Setting up a test database

A test database must contain enough data to adequately test the system. The data should exercise a major portion of an application program's logic to prevent regression of existing function and yet economize on the amount of data.

Usually, a test transaction stream executes against a known database status, and the results are compared to predicted results. The content of the transactions and implications of the database status needs to be analyzed for accuracy by a user-liaison, group as well as by groups responsible for the database design. As additional test cases are added, they must be validated and inspected for redundancy. The trade-off is between adding to an existing transaction or defining an additional transaction that might require extra database content. The test case stream must be adequately documented, so that you know what it does and what data it needs.

Related reading: For more information on creating test databases, see IMS Version 15.5 Database Administration.