first of all a tester should have very good knowledge of SQL and specially DML (Data Manipulation Language) statements. Secondly, the tester should acquire good understanding of internal DB structure of AUT. If these two pre-requisites are fulfilled, then the tester is ready to test DB with complete confidence. (S)He will perform any CRUD operation from the UI of application, and will verify the result using SQL query.

This is the best and robust way of DB testing especially for applications with small to medium level of complexity. Yet, the two pre-requisites described are necessary. Otherwise, this way of DB testing cannot be adopted by the tester.

Moreover, if the application is very complex then it may be hard or impossible for the tester to write all of the needed SQL queries himself or herself. However, for some complex queries, tester may get help from the developer too. I always recommend this method for the testers because it does not only give them the confidence on the testing they have performed but, also enhance their SQL skill.

2. Observe data table by table

If the tester is not good in SQL, then he or she may verify the result of CRUD operation, performed using GUI of the application, by viewing the tables (relations) of DB. Yet, this way may be a bit tedious and cumbersome especially when the DB and tables have large amount of data.

Similarly, this way of DB testing may be extremely difficult for tester if the data to be verified belongs to multiple tables. This way of DB testing also requires at least good knowledge of Table structure of AUT.

3. Get query from developer

This is the simplest way for the tester to test the DB. Perform any CRUD operation from GUI and verify its impacts by executing the respective SQL query obtained from the developer. It requires neither good knowledge of SQL nor good knowledge of application’s DB structure.

So, this method seems easy and good choice for testing DB. But, its drawback is havoc. What if the query given by the developer is semantically wrong or does not fulfill the user’s requirement correctly? In this situation, the client will report the issue and will demand its fix as the best case. While, the worst case is that client may refuse to accept the application.

Conclusion:

Database is the core and critical part of almost every software application. So DB testing of an application demands keen attention, good SQL skills, proper knowledge of DB structure of AUT and proper training.

In order to have the confident test report of this activity, this task should be assigned to a resource with all the four qualities stated above. Otherwise, shipment time surprises, bugs identification by the client, improper or unintended application’s behavior or even wrong outputs of business critical tasks are more likely to be observed. Get this task done by most suitable resources and pay it the well-deserved attention.

This is a guest post by Rizwan Jafri, a Software Testing expert. If you want to post your article on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

If you have queries related to database testing, database testing interview questions, database testing tools or concepts please put it below. We will be happy to address all the queries in comments or part II of database testing article.

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Database Testing – Practical Tips and Insight on How to Test Database

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The characteristics of a Banking application are as follows:

• Multi tier functionality to support thousands of concurrent user sessions
• Large scale Integration , typically a banking application integrates with numerous other applications such as Bill Pay utility and Trading accounts
• Complex Business workflows
• Real Time and Batch processing
• High rate of Transactions per seconds
• Secure Transactions
• Robust Reporting section to keep track of day to day transactions
• Strong Auditing to troubleshoot customer issues
• Massive storage system
• Disaster Management.

The above listed ten points are the most important characteristics of a Banking application.

Banking applications have multiple tiers involved in performing an operation. For Example, a banking application may have:

1. Web Server to interact with end users via Browser
2. Middle Tier to validate the input and output for web server
3. Data Base to store data and procedures
4. Transaction Processor which could be a large capacity Mainframe or any other Legacy system to carry out Trillions of transactions per second.

If we talk about testing banking applications it requires an end to end testing methodology involving multiple software testing techniques to ensure:

• Total  coverage of all banking workflows and Business Requirements
• Functional aspect of the application
• Security aspect of the application
• Data Integrity
• Concurrency
• User Experience

Typical stages involved in testing Banking Applications are shown in below workflow which we will be discussing individually.

1) Requirement Gathering:

Requirement gathering phase involves documentation of requirements either as Functional Specifications or Use Cases. Requirements are gathered as per customer needs and documented by Banking Experts or Business Analyst. To write requirements on more than one subject experts are involved as banking itself has multiple sub domains and one full fledge banking application will be the integration of all. For Example: A banking application may have separate modules for Transfers, Credit Cards, Reports, Loan Accounts, Bill Payments, Trading Etc.

2) Requirement Review:

The deliverable of Requirement Gathering is reviewed by all the stakeholders such as QA Engineers, Development leads and Peer Business Analysts. They cross check that neither existing business workflows nor new workflows are violated.

3) Business Scenario Preparations:

In this stage QA Engineers derive Business Scenarios from the requirement documents (Functions Specs or Use Cases); Business Scenarios are derived in such a way that all Business Requirements are covered. Business Scenarios are high level scenarios without any detailed steps, further these Business Scenarios are reviewed by Business Analyst to ensure all of Business Requirements are met and its easier for BAs to review high level scenarios than reviewing low level detailed Test Cases.

4) Functional Testing:

In this stage functional testing is performed and the usual software testing activities are performed such as:

Test Case Preparation:
In this stage Test Cases are derived from Business Scenarios, one Business Scenario leads to several positive test cases and negative test cases. Generally tools used during this stage are Microsoft Excel, Test Director or Quality Center.
Test Case Review:
Reviews by peer QA Engineers
Test Case Execution:
Test Case Execution could be either manual or automatic involving tools like QC, QTP or any other.

