"},{"ID":8992,"user_firstname":"Raymond","user_lastname":"Bunn","nickname":"Ray","user_nicename":"rbunn","display_name":"Raymond Bunn","user_email":"RBunn@esri.com","user_url":"","user_registered":"2019-02-15 17:46:51","user_description":"Ray is an Architect with the Technology and Innovation Team. He leads an initiative to design and test ArcGIS systems with a focus on user experience.","user_avatar":"
"}],"related_articles":[{"ID":2950561,"post_author":"280142","post_date":"2025-12-03 07:51:26","post_date_gmt":"2025-12-03 15:51:26","post_content":"","post_title":"ArcGIS Technology & Innovation Resource Catalog","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"arcgis-technology-innovation-resource-catalog","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2026-06-30 06:43:58","post_modified_gmt":"2026-06-30 13:43:58","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&p=2950561","menu_order":0,"post_type":"blog","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":2962952,"post_author":"280142","post_date":"2026-04-24 06:47:30","post_date_gmt":"2026-04-24 13:47:30","post_content":"","post_title":"Making Sense of Workload Separation in ArcGIS","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"making-sense-of-workload-separation-in-arcgis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2026-04-27 09:08:50","post_modified_gmt":"2026-04-27 16:08:50","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&p=2962952","menu_order":0,"post_type":"blog","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":2960057,"post_author":"280142","post_date":"2026-03-12 08:52:05","post_date_gmt":"2026-03-12 15:52:05","post_content":"","post_title":"Lessons in Observability from Parcel Management System Testing","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"optimize-costs-right-size-arcgis-systems-with-system-monitoring","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2026-03-12 09:45:08","post_modified_gmt":"2026-03-12 16:45:08","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&p=2960057","menu_order":0,"post_type":"blog","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"show_article_image":false,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/testexperiment.jpg","wide_image":false,"short_description":"Adding new workflows or capabilities affects system behavior, making testing essential to avoid hidden bottlenecks and failures.","flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Delivering new capabilities is fun and exciting. But making sure your ArcGIS systems are ready to support them? That\u2019s often harder – and usually less exciting.<\/p>\n
And as a result, purposeful design often gets pushed to the side. Sometimes you might get away with it – nothing breaks and users stay happy.<\/p>\n
But with every additional untested and unvetted change you make to your system, you significantly increase the likelihood of negatively impacting performance, or breaking something altogether.<\/p>\n
Like a game of Jenga, but with fewer laughs.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2970965,"id":2970965,"title":"Jenga","filename":"pexels-gustavo-fring-7489033-scaled.jpg","filesize":292644,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/pexels-gustavo-fring-7489033-scaled.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-enterprise\/administration\/stop-hoping-start-testing-designing-arcgis-systems-for-change\/pexels-gustavo-fring-7489033","alt":"Three people playing Jena, with the tower having just collapsed","author":"280142","description":"","caption":"","name":"pexels-gustavo-fring-7489033","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2970675,"date":"2026-06-17 16:50:07","modified":"2026-06-18 13:54:44","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":2560,"height":1707,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/pexels-gustavo-fring-7489033-213x200.jpg","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/pexels-gustavo-fring-7489033-scaled.jpg","medium-width":391,"medium-height":261,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/pexels-gustavo-fring-7489033-scaled.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/pexels-gustavo-fring-7489033-scaled.jpg","large-width":1620,"large-height":1080,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/pexels-gustavo-fring-7489033-1536x1024.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/pexels-gustavo-fring-7489033-2048x1365.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1365,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/pexels-gustavo-fring-7489033-698x465.jpg","card_image-width":698,"card_image-height":465,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/pexels-gustavo-fring-7489033-1620x1080.jpg","wide_image-width":1620,"wide_image-height":1080}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"
Changes to different parts of a system create different types of impact.<\/p>\n
For example, you might expect that adding additional users to well-defined workflows would increase system utilization – across infrastructure, services, and data – in a predictable, linear way.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what many teams expect. But in practice, it\u2019s not necessarily what happens. For example, the additional load might cause the system to hit a bottleneck, creating cascading negative impacts.<\/p>\n
Moreover, adding new<\/em> capabilities or workflows tends to impact the system even more. Consider how new workflows can introduce new usage patterns, like:<\/p>\n The more you deviate from the original use cases, the more likely the system is to struggle, sometimes in ways you won\u2019t see until it\u2019s already impacting users.<\/p>\n This is because the system wasn\u2019t originally designed to support those additional users, workflows, or capabilities. Unfortunately, we frequently see teams add unvetted capabilities to an existing system in ways that degrade end user experience and productivty. In fact, we also see teams add capabilities to an existing system when they really should be supported by their own<\/em> system.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" A while back we did some system tests<\/a> to evaluate the impact of adding mobile capabilities to an existing foundational network information management system<\/a>.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","content":" While this is a common scenario for utility organizations, the same principle – adding new capabilities to an existing system – applies regardless of your starting point or the workflows you introduce.<\/p>\n","image_reference":false,"layout":"standard","image_reference_figure":"","snippet":"","spotlight_name":"","section_title":"","position":"Center","spotlight_image":false},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" You can learn more about the details of the test study design and test methods<\/a> here. However, in this blog I\u2019d like to break down some of the key takeaways, regardless of your starting system or proposed added workflows.