Database and App Team Roles Clarified | Generated by AI
You’ve identified a common challenge in enterprise environments. Let me break down how to effectively separate responsibilities between application and database teams:
Database Team Responsibilities
Before deployment:
- Unit testing of stored procedures, functions, and SQL logic using database testing frameworks (DB2’s built-in tools, DBUnit, etc.)
- Integration testing with mock/test data to verify business logic within the database layer
- Performance testing of queries and procedures (execution plans, indexes, etc.)
- Regression testing of existing stored procedures to ensure changes don’t break existing functionality
- Data integrity testing to validate constraints, triggers, and referential integrity
They own:
- The correctness of database logic
- Query performance and optimization
- Data model integrity
- Backward compatibility of interfaces (procedure signatures, result sets)
Application Team Responsibilities
After database deployment:
- Interface contract testing - verify stored procedures return expected result sets with correct column names, data types
- Basic availability/smoke tests - can the application connect and call procedures successfully?
- End-to-end functional testing - does the application work correctly with the database changes?
- Integration testing - validate the application layer correctly consumes database outputs
They own:
- Application logic correctness
- Proper consumption of database interfaces
- User-facing functionality
Key Separation Principles
1. Contract-based approach:
- Define clear interface contracts (input parameters, output result sets, error codes)
- Database team commits to maintaining these contracts
- Breaking changes require coordination and versioning
2. Test environments:
- Database team maintains their own test environment with representative data
- They can test independently without involving app team
- Application team gets a stable, pre-tested database deployment
3. Communication protocols:
- Database changes categorized as: non-breaking (internal optimization), backward-compatible (new optional parameters), breaking (requires app changes)
- Breaking changes trigger formal collaboration and joint testing
4. Ownership clarity: If a stored procedure produces wrong results → Database team’s problem If the application misuses a correctly-functioning procedure → Application team’s problem
For large SQL/stored procedure changes, the database team absolutely should (and must) do comprehensive regression testing before handing it to the application team. The application team’s “health check” is just confirming integration, not validating database logic correctness.
Does this align with what you’re trying to achieve, or are you facing specific challenges with this separation?