The Importance Of Phasing In Performance Testing

What is phasing in the context of performance testing? Application monitoring is vital to optimal performance. Performance testing is also part of monitoring because the application is reviewed before it becomes part of end-user experience.
Just as application monitoring needs to be comprehensive, or end to end to ensure that your applications are performing well and as expected, for performance testing to be effective, you need to phase it.
The usual approach Very often, testing is left off until an application is developed.

Which means, performance testing comes very late in the product or application development lifecycle.

Why is this a problem? This need not always spell doom, but can result in several problems: > Performance testing is the last thing on the list in the application development lifecycle and you realize that the product is not working as expected > There are glitches in the application's performance which cannot be repaired without going back and forth in the development lifecycle > Even after going back, the problem will need extensive testing before it can be introduced to end-users with confidence There is a lot of time and money wasted when an application does not perform as intended.
Moving testing ahead Instead, introducing testing early on in the product development lifecycle can help review performance at several levels.
Also, testing earlier in the lifecycle allows individual phases and parts of the application to be tested. Any red flags then can be addressed before it is too late. Each of these phases in turn, can be tested more thoroughly before they can affect the performance at the next stage. Choosing the processes Performance testing can be run on a select few chosen processes. If there are issues that are associated with certain processes, these processes can be earmarked for isolated testing.
Instead of focusing on established and fool-proof processes, attention can be given to issues that need resolving.

There may be worries about getting a wrong review of the performance when the testing is done very early. However, if carried out with the risk factors taken into consideration, you are bound to get results that are relevant.

The challenge is to check the risk-prone areas thoroughly despite the lure of glossing over them.

Even with a test load, the system will give early indications of several elements, such as the environment, the overall system and its viability, and the efficacy of the testing tool as well. Involve the team If you are a small business with a dedicated team of IT personnel, performance testing is best handled by professionals.

This is because a professional team including software developers is needed to run tests within constraints of time.
For effective performance testing early in the product lifecycle, several elements need to come together. These include a short but effective testing cycle, managing the configuration, testing loads, etc.
Effective teamwork is needed to ensure all of this is pulled off within the tight timeframe.