Professional BizTalk® Server 2006

Chapter 8. Testing

BizTalk solutions are often deployed at the heart of the business. In many cases, they are the lifeblood of the business. The failure of a BizTalk solution can cause that lifeblood to stop pumping and the business to experience downtime, with a great chance of critical consequences.

Testing can make or break a project, which is ironic because it is all too frequently neglected in software projects. If done well, it can significantly improve the chances of a project's success. If done poorly, then at best your project may not realize its full potential, and at worst it might fail.

As impending project deadlines approach, testing is often one of the first items in the project plan to be squeezed and compromised. Even when project plans are being constructed, testing is often seen as a place to save money. The developers of some projects that rely heavily on BizTalk Server claim it's fine for them to perform only minimal testing because the application is running on top of BizTalk Server, which Microsoft has already thoroughly tested. They think, "What could possibly go wrong?" Well, quite a lot. And when it does, it usually happens quite spectacularly and with maximum visibility to the senior management — and usually just before bonus time!

This chapter examines different testing categories and strategies to de-risk your project and maximize its chances of succeeding. The chapter covers numerous tools and approaches that minimize cost while providing maximum benefit ...