A test environment is part of the software development lifecycle, and consists of all of the elements needed to test software builds and report findings. The test environment needs to mimic the production environment precisely, including hardware configuration, software configuration, operating systems, databases, etc., so it can expose any issues that are related to the environment or configuration the software will encounter when it is in production.
Test environment management (TEM) is a part of the software delivery process that supports the testing activities by providing a stable, validated test environment where test scenarios can be executed, bugs can be replicated, and more.
Test environment management is responsible for maintaining a repository of test environments that are suitable for the development projects in the pipeline, creating new ones when needed, monitoring and analyzing test environment data for issues and trends, and allocating these test environments to the development teams as needed.