What You Should Know About Ecommerce Testing
There are many benefits associated with EDI testing. According to Wikipedia, “EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) is a commercial service that provides a real-time connection between network elements for data exchange that enables users to access key information from other systems and applications. The process of EDI is vital to help improve company competitiveness and reduce cost. It is also useful in financial markets where access to highly sensitive customer information is important. It is used in retail, supply chain, industrial and hospitality.”
There are three stages to EDI testing: Pre-EDI, EDI test file, and post-EDI. The entire process involves at least two servers for EDI tests and one server for the test results. The data that is tested must travel from the EDI servers to the test servers in order to complete the entire test. The test file is then stored on one of the EDI test servers for analysis and validation before it is sent to the targeted application.
As an ecommerce solution for companies that process card payments, EDI can provide many benefits. An ecommerce website can process thousands of credit card transactions per month, which leads to large volumes of data that needs to be processed. If this data were processed manually, it would take a long time and would require a lot of staff, resources and training. A major benefit of EDI testing is that retailers do not have to hire a full-time IT professional in order to implement this solution. Instead, an ecommerce website can test EDI using third-party software that is compliant with EDI specifications. Most third-party EDI testing solutions include pre-written EDI scripts for the test environment, as well as documentation for both server and application testing.
Most ecommerce trading partners implement ecommerce solutions that include EDI testing because it is cost-effective. EDI solutions save time and money for ecommerce merchants and ecommerce trading partners alike. By reducing the time and money spent on manual data entry, EDI speeds up business operations. It also reduces the risk of data security vulnerabilities that can occur when a lack of testing is detected. By requiring third-party testers to submit proof of their work, third-party testers are able to assure retailers that the company’s implemented ecommerce solution is sound and secure. Third-party testers are often able to get their jobs done faster than if they attempted to do the testing themselves.
EDI testing must include a number of different scenarios in order to verify whether EDI files are valid and whether database communication occurs as expected. Database transactions involve both the database server and application. A thorough EDI testing process should test the database transaction processing against the following scenarios: a standard transaction, a transaction with invalid or missing input data, an application transaction, and a read/write transaction on a default or non-sequential database. The baseline data or transaction volume is the point at which an application begins processing transactions and typically the transaction completion threshold.
When testing against the above scenarios, it is crucial to keep track of each scenario’s results to ensure there are no inconsistencies or failures in the transaction processing. In addition to checking the transaction processing performance, it is equally important to check the performance of the media claims that make up the database. EDI claims work together with database and application code to determine the semantics and constraints of the data model. In order for ecommerce businesses to successfully handle EDI transactions and conversions, it is necessary to verify that the media claims are correctly defined and maintained. Ensuring proper maintenance and definition of the media claims simplifies the ecommerce test environment.
