Production verification testing

Production verification testing is a final opportunity to determine if the software is ready for release. Its purpose is to simulate the production cutover as closely as possible and for a period of time simulate real business activity. As a sort of full dress rehearsal, it should identify anomalies or unexpected changes to existing processes introduced by the new application. For mission critical applications the importance of this testing cannot be overstated.

The application should be completely removed from the test environment and then completely reinstalled exactly as it will be in the production implementation. Then mock production runs will verify that the existing business process flows, interfaces, and batch processes continue to run correctly. Unlike parallel testing in which the old and new systems are run side-by-side, mock processing may not provide accurate data handling results due to limitations of the testing database or the source data.

Sample Entry and Exit Criteria for Production Verification Testing

Entry Criteria

• UAT testing has been completed and approved by all necessary parties
• Known defects have been documented
• Migration package documentation has been completed, reviewed, and approved by the production systems manager

Exit Criteria

• Package migration is complete
• Installation testing has been performed and documented and the results have been signed off
• Mock testing has been documented, reviewed, and approved
• All tests show that the application will not adversely affect the production environment
• A System Change Record with approvals has been prepared