How to keep the test environment separate from production
What is it for?
It explains the difference between the database where you experiment and the database where the company really works, and what guarantees that nothing done in test reaches the Tax and Customs Authority (AT), the banks or the customers. It lets you train people, try a new version or reproduce a problem without risk.
When to use it?
- You are going to train someone or try a new version.
- You want to be sure which environment you are in before making a submission.
- You are going to move the company to production.
Where to find it?
There is no menu for this. You see the environment:
- in the database name: a test database has “test” in its name;
- in Accounting › Configure › Certified invoicing › Tax Authority credentials, in the Environment column, for submissions to the AT.
Before you start
The Tax Authority credentials menu only appears to those who have that right. It was walked through with the Administrator profile. The Certified accountant does not have this menu. If you do not know the database name, ask technical support.
What changes in a test database
| Test database | Production database | |
|---|---|---|
| Database name | Contains “test” | Does not contain “test” |
| Data | Made up | Real |
| Communication with the AT | Only the local simulator, with the messages from the AT manuals | Whatever the person in charge deliberately connects |
| Network | Only the machine itself: everything else is blocked before it leaves | Normal |
| Email, banks, SIBS, payments | Never | If they are connected |
| Signing keys | Only the test ones, which are not valid for real documents | The production ones |
| Tax value of documents | None | Full: they are corrected with a credit note, and are not deleted |
The separation is on the server, not only on the screen: nobody gets round it by mistake, not even with a click. Pending validation on screen: in the demo only the AT simulator was seen; the other lines come from the operations guide.
What decides where a submission to the AT goes
- Open Accounting › Configure › Tax Authority credentials. Each line has Company, Environment, Web-service user, Used for sending and Valid until.
- Open the form. The Environment field has two options: Test and Production. A new form always starts in Test.
- Only the Environment and the Used for sending tick decide where a submission goes. With the test credentials, the form offers Test the connection (simulator) and Check the readiness.
Moving to production
It is an operation in the production database, with technical support. On the Tax Authority credentials form: choose Production, type the Web-service user and the Web-service password, upload the certificate the AT sent and tick Used for sending. One set per company and per environment. Once saved, the secrets appear masked and can only be replaced.
This path was not completed in the demo, because it would require real credentials. Pending validation on screen.
Important notes
- Never copy real data into a test database without neutralising it first (names, NIF, contacts, IBAN).
- To reproduce a problem, restore a backup into a new database with “test” in its name. For planning backups and trial runs, see How to prepare the migration from another program to fiscaldoo.
- A test database never receives the production signing key.
- Simulated results. In test, results appear as simulated, for example Accepted (simulated), with the Environment Test.
- What this article does not cover. A test server connected to the AT's test addresses is a technical support operation, not a user setting.
Common problems
Refusal messages
These messages are the isolation working. Pending validation on screen: they were not triggered in the demo, because that would mean attempting a submission to the production AT.
- “The production environment of the Tax Authority is forbidden in a test database. Nothing was sent. Choose the test credentials of company …”: choose the test credentials, or make the real submission in the production database.
- “Company … has not chosen the AT environment: tick "Used for sending" on its test or production credentials …”: open Tax Authority credentials, choose the set and tick Used for sending.
- “The shared credentials are for another environment (test or production).”: use the set for the company's environment. Do not reuse the production ones in test.