Operations and quality assurance
Sandbox
In short and in plain language
A sandbox is a space just for tests. It has its own login data.
There you can test links between programs. Real documents stay untouched.
It only helps with test data close to real life. A small set of sample products is not enough. It does not show how long things take. It also misses the special cases of daily work.
Definition
A sandbox is a separated test environment with its own credentials, where interfaces can be checked without touching real documents. It only helps with realistic test data: a catalogue of ten sample products reveals neither runtimes nor the edge cases of daily business.