<\/p>\n In the pre-testing section of the test study, you will see the impacts of keeping the initial foundational system exactly as it was, while adding the new workflows.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" In the diagrams below, you can see overall system utilization across components for our original system (left), well-within safe margins. However, on the right you can see dramatic impacts of adding the new workflows and users on the right across nearly every system component:<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2971161,"id":2971161,"title":"mobileblog1","filename":"mobileblog1-1.png","filesize":1166767,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobileblog1-1.png","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-enterprise\/administration\/stop-hoping-start-testing-designing-arcgis-systems-for-change\/mobileblog1-2","alt":"","author":"280142","description":"","caption":"","name":"mobileblog1-2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2970675,"date":"2026-06-18 13:59:30","modified":"2026-06-18 13:59:30","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1546,"height":1020,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobileblog1-1-213x200.png","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobileblog1-1.png","medium-width":396,"medium-height":261,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobileblog1-1.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":507,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobileblog1-1.png","large-width":1546,"large-height":1020,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobileblog1-1-1536x1013.png","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1013,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobileblog1-1.png","2048x2048-width":1546,"2048x2048-height":1020,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobileblog1-1-705x465.png","card_image-width":705,"card_image-height":465,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobileblog1-1.png","wide_image-width":1546,"wide_image-height":1020}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" There is also significant impact when looking at open requests throughout the test period. In the graph below, you can see the original system supporting the foundational workflows well (left side), with requests opening and closing in an expected pattern.<\/p>\n However, with the added workflows (right side) requests ramp up significantly before downloads complete and the load drops off. This pattern indicates a bottleneck at this step in the workflow, with users waiting for offline area downloads to complete.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2970931,"id":2970931,"title":"Testing for Change - requests","filename":"mobileblog2.png","filesize":218277,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobileblog2.png","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-enterprise\/administration\/stop-hoping-start-testing-designing-arcgis-systems-for-change\/mobileblog2","alt":"test results showing concurrent requests","author":"280142","description":"test results showing concurrent requests","caption":"","name":"mobileblog2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2970675,"date":"2026-06-17 15:12:43","modified":"2026-06-18 13:55:03","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1430,"height":293,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobileblog2-213x200.png","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobileblog2.png","medium-width":464,"medium-height":95,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobileblog2.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":157,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobileblog2.png","large-width":1430,"large-height":293,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobileblog2.png","1536x1536-width":1430,"1536x1536-height":293,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobileblog2.png","2048x2048-width":1430,"2048x2048-height":293,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobileblog2-826x169.png","card_image-width":826,"card_image-height":169,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobileblog2.png","wide_image-width":1430,"wide_image-height":293}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" After identifying this bottleneck, we dug deeper. In the chart below, you can see the long download times for offline areas, which were upwards of 30 minutes (blue). We determined the issue stemmed from high CPU utilization on the ArcGIS Web Adaptor and Portal for ArcGIS instances (which you saw in the first set of charts), which was restricting throughput and causing downloads to timeout. To address this, we scaled those instances up:<\/p>\n You can see the resulting time-saving improvements below (green).<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2971163,"id":2971163,"title":"mobile-download-times (1)","filename":"mobile-download-times-1.png","filesize":62487,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobile-download-times-1.png","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-enterprise\/administration\/stop-hoping-start-testing-designing-arcgis-systems-for-change\/mobile-download-times-1","alt":"","author":"280142","description":"","caption":"","name":"mobile-download-times-1","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2970675,"date":"2026-06-18 14:01:47","modified":"2026-06-18 14:01:47","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":917,"height":625,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobile-download-times-1-213x200.png","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobile-download-times-1.png","medium-width":383,"medium-height":261,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobile-download-times-1.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":523,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobile-download-times-1.png","large-width":917,"large-height":625,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobile-download-times-1.png","1536x1536-width":917,"1536x1536-height":625,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobile-download-times-1.png","2048x2048-width":917,"2048x2048-height":625,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobile-download-times-1-682x465.png","card_image-width":682,"card_image-height":465,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobile-download-times-1.png","wide_image-width":917,"wide_image-height":625}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" But it\u2019s not just the hardware you need to pay attention to. Looking at the ArcSOC utilization charts below, you can see the positive improvements from reconfiguring the service instances to accomodate the new workloads. In our case, the read-only gas utility network service ran at maximum ArcSOC usage throughout most of pre-testing, whereas the mobile services had excess available ArcSOCs.