TestProNews Q4 - 2005
The Components of an Enterprise Test Data Management System
A key problem for test engineers and managers is that their automated test systems
create large amounts of test data that become unmanageable, difficult to access
and time-consuming to transform into meaningful reports. To address this problem,
companies seek to purchase or develop test data management (TDM) systems. TDM systems
solve this problem with integrated components that capture, organize, access, analyze
and report on test data, so that the value of test information can be recognized
throughout the company (Figure 1).
Test Data Capture
The TDM system components that capture data (Table 1) either import test data files
or directly integrate into the test system software to acquire test data in real-time.
In addition, these components ensure reliable data transfer to a server's database
without degrading test system performance.
A manual data import component enables you to choose files, folders or locations
of existing test data files and import them into the TDM database. An automatic
data import component continually monitors specified locations on your test stations
or network and imports new test data files as the test systems create them. Therefore,
with an automatic data import component, you can continue to use your proven test
systems without making any changes to your test code.
Figure 1: TDM systems contain components to capture, organize and access test data so that the value of test information can be recognized throughout the company.
A more efficient method to capture data is for the test code to store test results
directly into the TDM database without creating intermediate test data files. Some
TDM software such as Arendar provide an automatic code generation component that
analyzes your test data and creates native interface code for common test application
software including LabVIEW and Visual Studio. For test sequencing software such
as TestStand, TDM capture components are integrated into custom step types and process
models to directly send test data to the TDM database.
A more efficient method to capture data is for the test code to store test results
directly into the TDM database without creating intermediate test data files. Some
TDM software such as Arendar provide an automatic code generation component that
analyzes your test data and creates native interface code for common test application
software including LabVIEW and Visual Studio. For test sequencing software such
as TestStand, TDM capture components are integrated into custom step types and process
models to directly send test data to the TDM database.
Figure 2: A key problem for test engineers and managers is that their automated test systems create large amounts of test data that become unmanageable, difficult to access and time-consuming to transform into meaningful reports. |
Most automated test systems do not monitor the status of the network or the server.
Nor are they able to recover test data in the event the test software or system
crashes. TDM systems should provide fail-safe components that guarantee reliable
test data transfers even if the network is down, the TDM database is off-line, or
if the test software crashes.
The TDM data capture components provide data buffering to ensure that the test system
operates at full speed by caching data sourced by the automated test system if the
network or server is unable keep up. Some TDM capture components also provide data
compression to increase efficiency of the network.
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Table 1: Data capture components available in a TDM system. |
Test Data Organization
The central component of the TDM system is the database. The only way to have a
secure, reliable TDM solution is to have your test data stored in an industry-proven
database such as Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle. By using an industry standard database,
you also have the free-dom to access your data from a multitude of third-party tools
in addition to your TDM analysis and reporting components.
Full-featured TDM software will contain a database configuration component to configure
industry standard databases to your specific test data scheme without requiring
any database knowledge (Figure 3). For test data that already has a defined structure,
such as an XML file, an automated configuration component configures the database
to the established data structure automatically.
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Table 2: Data organization components available in a TDM system. |
Other TDM organization components establish data relationships, so that you are
able to find, combine, and establish a hierarchy of related test data aligned with
the architecture of your tests. Database normalization components automatically
optimized the database for your test data structure so that data is stored efficiently
and quickly accessed.
Test Data Access, Analysis & Reporting
Accessing your test data should be easy. It should not require searching through
enormous quantities of files on volumes of disks, or require a look-up table to
track your data's location.
With data properly organized, accessing your data is as easy as using your web browser.
With a web interface component, you can access data, interactively create reports,
and automatically generate reports from any computer using a familiar web browser.
The test data access components also provides concurrent access, so that you can
use your test information in real-time, even while tests are running.
A TDM system's interactive test performance analysis components transform test data
into information that optimizes your product designs and processes and utilization
of your test systems. Test performance analysis allow you to examine trends in measurement
values, perform statistical analysis on test results, show the most common reasons
for failures, and evaluate product yield and station utilization (Figure 4). |
Figure 3: A TDM database configuration component creates and modifies industry standard databases to your specific test data scheme without requiring any database knowledge. |
In addition to the test performance reporting components built into a TDM system,
test engineers often want to extract test data into familiar mathematical analysis
software tools such as Microsoft Excel. A TDM component's data analysis interface
performs this data extraction into third-party software for mathematical data analysis.
Affordability of TDM Components
You can develop all of these components yourself at great cost. Alternatively, you
can develop only a subset of the components with greatly limited functionality and
upgradeability.
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Figure 4: Interactive test performance analysis integrated into a TDM system provides immediate, real-time reports on test data. |
However, all these components are available today in integrated, off-the-shelf,
affordable solutions, costing the same or less than your test development and sequencing
software.
No longer are companies required to spend major capital budgets and valuable resources
developing proprietary test data management solutions to capture, organize, and
access their data. You can take advantage of powerful off-the-shelf TDM software
to give you the information you need to make intelligent decisions that shorten
time-to-market, improve quality, increase productivity and reduce cost.
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Table 3: Data access, analysis and reporting components available in a TDM system. |
Ask the Expert
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expert.testpronews@vi-tech.com
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