Performance Testing for large scale programmes
In this post we are going to look at performance testing on large scale programmes.
A few the posts we write define techniques and approaches based on a single application under test but sometimes you are faced with the prospect of performance testing:
- A new solution that replaces several legacy applications,
- A service migration from once cloud provider to another or one data center to another,
- An infrastructure update that covers multiple applications or services,
- A new solution that compliments and integrates with existing software.
Now, especially in the case of migration of services, performance is key, and you cannot afford to see a degradation in performance as the business users will have already become accustomed to the software and how it performs.
You can look to make it perform better but it is unlikely they will tolerate poorer performance just because you have migrated from one platform to another.
Equally, new solutions that replace legacy application will (rightly or not) be expected to perform better than their predecessor which is a challenge as your new solution will undoubtedly have a different workflow and approach to delivering what the end-users want.
These types of large-scale programmes can on the surface seem complex from a Quality Assurance perspective and we have put together this guide to help you understand some of the techniques you can use to ensure that the performance testing aspect of the testing is manageable and not overwhelming. We have set out in the sections below things to consider to assist in the performance testing of large-scale programmes of work.
