TestProNews Q1 - 2007
Enterprise Test Data Management -- Before and After
Test data management (TDM) is certainly not a new concept; in fact the need for test data management has existed since companies first started designing and building products in volume. The evolution of test systems from manual test to automated test greatly reduced test times and inefficiencies, but also created many new TDM challenges associated with handling the large amounts of test data generated by automated test systems.
Today, enterprise test is solving these TDM challenges through new tools that do not replace, but instead build upon the advantages of automated test. Enabled by database, networking, and Internet technologies, these new TDM tools provide easy access to data and reports across all departments regardless of their location. With TDM systems that leverage these enterprise technologies, engineering managers now have easy real-time access to the information necessary to make critical business decisions.
VI Technology’s 15 years of experience in developing automated test and TDM systems have identified a number of common pains that engineering managers face. This article highlights nine of those pains and shows how these issues are eliminated or significantly reduced by utilizing an enterprise TDM system. If you can relate to one or more of these pains, then your company can benefit from an enterprise test data management solution.
1. Are you inefficient because your company’s test data is scattered across multiple test stations and departments? An enterprise TDM system such as Arendar aggregates data from any number of test stations or departments and provides simple tools to manage all test data in a centralized database.
2. Are you annoyed that you and your team can’t access your company’s test data anytime and any where you need it? A TDM system provides immediate access to test data, analysis and reports anytime and anywhere you need it through standard Web browsers.
3. Are you irritated that you can’t get timely reports because your engineers spend days collecting, analyzing and formatting data for reports? You can automate and streamline this process through a TDM system and reduce the time it takes to generate a report from days to seconds.
4. Do you have problems finding your test data in cryptically-named files and directories? Even if you devised a standard file naming convention, will everyone else in your organization use it? Commercial databases used by TDM systems such as Arendar provide a single unified repository for storing and accessing your test data.
5. Do you waste way too much time searching for your test data using search tools such as Google Desktop or Windows Explorer? A TDM system provides custom-tailored search and data mining tools that let you find the exact test data you want throughout your enterprise.
6. Are you tired of wasting time searching for paper copies of test results from previously-run test executions? Arendar uses Microsoft SQL Server for its test data repository. This database can hold a huge amount of data and the cost of disk drives is inexpensive relative to the time you and your engineers spend looking for a copy of an old report.
7. Do you wish that the time and money you invested in automated test systems for design and verification could be leveraged for the functional test systems needed in manufacturing? A TDM system such as Arendar provides a standard platform that can be used to manage design, validation, and manufacturing test data.
8. Do you wish you could easily share test results between design groups or between design and manufacturing groups at different locations? A TDM system allows you to configure security allowing authorized users immediate access to test data, analysis and reports via the company Intranet or Internet. Managers and engineers have real-time access to test results allowing more effective collaboration between groups, increasing their efficiency and productivity by giving them the information they need to make knowledgeable decisions.
9. Are you aggravated that your engineers are wasting valuable time developing a proprietary TDM solution instead of focusing their efforts on improving product performance and quality that can give your company a competitive advantage? It costs much less in the long term to purchase an off-the-shelf test data management solution and customize it to meet your specific requirements, than what it would cost to build it yourself. Most companies only consider the initial cost to develop a proprietary TDM system and do not consider the long term maintenance and support cost.
If you can relate to any of the nine pains we have heard from our interactions with engineering managers, then your company can benefit from an enterprise test data management solution. You can visit our website (www.vi-tech.com) and download free enterprise test data management white papers, application notes, and customer solutions.
Don Holley
Marketing Manager
VI Technology
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