<\/p>\n We achieved a more balanced distribution of resources:<\/p>\n After this change, the charts (right) show a more even distribution between both services and user wait times measurably improved.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2970933,"id":2970933,"title":"mobileblog4","filename":"mobileblog4.png","filesize":84585,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobileblog4.png","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-enterprise\/administration\/stop-hoping-start-testing-designing-arcgis-systems-for-change\/mobileblog4","alt":"","author":"280142","description":"","caption":"","name":"mobileblog4","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2970675,"date":"2026-06-17 15:12:47","modified":"2026-06-17 15:12:47","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":936,"height":204,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobileblog4-213x200.png","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobileblog4.png","medium-width":464,"medium-height":101,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobileblog4.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":167,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobileblog4.png","large-width":936,"large-height":204,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobileblog4.png","1536x1536-width":936,"1536x1536-height":204,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobileblog4.png","2048x2048-width":936,"2048x2048-height":204,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobileblog4-826x180.png","card_image-width":826,"card_image-height":180,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobileblog4.png","wide_image-width":936,"wide_image-height":204}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2970934,"id":2970934,"title":"mobileblog5","filename":"mobileblog5.png","filesize":105296,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobileblog5.png","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-enterprise\/administration\/stop-hoping-start-testing-designing-arcgis-systems-for-change\/mobileblog5","alt":"","author":"280142","description":"","caption":"","name":"mobileblog5","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2970675,"date":"2026-06-17 15:12:48","modified":"2026-06-17 15:12:48","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":936,"height":206,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobileblog5-213x200.png","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobileblog5.png","medium-width":464,"medium-height":102,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobileblog5.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":169,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobileblog5.png","large-width":936,"large-height":206,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobileblog5.png","1536x1536-width":936,"1536x1536-height":206,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobileblog5.png","2048x2048-width":936,"2048x2048-height":206,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobileblog5-826x182.png","card_image-width":826,"card_image-height":182,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mobileblog5.png","wide_image-width":936,"wide_image-height":206}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" In our tests, the original system could not adequately support the added workflows and users without redesign and reconfiguration. If this were a production system that we hadn’t tested beforehand, these bottlenecks would not have been visible until they impacted end-users. In our case, we made the following adjustments to optimize for the system changes:<\/p>\n Your own systems will have different results. For example, you might find bottlenecks in different places of the system, or have different impacts. Or, maybe you find that the system can adequately support the new workloads without modification.<\/p>\n The key takeaway is not to look for the exact impacts we saw. Rather, do not assume a system designed for one set of use cases will support another without validation<\/p>\n All of this reinforces a simple point – new workflows can expose system limits that weren\u2019t previously visible or impactful.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" By now, you might be wondering, \u201cwell, what am I supposed to do exactly?\u201d.<\/p>\n It’s worth saying first that our internal system testing is largely focused on performance testing to evaluate its impact on the end users\u2019 ability to work productively without disruption. However, a thorough test strategy should encompass more than just performance testing. There are many kinds of testing for different purposes across the system lifecycle that should be performed in distinct compute environments. For example (but not exhaustive):<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2971138,"id":2971138,"title":"environment-isolation-1","filename":"environment-isolation-1-e1781787273983.png","filesize":46866,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/environment-isolation-1-e1781787273983.png","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-enterprise\/administration\/stop-hoping-start-testing-designing-arcgis-systems-for-change\/environment-isolation-1","alt":"Graphic showing environment isolation with three separate compute environments - development, staging, and production.","author":"280142","description":"environment isolation across three compute environments","caption":"","name":"environment-isolation-1","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2970675,"date":"2026-06-18 12:41:45","modified":"2026-06-18 13:55:40","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":500,"height":500,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/environment-isolation-1-213x200.png","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/environment-isolation-1-e1781787273983.png","medium-width":261,"medium-height":261,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/environment-isolation-1-e1781787273983.png","medium_large-width":500,"medium_large-height":500,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/environment-isolation-1-e1781787273983.png","large-width":500,"large-height":500,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/environment-isolation-1-e1781787273983.png","1536x1536-width":500,"1536x1536-height":500,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/environment-isolation-1-e1781787273983.png","2048x2048-width":500,"2048x2048-height":500,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/environment-isolation-1-465x465.png","card_image-width":465,"card_image-height":465,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/environment-isolation-1-e1781787273983.png","wide_image-width":500,"wide_image-height":500}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":"https:\/\/architecture.arcgis.com\/en\/framework\/architecture-practices\/design-principles\/environment-isolation.html"},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","content":" Your organization may have different environments depending on policies and risk tolerance. The most important thing is that testing and development activities are isolated from your production environment.