5) Database Testing:

Banking Application involves complex transaction which are performed both at UI level and Database level, Therefore Database testing is as important as functional testing. Database in itself is an entirely separate layer hence it is carried out by database specialists and it uses techniques like

• Data loading
• Database Migration
• Testing DB Schema and Data types
• Rules Testing
• Testing Stored Procedures and Functions
• Testing Triggers
• Data Integrity

6) Security Testing:

Security Testing is usually the last stage in the testing cycle as completing functional and non functional are entry criteria to commence Security testing. Security testing is one of the major stages in the entire Application testing cycle as this stage ensures that application complies with Federal and Industry standards. Security testing cycle makes sure the application does not have any web vulnerability which may expose sensitive data to an intruder or an attacker and complies with standards like OWASP.

In this stage the major task involves in the whole application scan which is carried out using tools like IBM Appscan or HP WebInspect (2 Most popular tools).

Once the Scan is complete the Scan Report is published out of which False Positives are filtered out and rest of the vulnerability are reported to Development team for fixing depending on the Severity.

Other Manual tools for Security Testing used are: Paros Proxy, Http Watch, Burp Suite, Fortify tools Etc.

Apart from the above stages there might be different stages involved like Integration Testing and Performance Testing.

In today’s scenario majority of Banking Projects are using: Agile/Scrum, RUP and Continuous Integration methodologies, and Tools packages like Microsoft’s VSTS and Rational Tools.

As we mentioned RUP above, RUP stands for Rational Unified Process, which is an iterative software development methodology introduced by IBM which comprises of four phases in which development and testing activities are carried out.

Four phases are:
i) Inception
ii) Collaboration
iii) Construction and
iv) Transition
RUP widely involves IBM Rational tools.

In this article we discussed how complex a Banking application could be and what are the typical phases involved in testing the application. Apart from that we also discussed current trends followed by IT industries including software development methodologies and tools.

In case you have queries, comments or any unanswered questions please post it below I will be happy to answer those.

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How to Test Banking Applications

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Mallik asks:

What type of database (SQL) questions asked in interviews for test engineer position (not for database tester)?

This depends on many factors whether these questions are for testing positions at entry level or for experienced testing professionals. The depth of database interview questions depend on the experience of the candidate.

Irrespective of the position, candidate should always be clear and confident about the database concepts. For most software testing positions you need to have database knowledge to perform some database checks. Almost all applications need an interaction with database.

Let’s consider the database interview questions for entry-level software testing positions. For entry level testing positions generally following questions can be asked in interviews:

1) Basic and to some extent nested SQL queries to fetch data from database tables.
2) Examples of database statements for: Create Database, Create table and Drop Table.
3) Concept of “Primary Key”, “Foreign Key” and DB index
4) Examples of Select, Insert, Delete, Alter and Update SQL statements.
5) SQL joins (Inner Join, Left Join, Right Join and Full join) with examples.
Practice SQL join queries on dummy tables and see results.

For experienced level software testing positions, database interview questions depend on the job requirement. For such positions interviewers expect detailed database knowledge from candidates.

One more important point – If you get questions on database SQL queries, never say that “You get all query statements to be executed from developers”. It’s ok to say that you get help from developers to write complex SQL queries, but finally you manage by your own.

Shariff asks:

What is Test Strategy?

In simple words – Test strategy means “How you are going to test the application?” You need to mention the exact process/strategy that you are going to follow when you will get the application for testing.

I see many companies follow test strategy template very strictly. Even without any standard template you can keep this test strategy document simple but still effective.

Simple Tips to Write Test Strategy Document:

1) Include product background in test strategy document. In first paragraph of your test strategy document answer – Why stakeholders want to develop this project? This will help to understand and prioritize things quickly.
2) List all important features you are going to test. If you think some features are not part of this release then mention those features under “Features not to be tested” label.
3) Write down the test approach for your project. Clearly mention what types of testing you are going to conduct?
I.e. Functional testing, UI testing, Integration testing, Load/Stress testing, Security testing etc.
4) Answer questions like: How you are going to perform functional testing? Manual or automation testing? Are you going to execute all test cases from your test management tool?
5) Which bug tracking tool you are going to use? What will be the process when you will find a new bug?
6) What are your test entry and exit criteria?
7) How you will track your testing progress? What metrics are you going to use for tracking test completion?
8 ) Task distribution – Define roles and responsibilities of each team member.
9) What documents you will produce during and after testing phase?
10) What all risk you see in test completion?

If you answer all these questions, I think your test strategy document should be ready!

Ayyappang asks:

I want some more ISTQB questions and papers. Please send me these papers as it will be very helpful for my study

I think I have written many posts earlier on ISTQB sample papers and mock test. You can access all these papers and online mock test on below page:
- Sample ISTQB papers and mock tests

Also I have listed some papers for download on our Resources page.
- ISTQB sample papers with answers for practice

Here are some more resources for ISTQB exam preparation:
- ISTQB Foundation Exam Format & Guidelines to Solve Papers

I hope this will be helpful for you ISTQB exam preparation.
If readers are having some sample ISTQB papers please share with us!

If you want to ask any question please post your question in comment section of this post.

If you like this post bookmark & share it with friends.

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What Types of Database Questions are Asked in Interview for Testing Positions? – Testing Q&A Series

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