What is the entry and exit criterion for production verification testing?

Some entry and exit criteria have been predefined for all the software testing methodologies and in the same way some criterion have been defined for the production verification testing also.

For a software system or application to process from one phase of the software testing life cycle to the other one, it has to satisfy all the exit criteria of the previous software testing methodology and entry criteria of the software testing methodology that it is about to undergo.

So this article states the entry and exit criteria for the production verification testing and before that we have given a discussion about the production verification testing.

About Production Verification Testing

- Production verification is also an important part of the software testing life cycle like all the other software testing methodologies and is carried out after the successful completion of the user acceptance testing phase.

- The entire production verification testing deals with the simulation of the cutover of the whole production process as close to the true value as possible.

- Production verification testing also serves as an opportunity for the conduction of a full real like full dress rehearsal of the changes in the business requirements if any.

- The production verification is not like the parallel testing since there is a difference of the goal.

- The goal of the production verification testing is to verify that the data is being processed properly by the software system or application rather than comparing the results of the data handling of the new software system software or application with the current one as in the case of parallel testing.

- This software testing methodology has been designed for the verification of the following aspects:
a) Proper running of any batch processes against the actual data values of the production process.
b) Business process flows
c) Proper functioning of the data entry functions

Here we list some of the entry and exit criteria of the production verification testing:

Entry Criteria for Production Verification Testing

- For the production verification testing to commence it is important that the documentation of the previous testings is produced and the issues and faults that were discovered then are fixed and closed.

- If there is a final opportunity for the determination of whether or not the software system or application is ready for the release, it is the production verification testing.

- The completion of the User acceptance testing is over and has been approved by all the involved parties.

- The documentation of the known defects is ready.

- The documentation of the migration package has been completed, reviewed and approved by all the parties and without fail by the production systems manager.

- For the production verification testing, the testers need to remove or uninstall the software system or application from the testing environment and re-install it again as it will be installed in the case of the production implementation.

Exit Criteria for Production Verification Testing

- The processing of the migration package is complete.

- Apart from just the simulation of the actual production cut over, the real business activities are also simulated during the phase of the production verification testing.

- Since it is the full rehearsal of the production phase and business activities, it should serve the purpose of the identification of the unexpected changes or anomalies presiding in the existing processes as a result of the production of the new software system or application which is currently under the test.

- The installation testing has been performed and its documentation is ready and signed off.

- The documentation of the mock testing has been approved and reviewed.

- A record of the system changes has been prepared and approved.