The on-time delivery
of a high-quality software product is a crucial thing for any organization.
Late deliveries and faults in the product might jeopardize your reputation.
That’s where test environments can help you. A test environment is nothing but
a setup of software and hardware products that the stakeholders use to execute
test cases. At the same time, IT test
environment management is
also vital.
In recent years, small
enterprises and large organizations have started building reliable, scalable,
and robust IT test environments that boost productivity and efficiency of
processes and help deliver the best quality software products.
When it comes to test environment management, any flaws
might lead to extra costs and time. On the other hand, when you have
appropriately planned and allocated resources accurately among teams, you will
be able to deliver a high-quality product on-time, with almost no errors.
Apart from the
maintenance and upkeep of the test bed, IT
test environment management deals with many functions such as central
repository maintenance with all updated test environment versions, creating new
requirements, monitoring of the environments, updating or deleting outdated test
environments, addressing environmental issues, and proper resource allocation
among various teams.
In this post, we will
discuss some challenges that organizations face while setting up test
environment management. Stay tuned!
Proper planning on
resource usage
Resource planning and
allocation are one of the most challenging things while managing test
environments. A test environment manager is responsible for resource planning
and funding. If you fail to do so, it might affect the actual output. Furthermore,
sometimes, improper resource allocation might lead to team conflicts, an
unwanted situation in any organization. The best way is to get requirements at
different times in advance and allocate resources accordingly.
Remote environment
When a test environment
is located geographically apart, it might create a challenge for testing teams
as they might not have all testing assets all the time. Sometimes, they have to
rely on the support team for different test assets such as software, hardware,
or other assets. It might affect the actual speed of development and delivery.
The project manager must address the issue of a remote environment to speed up
things.
Elaborate setup time
It is also an issue
that must be addressed efficiently. Sometimes, the setup time is elaborated too
much that it becomes difficult for test teams, especially in integration
testing cases.
Shared usage by teams
Another challenge is
using test environments by multiple teams. For example, if a testing
environment is used by developers and testers simultaneously, there are chances
that test results will be corrupted. Allocating separate test environments to
teams is the best solution for this challenge.
Insufficient budget
Small Organizations
often face this challenge. They don’t have sufficient funds to set up test
environment management. Sometimes, they use the same test
environments among different teams, which might lead to errors and corrupt test
results, as we have discussed above. A project manager must address this issue
to get accurate test results and seamless testing environment management.
Also Read: How to design IT Environment Management strategy?
Complex test
configuration
Some tests might
require complex test environment configuration. It is the responsibility of the
test team. When you don’t have experienced testers who possess sheer expertise
in test environment configuration, you might face this challenge. The best way
to address this issue is to hire an experienced tester with a proven track
record.
Conclusion
To deliver software
products on-time without compromising the quality, managing your test
environments is crucial. IT test
environment management is the need of the hour, and you need to leave no
stones unturned to ensure it.
