Performance Testing – 5 Performance Testing Tips and Techniques
03 January 2022
Performance Testing is one of the many tests that are often rushed or mis-scoped to accommodate the true traffic of an application. TCT Computing is a leading functional and performance test consulting and training organization. With over 10 years as an HP partner and reseller, we have extensive experience in some of the best practices in testing.
5 Performance Testing Tips and Techniques
01 - Obtain REAL Load Levels
Improve and focus the communication with your client. Hold one-on-one interviews to determine the expected “real world” load levels. If the application is already in production, take the time to gather live usage data
02 - Let the Business Owners / Experts Identify the Key Business Processes
Conducting one-on-one interviews with clients will help identify the key business processes. Remember to focus on the processes using these four guidelines:
- Is the business process mission critical?
- Is there a heavy amount of throughout generated by the business process?
- Does the business process contain many dynamic and/or complex data or calculations?
- Is there any other process that would pose a risk to the business should the business process fail?
If the answer is YES to any of these questions, it is a business process that is a good candidate for the performance test
03 - Concentrate on ONLY Key Business Processes
Concentrate on a maximum of eight key business processes for performance testing. This is NOT a functional test. Keep in mind what we identified as key business processes from tip #2. Don’t create a performance test that is actually a functional performance test!
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04 - Develop a Solid Test Plan and Stick to the Plan
A complete custom plan will include goal load levels, business process steps, transaction names and acceptable response times. These are some of the key items to include in a performance test plan. Don’t change the goal to match the results — the test MUST model expected reality.
05 - Remember Your Environment
In today’s world, many applications share the same infrastructure. Sometimes, during performance testing, Application 1 and Application 2 will perform well in a test environment when tested separately. However, what happens when Application 1 and Application 2 run concurrently? Can the infrastructure handle THAT load? I call this the BIG KAHUNA Performance Test! What happens when you put everything together?