Types of ETL testingWhat is covered in ETL testing

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http://www.softwaretestingstuff.com/2013/08/types-of-etl-testingwhat-is-covered-in.html

Each organization categorize testing types by their own way based on the testing practice or
testing strategy build @ organization level. It holds true for ETL testing also. Sometimes, for
larger projects / programs, it vary from client to client. Generally, below are the main types of
testing that are covered under ETL testing:
Reconciliation testing: Sometimes, it is also referred as Source to Target count
testing. In this check, matching of count of records is checked. Although this is not
the best way, but in case of time crunch, it helps.

Constraint testing: Here test engineer, maps data from source to target and identify
whether the data is mapped or not. Following are the key checks: UNIQUE, NULL,
NOT NULL, Primary Key, Foreign key, DEFAULT, CHECK
Validation testing (source to target data): It is generally executed in mission critical
or financial projects. Here, test engineer, validates each data point and match source
to target data.
Testing for duplicate check: It is done to ensure that there are no duplicate values
for unique columns. Duplicate data can arise due to any reason like missing primary
key etc. Below is one example:

Testing for attribute check: To check if all attributes of source system are present in
target table.
Logical or transformation testing: To test any logical gaps in the. Here, depending
upon the scenario, following methods can be used: boundary value analysis,
equivalence partitioning, comparison testing, error guessing or sometimes, graph
based testing methods. It also covers testing for look-up conditions.
Incremental and historical data testing: Test to check the data integrity of old &
new data with the addition of new data. It also covers the validation of purging policy
related scenarios.
GUI / navigation testing: To check the navigation or GUI aspects of the front end
reports.
In case of ETL or data warehouse testing, re-testing or regression testing is also part of this
effort. Their concept / definition remains the same.
Generally, basic testing concepts remains same across all domains. So, the basic testing questions
will also remain same. The only addition would be some questions on domain. e.g. in case of ETL
testing interview questions, it would be some concepts of ETL, how tos on some specific type of
checks / tests in SQL and some set of best practices. Here is the list of some ETL testing interview
questions:


Q. 1) What is ETL?
Ans. ETL - extract, transform, and load. Extracting data from outside source systems. Transforming
raw data to make it fit for use by different departments. Loading transformed data into target
systems like data mart or data warehouse.

Q. 2) Why ETL testing is required?
Ans.
To verify the correctness of data transformation against the signed off business requirements and
rules.
To verify that expected data is loaded into data mart or data warehouse without loss of any data.
To validate the accuracy of reconciliation reports (if any e.g. in case of comparison of report of
transactions made via bank ATM ATM report vs. Bank Account Report).
To make sure complete process meet performance and scalability requirements
Data security is also sometimes part of ETL testing
To evaluate the reporting efficiency

Q 3) What is Data warehouse?
Ans. Data warehouse is a database used for reporting and data analysis.

Q4) What are the characteristics of a Data Warehouse?
Ans. Subject Oriented, Integrated, Time-variant and Non-volatile

Q5) What is the difference between Data Mining and Data Warehousing?
Ans. Data mining - analyzing data from different perspectives and concluding it into useful decision
making information. It can be used to increase revenue, cost cutting, increase productivity or
improve any business process. There are lot of tools available in market for various industries to do
data mining. Basically, it is all about finding correlations or patterns in large relational databases.
Data warehousing comes before data mining. It is the process of compiling and organizing data into
one database from various source systems where as data mining is the process of extracting
meaningful data from that database (data warehouse).

Q6. What are the main stages of Business Intelligence.
Ans. Data Sourcing > Data Analysis > Situation Awareness > Risk Assessment > Decision Support

Q7. What tools you have used for ETL testing?
Ans.
1. Data access tools e.g., TOAD, WinSQL, AQT etc. (used to analyze content of tables)
2. ETL Tools e.g. Informatica, DataStage
3. Test management tool e.g. Test Director, Quality Center etc. ( to maintain requirements, test
cases, defects and traceability matrix)

Below are few more questions that can be asked:

Q8. What is Data Mart?
Q9. Data Warehouse Testing vs Database Testing
Q10. Who are the participants of data warehouse testing
Q11. How to prepare test cases for ETL / Data Warehousing testing?
Q12. What is OLTP and OLAP
Q13. What is look up table
Q14. What is MDM (Master data management)
Q15. Give some examples of real time data warehousing

Also there are some common questions on types of ETL testing & related SQL knowledge. You may
refer to my earlier post on this - Types of ETL testingWhat is covered in ETL testing

In my upcoming posts, Ill try to cover all these topics in details. Remember, interviewer may go
more deeper into evaluating your ETL knowledge depending upon the type & nature of the project
or project requirement.