It might seem as a simple enough question, but many businesses have trouble answering it specifically. So why do we undertake performance testing? The answer to that is “To determine the performance of application in certain pre-determined conditions.” By undertaking performance testing for your applications, you can not only track application performance under certain conditions but can also perform IT service management successfully. With performance testing, IT teams can know how an application performs under a particular workload, and solve bottlenecks, if any. The purpose of performance testing may be:
- Identifying application performance bottlenecks
- Ensuring that all business application meet a certain criteria
- Comparing the performance of two applications
Some things to keep in mind while undertaking performance testing of applications are:
Setting precise application performance criteria
While setting application performance criteria, keep the end users in mind always. Performance testing is undertaken for the main purpose of meeting end users expectations; hence the end users’ perspective is very important for performance testing. Interact with end users regarding the problems they face and what their expectations are. Most businesses which undertake performance testing want to ensure that they meet customer expectations as well as meet their business service management goals.
The importance of database in performance testing
IT teams usually undertake performance testing by having simultaneous user sessions and noting the response times of applications. Load testing is also performed on applications to check the effect of multiple simultaneous user sessions. This is crucial for companies which give importance to IT service management. That said, the database has a drastic effect on the end user experience. As an example, a user can have a transaction very fast if it is inserted in an empty table; however, the response time may be slow once the table grows. IT teams hence need to give importance to the database for performance testing of applications.
Plan it properly
Performance testing needs some planning in advance. For example, you can ensure application performance by getting scalable architecture and strong hardware resources for your business. Only after this is taken care of, IT managers check whether all applications are available and working well. This can be done with a performance testing solutions from a trusted vendor. This will also ensure that business service management goals are met with. Interact with end users to get an idea of the applications they use frequently and the kind of problems they face. That way, you can save the time spent on performance testing of applications that are used rarely by users.
Setting precise application performance criteria
While setting application performance criteria, keep the end users in mind always. Performance testing is undertaken for the main purpose of meeting end users expectations; hence the end users’ perspective is very important for performance testing. Interact with end users regarding the problems they face and what their expectations are. Most businesses which undertake performance testing want to ensure that they meet customer expectations as well as meet their business service management goals.
The importance of database in performance testing
IT teams usually undertake performance testing by having simultaneous user sessions and noting the response times of applications. Load testing is also performed on applications to check the effect of multiple simultaneous user sessions. This is crucial for companies which give importance to IT service management. That said, the database has a drastic effect on the end user experience. As an example, a user can have a transaction very fast if it is inserted in an empty table; however, the response time may be slow once the table grows. IT teams hence need to give importance to the database for performance testing of applications.
Plan it properly
Performance testing needs some planning in advance. For example, you can ensure application performance by getting scalable architecture and strong hardware resources for your business. Only after this is taken care of, IT managers check whether all applications are available and working well. This can be done with a performance testing solutions from a trusted vendor. This will also ensure that business service management goals are met with. Interact with end users to get an idea of the applications they use frequently and the kind of problems they face. That way, you can save the time spent on performance testing of applications that are used rarely by users.
