Chapter 25 — Laboratory I

Lesson map

Lesson 25 published. Map, example, EX073.

flowchart TD
  N0["Learning outcomes"]
  N1["25.1 A safe test environment"]
  N2["25.2 Test cases"]
  N3["25.3 Recording evidence"]
  N4["Synthesis"]
  N0 --> N1 --> N2 --> N3 --> N4
  N4 --> EX["Worked example"]
  EX --> Q["Exercise EX073"]

Logical drawing

flowchart LR
  N0["Learning outcomes"]
  N1["25.1 A safe test environment"]
  N2["25.2 Test cases"]
  N3["25.3 Recording evidence"]
  N4["Synthesis"]
  N0 --> N1 --> N2 --> N3 --> N4 --> Q["EX073"]

[Learning outcomes]
    |
    v
[25.1 A safe test environment]
    |
    v
[25.2 Test cases]
    |
    v
[25.3 Recording evidence]
    |
    v
[Synthesis]
    |
    v
[Worked example] --> [Exercise EX073]

Learning outcomes

You will (1) set up a safe test environment; (2) test controls with synthetic accounts; (3) record results as evidence.

25.1 A safe test environment

Elena tests controls in a separate trial tenant of the office suite, which the supplier provides for testing, with synthetic users and groups. Nothing in the trial tenant can affect real staff. She mirrors Greenhill's planned settings: multi-factor enforcement, administrator restrictions and group-based access to a sample application. Using a test environment means mistakes, such as a rule that locks out everyone, are discovered safely before anything changes for real users. The trial tenant is reset before each round of tests, so earlier experiments cannot affect new results, and its settings are kept in a dated file.

25.2 Test cases

Each test states the control, the synthetic input and the expected result. A synthetic user without multi-factor tries to sign in and should be asked to register. A synthetic administrator using an everyday account tries an administrator task and should be refused. A synthetic leaver marked in a test HR file should be disabled by the evening job. A synthetic user added to a group should reach the sample application, and one removed should not. Expected results are written before running, so outcomes are judged honestly.

25.3 Recording evidence

For each test, Elena records the date, the settings version, the input, what happened and pass or fail, with a screenshot or log extract. Of twenty tests, eighteen pass. One failure shows that the evening job ignored leavers whose leaving date had been entered with a time; another shows a group owner could add members without approval. Both are fixed and retested. The evidence log becomes part of her capstone and lets the IT lead see exactly what was tested.

Worked example

Eighteen of twenty trial-tenant tests pass; failures in date handling and group approval are fixed and retested.

Synthetic case. The tenant, tests and failures are synthetic.

Errors and limits

Testing new controls directly on real staff accounts risks locking people out of work.

Exercises

• EX073 — Trial tenant purpose. Why use a trial tenant?
  Show marking criteria

  Rubric: 3 = mistakes cannot affect real staff;; 2 = safety;; 1 = cost;; 0 = none.
• EX074 — Lab I result. How many tests passed in Laboratory I?
  Show marking criteria

  Rubric: 3 = 18 of 20;; 2 = 18;; 1 = 20;; 0 = none.
• EX075 — Date bug. What was the leaver date bug?
  Show marking criteria

  Rubric: 3 = evening job ignored dates entered with a time;; 2 = date format;; 1 = vague;; 0 = none.

Synthesis

A safe test environment, written test cases and recorded evidence make control changes trustworthy.

Continue studying — chapter 25 of 40

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