Test data can be helpful for certain things, but it only goes so far. Without feedback from an active group of users, it is extremely difficult to identify bugs and learn what works in real-life and what doesn't.
This app is kind of like a living organism. It exhibits different behaviors throughout the month. You can test all day long, but that won't guarantee you will find all the issues. For example, thousands of people need to access the system to report. This means just about every browser and security setting configuration within the browser needs to work. Also, the people using the system are of varying experience levels. What seems to be good for us tech-freaks may not work out so well for your standard EQ President or Visiting Teaching Coordinator.
The point that I am trying to get at is that I have found active testing to be absolutely critical for this project in particular.
Even more importantly, if no one is benefiting from actually using the system, my motivation level decreases to a critical level.
Brad O.