# How do you know what mock data to use in your tests?



##### Post Metadata
- Posted at: almost 7 years ago
- Net upvotes: 1


## Comments
### Comment 1

Because we already know the path we’re testing, we have a definition of success for each test case. We will trial-and-error mock data until we get down the path we need to go. This includes drop-downs, form fields, and any other data that would cause us to go down a different or branching path. As you can imagine, the fact that mock test data can be trialed until the result matches a known success state, this is a machine learning problem that can eventually be fully automated. We’re working on it.

A few elaborations of how we manage test data:

-Much of the mock data doesn’t impact the workflow–logins, account details such as name or address, which product is selected to add to cart. We use what is convenient.
-Syntactically-restricted data such as a phone number will be created using context or trial-and-error.
-If we observe negative test cases in production, we will test them–however we will not exhaustively test permutations of mock data to trigger the negative test case.
-We create as much test data as possible, especially during account creation flows. We try to manipulate test data that we create in the test suite to be less dependent on our customers’ test data management processes. 
-If the test data is not triggered by a human action (such as in a monitoring tool), we will need to ask for an API or data stream to allow us to trigger or receive that data.
-If data is being passed between one user role and another (such as a customer ordering a product and an employee handling the order) we will order the tests in order to make sure this data is created and passed during the test flow.

##### Comment Metadata
- Posted at: almost 7 years ago
- Author title: Growth Marketing Leader




## Related Product
[ProdPerfect](https://www.g2.com/products/prodperfect/reviews)

## Related Category
[Automation Testing](https://www.g2.com/categories/automation-testing-tools)

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