Testing a configuration change

An approach is presented for testing a change (i.e., configuration change) in a configuration of a computing environment. A user identifier (ID) of a user is received from an administrative user having an administrative user ID. First configurable attributes of the user ID are determined. A temporary simulation user ID (TSID) having second configurable attributes is generated so that the values of respective first and second configurable attributes are identical. The configuration change is received. The configuration change is associated with the TSID and with no other user ID. Based on the configuration change being associated with the TSID and with no other user ID, a simulation is performed by tracking data record modifications made by the TSID and based on the configuration change. The user ID and administrative user ID are unaffected by the configuration change. After completing the simulation, the data record modifications are undone.