Testing the Limits: Load Testing Strategies for Student Registration on Ellucian Banner

Load testing is an essential step in ensuring that web applications can handle a high volume of traffic without any issues. One critical area of web application testing is student registration systems, such as Ellucian Banner 8 and 9. Student registration systems are critical for any educational institution, and ensuring they can handle high volumes of traffic is essential. In this article, we will discuss load testing student registration on Ellucian Banner.?

What is Ellucian Banner 8 and 9??

Ellucian Banner 8 and 9 are popular student registration systems used in many higher education institutions. These systems manage student data, including registration, academic records, financial aid, and more. A high volume of traffic is expected during peak registration periods, and a system failure could result in significant academic and financial implications for students and the institution.

Load testing for student registration and what to focus on

Load testing, which involves simulating a high volume of traffic to an application to measure its performance, is a crucial step in identifying any potential issues that could cause system failure. When load testing student registration on Ellucian Banner 8 and 9, there are a few critical areas to focus on.

Firstly, it is essential to ensure that the system can handle a high number of concurrent users. During peak registration periods, thousands of students and faculty members may be accessing the system simultaneously. Load testing the system with simulated users will help identify any performance issues that may arise during high traffic.

Secondly, testing the system's database and backend infrastructure is important. During registration, the system is likely to receive a high volume of requests, including updating student records, financial aid, and enrollment data. The database and backend infrastructure must be able to handle these requests efficiently to ensure a smooth registration process.

Thirdly, it is important to test the system's response time. During peak registration periods, students and faculty members need to access the system quickly to ensure timely registration. Slow response times could result in frustration and could even cause students to miss registration deadlines.

Finally, it is important to test the system's error-handling capabilities. During registration, students may encounter various errors, such as incorrect login information, invalid course codes, or system errors. The system must be able to handle these errors gracefully, with clear error messages and appropriate actions to resolve the issue.

Testing Ellucian Banner

When testing Ellucian Banner, you have to pay attention to goals which are different from testing other applications, such as:

• Max concurrent students trying to register at the same time
• Max courses registered per second or during the test
• Courses per student
• Round time - time to complete registration
• Submit time - after assembling the registration request, the time it takes for the server to process the registration request.??

These are examples of registration specific goals. There are two types of goals, those that respond to the registrar (the business element at the school who runs registration) and those that are specifically technical (CPU, memory, database performance). The difference between the types is the audience. On top of these registration-specific goals, you will also need to test for the technical goals, which happens in testing other applications.?

Preparing the testing environment

The testing environment needs to be ready with all the data needed for the test; this includes test student IDs for as many students as you want to concurrently register.?

Here are a few more requirements:?

• The environment must be up
• The landing page URL has to work
• The recording tool must be installed in the environment
• Two-factor authentication must be disabled
• Login credentials have to work
• Test student information - ID, password, term, and CRNs

The environment also needs to be configured for registration with courses, prerequisites, student history, and other criteria. In order to run the scaling and full-scale test, a parameter file needs to exist, containing a student ID, password, term, and CRNs for each student.

Application scripting

There are three common Student Registration scripts.? The person doing the scripting needs to know which activities to script. This would either be:?

• A list of known CRNs
• Plans
• Search for CRNs

If testing Banner 8, where each student has a list of courses and the list for each student has a different number of courses and different CRNs, then you need to modify the submit request. That is the only significant change to the recorded script. If you are testing similarly with Banner 9, then you will need to add some code in order to make the script work.??

Scale up the script

1. Run a baseline. This will tell you how long to allow the students to log in, when to release all the students for concurrent registration, and how long it should take for everyone to register.? This information is needed to define the test.??
2. Run a minimum of three scaling steps - ? target load, ? target load, and full target load. If you can run five scaling steps (20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, and full target load), that would be better.? At each step, verify that everything is performing as expected.? If there are any issues, identify, repair, and retest.??

Evaluating results

Upon completion of load testing, a detailed evaluation of the results is fundamental. It not only determines the efficiency of the Ellucian Banner system under different load conditions but also outlines the next steps towards performance optimization.

• Key Transactions Response Time: This evaluation includes studying the response time of critical transactions during the peak load. If response times are too high, it may indicate a need for system enhancements to improve speed and efficiency.
• Backend Performance Metrics: Assess the performance of the database and backend infrastructure under high traffic. If the backend isn't processing requests quickly enough, or if the database is slow to respond, this may signal a requirement for system optimization or an upgrade of the server's hardware capabilities.
• Errors Returned: Carefully analyze any system or user-related errors returned during the load test. Addressing these issues is crucial to ensure a seamless experience for the users.

Based on this thorough analysis, the next steps might involve:

1. Configuration Tuning: If response times are slow or if there are too many errors, adjusting the system's configuration may enhance its performance.
2. Hardware Enhancement: In cases where the backend system is unable to process high volumes of requests efficiently, upgrading the server capacity could be the solution.
3. Relaxing Preconditions: If the load test reveals that certain course prerequisites or other conditions are causing bottlenecks, consider relaxing these conditions to improve the overall performance.

Remember, the goal is not just to conduct load tests but to utilize the results effectively to ensure optimal performance. Radview's rich experience and strong customer support play a pivotal role in interpreting these results, guiding configuration changes, and planning the necessary next steps.

Radview’s solution

In summary, there are several unique features to load testing student registration using Ellucian Banner and verifying its performance. Radview has many years of experience in supporting multiple customers when verifying student registration. WebLOAD consistently and successfully handles the most challenging web environments such as Ellucian Banner. Our world-class support will make sure that the experience gained while helping many customers successfully test Ellucian Banner will be used to help you be successful as well.