Modernizing Data Masking with Redgate Test Data Manager

Protecting sensitive information while maintaining realistic test data is a challenge many organizations face. We've seen a wide range of approaches - from simply setting everything to null, to dozens of custom scripts written by DBAs who are no longer with the company, leaving no long-term maintainability. In many cases, clients come to us after investing in tools that have since become bottlenecks, as vendors provide limited documentation or support which often forces them to rely on expensive professional services while facing increasing costs and operational risk.

Recently, we helped a large U.S. Financial Services company modernize their data masking approach by implementing Redgate Test Data Manager (TDM) for Microsoft SQL Server. The result was a fully automated, easily customizable, production‑ready solution delivered in under a week, with an over 2500% performance improvement, reducing the total workflow duration from over 20 hours to just under 45 minutes.

We replaced a legacy product and workflow that were no longer maintainable or capable of supporting modern SQL Server versions. Using Redgate TDM, we rapidly identified and classified personally identifiable information (PII) within production databases and fully customized the obfuscation datasets. This enabled fast, in-place referential masking with realistic data and minimized operational overhead.

Why This Matters

For organizations of any size, proper test data isn’t just a technical concern - it’s a matter of risk management and compliance. Unreliable or inefficient data masking directly impacts:

• Release cadence

• Developer productivity

• Regulatory confidence

• Operational Cost

By modernizing the approach with Redgate Test Data Manager, we turned this client's constraint into an operational strength. With masking no longer a time or cost prohibitive process, we are now exploring additional obfuscation opportunities that were previously not possible.

For more details, check out our full case study below:

Looking to optimize or replace your existing masking workflow? Or thinking about implementing data masking for the first time? Get in touch to see how our team can help you find the right solution.

As a Redgate Partner, we're a direct resource through the entire process - from licensing and implementation to documentation and automation. We handle everything so your teams get production‑realistic test data within minutes and compliance becomes built‑in instead of a bottleneck.