Portata Load Test Services

Portata load test services are clear-cut and to the point. You know what you will get and when you will get it. We provide a clearly defined standard set of tasks and deliverables. Of course, we can customize the services to meet your specific needs, but we have found over the years that the standard set works well for most organizations.

Load Test Tasks

Preliminary Assessment: Prior to the start of the load test project, we conduct a preliminary technical assessment to assure that our load test tools will work well with your application and environment. We also examine the use cases that are likely to be tested to ensure that we can meet our proposed schedule. We can conduct the assessment at your location or do it remotely. There is no cost or obligation to you for the assessment.

Planning: On the morning of the first day, we hold a planning session with your business analysts, developers, QA, and production support staff. We use the proven Portata SEI Load Test Planning Process to gather and record the information in the six key areas: goals, users, use cases, production environment, test environment, and scenarios.

Test Specification: In the afternoon, we develop a load test specification with the information gathered during the morning session. At the end of the day, we deliver the load test specification for review.

Test Scripts: On the second day, we begin the load test script development, which includes the detailed design, code development, unit testing, and load test verification. We also create and verify input test data for the scripts. The development and verification of the scripts and data typically take four to eight hours per script. We provide the use of a load test tool at no additional cost. Alternatively, if you already own a LoadRunner license, we can use the LoadRunner tool for script development and execution.

Test Execution: When the core set of load test scripts are complete, we begin the preliminary load test executions to shake loose any gross problems in the application or test environment. Once all the test scripts are complete, we execute the test scenarios to collect end-user response time (transaction) measurements and system measurements.

Analysis and Recommendations: We analyze the measurements and make recommendations for improvements in the application and production environment. We write a final report with the summary results, key drill-down results, and recommendations.

Load Test Deliverables

Load test specification

Load test scripts: Includes load test scenario and input data

Test results: Includes summary results, key drill-down results, and recommendations