5 Smart approaches to functional testing in a cloud environment.

Performing Functional Testing in Cloud environment is not too different from that in regular test environments. However, for cloud environments, the test cases need to be rewritten in order to keep them Cloud ready. Unless new features have been added as a part of the cloud hosting strategy, there is no difference in business process validation.

Functional Testing is generally performed to ensure that the services provided by the software are consistent with its specifications. Functional Testing can be performed through two perspectives – 

-      Requirement based testing: In this approach the requirements are first prioritized and then the tests are prioritized accordingly. This is done to ensure that the most critical tests are covered in the process. 

-      Business process based testing: In this approach, the testing scenarios involved in the day to day business of the system are described. 

Functional Testing in a Cloud environment involves testing of all the features and functions of the system, which includes both the hardware and the software of the system. It is generally conducted on a completely integrated software platform in order to check its compliance with the requirements. In the cloud environment, the process of verification is carried out against a system of specifications and requirements on a Cloud instead of an on-premise software testing platform. Functional Testing may take various forms in a Cloud environment.

-      System Testing: This testing is performed in order to test the behavior of the system within its own boundaries. It is critical to prove that the system functions as it has been designed, inputs and outputs are as expected and the overall quality is ensured.

-      Integration Testing: Integration testing verifies that the Cloud environment will not be detrimental to the existing system and will successfully work with the current infrastructure and the environment.

-      User Acceptance Testing: This testing is performed in order to ensure that the Cloud environment supports the business requirements and the user accepts the Cloud solution. 

-      Interoperability Testing: Most of the applications are now cross-platforms and must meet business critical requirements such as data exchanges, etc. Through interoperability testing, testers try to verify that the programs work with equal efficiency on a variety of platforms.

-      System Verification Testing: It is more of a technical testing, which includes code audits, documentation revisions and the testing of hardware as well as software components under normal and stressful conditions.  

The difference between an end-to-end testing and system integration testing is very clear in a Cloud environment. A complete end-to-end testing mainly focuses on testing combinations of business processes and systems by recreating real business scenarios. The following potential scenarios need to be validated through the testing processes.

-      Data Inconsistency

-      Data misinterpretation due to human dependencies

-      Consistency of database schema

Conclusion

Testing and Cloud are both large domains in their own respect. Functional Testing with respect to the cloud environment involves both traditional and new methods. For software applications provided on clouds, it is important to perform functional as well as non-functional testing. Software applications hosted on the Cloud  pose additional testing challenges, which can get  resolved with  a systematic and comprehensive approach towards test planning.