To verify an e-commerce operation

[goodmanm]

Is a simple login/logout enough to verify an e-commerce operation as OK?

[eValid]

Is a simple login/logout enough to verify an e-commerce operation as OK?

It depends on what you mean by "verify".

If you log in, validate some key words on the "now you have logged in" page, and the log out, you've validated the login/logout process.

In monitoring, if that simple validation is enough to give you confidence in the operation of your e-commerce application, then you're done. It's your call.

We think, however, that a better approach is to have a script that not only logs in, and logs out, but, while logged in, takes actions like those of a typical user...usually several steps of actions...so that the actual e-commerce application itself is being exercised.

Of course, you can never exercise it all...so some judgement is needed to make sure that the actions you reproduce mechanically are a good indicator of the health of the e-commerce application. That requires application knowledge, of course. eValid can simulate the user but that skill and understanding of the application has to come from you.

At the end of the day, we recommend about 4-8 steps after login and before logout as a measure of realism. But every situation is different.

eValid Monitoring