<\/p>\n","image_reference":false,"layout":"standard","image_reference_figure":"","snippet":"","spotlight_name":"","section_title":"","position":"Center","spotlight_image":false},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" Development <\/strong>(does a piece work in isolation?)<\/p>\n Testing \/ Staging <\/strong>(does everything work together correctly and at scale?)<\/p>\n Production <\/strong>(is it working reliably in the real world?)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Many of these testing activities may not be done by your team. However, it is good to be aware of\u00a0 your organization’s standard processes, especially if you lead a GIS program.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" Once you get to step 6, there’s any number of adjustments (if any) that could be appropriate to support the new capabilities. For example:<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2971297,"id":2971297,"title":"Screenshot 2026-06-18 at 2.39.46\u202fPM","filename":"Screenshot-2026-06-18-at-2.39.46-PM.png","filesize":276198,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-18-at-2.39.46-PM.png","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-enterprise\/administration\/stop-hoping-start-testing-designing-arcgis-systems-for-change\/screenshot-2026-06-18-at-2-39-46-pm","alt":"Table showing four options for accommodating system changes, with columns for \u201cOption,\u201d \u201cWhen to consider,\u201d and \u201cAsk yourself.\u201d No change: When the system demonstrably handles new workloads; ask whether the system can support everything as-is. Scale \/ reallocate resources: When the architecture is sound but resource-constrained; ask whether scaling or reallocating resources can absorb increased load and optimize cost and performance. Redesign: When the current architecture limits performance, reliability, or scalability; ask whether architectural constraints are preventing requirements from being met and whether rethinking workload separation would help. Separate system: When there is a distinct use case, user group, or design requirement; ask whether the capabilities align better to a different system pattern and whether users have different requirements or expectations.","author":"280142","description":"","caption":"","name":"screenshot-2026-06-18-at-2-39-46-pm","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2970675,"date":"2026-06-18 18:40:41","modified":"2026-06-18 18:41:00","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":2122,"height":880,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-18-at-2.39.46-PM-213x200.png","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-18-at-2.39.46-PM.png","medium-width":464,"medium-height":192,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-18-at-2.39.46-PM.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":318,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-18-at-2.39.46-PM.png","large-width":1920,"large-height":796,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-18-at-2.39.46-PM-1536x637.png","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":637,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-18-at-2.39.46-PM-2048x849.png","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":849,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-18-at-2.39.46-PM-826x343.png","card_image-width":826,"card_image-height":343,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-18-at-2.39.46-PM-1920x796.png","wide_image-width":1920,"wide_image-height":796}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" Any of these paths forward could be the right choice for your organization. The best approach is the one that optimizes cost, complexity, and value for your organization, and one that your teams are confident in and accountable for.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" For most organizations, change is inevitable. Whether expanding to new user bases, delivering new capabilities, or establishing new integrations or otherwise. This is true now more than ever.<\/p>\n So, to evolve your ArcGIS systems rapidly with greater success, design for flexibility rather than trying to perfect your initial hardware sizing. This way, your organization can expand adoption and add capabilities with greater agility by \u201cscaling up\u201d and \u201cscaling out\u201d more easily. Our test study is a great example of the value of a scalable system for enabling change.<\/p>\n It is a good practice to test and validate your system whenever you want to introduce a change. This way, you can identify potential impacts before they are introduced into a production environment:<\/p>\n Organizations successfully add new capabilities and workflows to their ArcGIS systems every day. However, to be confident in that success, you need to test, observe, and make necessary adjustments before rolling out changes to your production system.<\/p>\n Systems designed for flexibility, combined with ongoing testing , are what enable teams to deliver new organizational value quickly, reliably, and with confidence.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"storymap","title":"Do you have ideas for how we can improve our resources in the future? Please share your thoughts with us!","description":"","static":false,"storymap_url":"https:\/\/arcg.is\/0KvS9i<\/a>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" \u27a1\ufe0f You can also find our full catalog of test studies and blogs\u00a0here<\/a><\/p>\n\n
What our system tests taught us<\/h2>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"
Infrastructure-level metrics<\/h3>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"
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Workflow metrics<\/h3>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"
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Service-level metrics<\/h3>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"
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Lessons learned<\/h2>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"
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Getting started with your own test strategy<\/h2>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"
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To get started with your own test strategy:<\/strong><\/h3>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"
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Design for change, not perfection<\/h2>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"
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