Apparatuses, methods and systems for providing a virtual development and deployment environment including real and synthetic data

Abstract

A development and testing environment with reduced database storage requirements that uses synthetic data based on anonymized real data, which allows the use of sensitive data for testing while protecting such data as required by privacy laws, secrecy laws and company policies.

The invention claimed is: 
     
         1 . An environment testing processor-implemented method, comprising:
 receiving, using a processor, a request to create a test environment;   identifying, using the processor, real data records based on the request;   generating, using the processor, anonymized data from the real data;   selecting, using the processor, a subset of the anonymized data based on the request;   generating, using the processor, synthesized data from the subset of anonymized data;   generating, using the processor, a synthetic test environment, wherein generation further includes:   instantiating user accounts,   populating, using the processor, the test environment with a profile of testing components,   loading the synthesized data into the test environment; and   deploying the synthetic test environment to a location specified in the request.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein, the request includes constraint criteria for selecting a subset of data from the anonymized data for use in generating the synthesized data. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further, comprising: effecting performance of testing in the deployed synthetic test environment. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further, comprising: effecting decommissioning of the deployed synthetic test environment. 
     
     
         5 . A processor-implemented method for synthesizing data, comprising:
 receiving, using a processor, a request to create synthesized customer records;   identifying real data records for anonymization;   selecting, using the processor, a source of conjured data for the anonymization of real data records;   replacing, using the processor, real data in the real data records with the selected conjured data;   retrieving, using the processor, anonymized customer records to be synthesized;   creating, using the processor, synthetic customer records with synthetic customer record identifiers to hold anonymized data contained in the anonymized customer records;   copying, using the processor, the anonymized data into the synthetic customer records;   locating, using the processor, in the copied anonymized data customer record identifiers;   replacing the located customer record identifiers with the synthetic customer record identifiers; and   outputting the synthesized customer records.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the anonymized data contained in the retrieved anonymized customer records is created by:
 receiving a request to create anonymized customer records;   retrieving real customer records to be anonymized;   locating, via a processor, in real data contained in the real customer records sensitive customer information;   choosing anonymized customer information to replace the located sensitive customer information according to predefined rules;   replacing the located sensitive customer information with the anonymized customer information; and   outputting the anonymized customer records.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the sensitive customer information is one of: a name, an address, a phone number, a fax number, a date, a free text field, a personal identification number. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising:
 associating anonymized data contained in an anonymized customer record with a business constellation, wherein the business constellation is defined by a plurality of equivalence classes; and   creating a synthetic customer record for the anonymized data contained in the anonymized customer record only if the number of previously created synthetic customer records containing anonymized data associated with the business constellation is less than a predefined number.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein an equivalence class is one of: Title, Business Unit, Branch Office, Nationality, Domicile, Language, Customer Type, Customer Segment. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising:
 retrieving real account records to be synthesized;   creating synthetic account records with synthetic account record identifiers to hold account data contained in the real account records;   copying the account data into the synthetic account records;   locating in the copied account data customer record identifiers;   replacing the located customer record identifiers with the synthetic customer record identifiers;   locating in the copied account data account record identifiers;   replacing the located account record identifiers with the synthetic account record identifiers; and   outputting the synthesized account records.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising:
 retrieving real deposit records to be synthesized;   creating synthetic deposit records with synthetic deposit record identifiers to hold deposit data contained in the real deposit records;   copying the deposit data into the synthetic deposit records;   locating in the copied deposit data customer record identifiers;   replacing the located customer record identifiers with the synthetic customer record identifiers;   locating in the copied deposit data deposit record identifiers;   replacing the located deposit record identifiers with the synthetic deposit record identifiers; and   outputting the synthesized deposit records   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising:
 simulating transactions using the synthesized customer records; and   outputting data representative of the simulated transactions.   
     
     
         13 . A system for facilitating development and testing of software applications using synthesized customer records comprising:
 a server;   a software application for development and testing;   a development environment running on the server, wherein the development environment is generated by cloning portions of a production environment that are required to run the software application;   a database containing synthesized customer records, wherein:
 the database is communicatively connected with the development environment; and 
 the database provides a source of data for the development environment. 
   
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , further comprising a Development and Test Server Zone containing the system and separating the development environment from the production environment. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the development environment is physically separated from the production environment. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the development environment is logically separated from the production environment. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the development environment is decommissioned upon completion of testing.