Software QA Terminology: Volume Testing

After Big Bang Testing and ORT, today’s article for Software QA Terminology series is about Volume Testing. Often it is confused with the term Load Testing. However, it is forgotten that load testing will not take data part into account. Whereas volume testing is done on system with specific amount of data. Let’s dig deep into this term.

Definition:
Quoting WikiPedia: “Volume testing refers to testing a software application with a certain amount of data. This amount can, in generic terms, be the database size or it could also be the size of an interface file that is the subject of volume testing.” It is generally done to ensure system performance with specific data already present. It also encompasses the activity where we modify data size to check application performance.

Test result expectations:

• Data loss should not be noticed when data amount is maximized.
• Performance degradation should not be noticed during volume testing.
• There should be no time outs.

Part of the test is to run the system over a certain time with a lot of data. This is in order to check what happens to temporary buffers and to timeouts due to long times for access. One variant of this test is using especially low volumes, such as empty databases or files, empty mails, no links etc. Some programs cannot handle this either.

One last variant is measuring how much space is needed by a program. This is important if a program is sharing resources with other ones. All programs taken together must not use more resources than available.

We hope the above article clarifies the doubts about volume testing. Considering this term is often used interchangeably with load testing, this post should work as a guide for you to use correct nomenclature. Let us know your views in comments.