diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/hibernate/ogm/utils/GridDialectTestHelper.java b/core/src/test/java/org/hibernate/ogm/utils/GridDialectTestHelper.java
index ab3135e567..335333276f 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/hibernate/ogm/utils/GridDialectTestHelper.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/hibernate/ogm/utils/GridDialectTestHelper.java
@@ -79,6 +79,13 @@ public interface GridDialectTestHelper {
 	 */
 	boolean backendSupportsTransactions();
 
+	/**
+	 * Initialize the database on start-up.
+	 *
+	 * @param sessionFactory
+	 */
+	void prepareDatabase(SessionFactory sessionFactory);
+
 	/**
 	 * Used to clean up all the stored data. The cleaning can be done by dropping
 	 * the database and/or the schema.
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/hibernate/ogm/utils/HashMapTestHelper.java b/core/src/test/java/org/hibernate/ogm/utils/HashMapTestHelper.java
index 69528b5fb1..1647a737b8 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/hibernate/ogm/utils/HashMapTestHelper.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/hibernate/ogm/utils/HashMapTestHelper.java
@@ -75,6 +75,11 @@ public boolean backendSupportsTransactions() {
 		return false;
 	}
 
+	@Override
+	public void prepareDatabase(SessionFactory sessionFactory) {
+		// Nothing to do
+	}
+
 	@Override
 	public void dropSchemaAndDatabase(SessionFactory sessionFactory) {
 		// Nothing to do
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/hibernate/ogm/utils/TestHelper.java b/core/src/test/java/org/hibernate/ogm/utils/TestHelper.java
index e74510adc6..f6742f1661 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/hibernate/ogm/utils/TestHelper.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/hibernate/ogm/utils/TestHelper.java
@@ -161,6 +161,10 @@ public static Map<String, Object> extractEntityTuple(Session session, EntityKey
 		return HELPER.extractEntityTuple( session, key );
 	}
 
+	public static long getNumberOfAssociations(EntityManager em) {
+		return getNumberOfAssociations( em.unwrap( Session.class ) );
+	}
+
 	public static long getNumberOfAssociations(Session session) {
 		return HELPER.getNumberOfAssociations( session );
 	}
@@ -210,6 +214,22 @@ public static void dropSchemaAndDatabase(SessionFactory sessionFactory) {
 		}
 	}
 
+	public static void prepareDatabase(EntityManagerFactory emf) {
+		prepareDatabase( ( (HibernateEntityManagerFactory) emf ).getSessionFactory() );
+	}
+
+	public static void prepareDatabase(SessionFactory sessionFactory) {
+		// if the factory is closed, we don't have access to the service registry
+		if ( sessionFactory != null && !sessionFactory.isClosed() ) {
+			try {
+				HELPER.prepareDatabase( sessionFactory );
+			}
+			catch ( Exception e ) {
+				log.warn( "Exception while preparing schema and database in test", e );
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
 	public static void checkCleanCache(SessionFactory sessionFactory) {
 		assertThat( getNumberOfEntities( sessionFactory ) ).as( "Entity cache should be empty" ).isEqualTo( 0 );
 		assertThat( getNumberOfAssociations( sessionFactory ) ).as( "Association cache should be empty" ).isEqualTo( 0 );
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/hibernate/ogm/utils/jpa/OgmJpaTestRunner.java b/core/src/test/java/org/hibernate/ogm/utils/jpa/OgmJpaTestRunner.java
index 2a14ed24fe..587cc1be7a 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/hibernate/ogm/utils/jpa/OgmJpaTestRunner.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/hibernate/ogm/utils/jpa/OgmJpaTestRunner.java
@@ -127,6 +127,7 @@ public void run(RunNotifier notifier) {
 		if ( isTestScopedEntityManagerFactoryRequired() ) {
 			testScopedEntityManagerFactory = buildEntityManagerFactory();
 			injectEntityManagerFactory( null, testScopedFactoryFields, testScopedEntityManagerFactory );
+			TestHelper.prepareDatabase( testScopedEntityManagerFactory );
 		}
 
 		try {
diff --git a/infinispan-remote/src/test/java/org/hibernate/ogm/datastore/infinispanremote/utils/InfinispanRemoteTestHelper.java b/infinispan-remote/src/test/java/org/hibernate/ogm/datastore/infinispanremote/utils/InfinispanRemoteTestHelper.java
index 3c8da57a19..e3e823466c 100644
--- a/infinispan-remote/src/test/java/org/hibernate/ogm/datastore/infinispanremote/utils/InfinispanRemoteTestHelper.java
+++ b/infinispan-remote/src/test/java/org/hibernate/ogm/datastore/infinispanremote/utils/InfinispanRemoteTestHelper.java
@@ -70,6 +70,10 @@ public boolean backendSupportsTransactions() {
 		return false;
 	}
 
+	@Override
+	public void prepareDatabase(SessionFactory sessionFactory) {
+	}
+
 	@Override
 	public void dropSchemaAndDatabase(SessionFactory sessionFactory) {
 		final InfinispanRemoteDatastoreProvider datastoreProvider = getProvider( sessionFactory );
@@ -171,5 +175,4 @@ public static InfinispanRemoteDatastoreProvider getProvider(SessionFactory sessi
 		}
 		return InfinispanRemoteDatastoreProvider.class.cast( provider );
 	}
-
 }
diff --git a/infinispan/src/test/java/org/hibernate/ogm/datastore/infinispan/utils/InfinispanTestHelper.java b/infinispan/src/test/java/org/hibernate/ogm/datastore/infinispan/utils/InfinispanTestHelper.java
index 7959294460..1e4c937c6c 100644
--- a/infinispan/src/test/java/org/hibernate/ogm/datastore/infinispan/utils/InfinispanTestHelper.java
+++ b/infinispan/src/test/java/org/hibernate/ogm/datastore/infinispan/utils/InfinispanTestHelper.java
@@ -107,6 +107,11 @@ public boolean backendSupportsTransactions() {
 		return true;
 	}
 
+	@Override
+	public void prepareDatabase(SessionFactory sessionFactory) {
+		// Nothing to do
+	}
+
 	@Override
 	public void dropSchemaAndDatabase(SessionFactory sessionFactory) {
 		// Nothing to do
diff --git a/mongodb/src/test/java/org/hibernate/ogm/datastore/mongodb/utils/MongoDBTestHelper.java b/mongodb/src/test/java/org/hibernate/ogm/datastore/mongodb/utils/MongoDBTestHelper.java
index f62dd4da33..6a43b6c26f 100644
--- a/mongodb/src/test/java/org/hibernate/ogm/datastore/mongodb/utils/MongoDBTestHelper.java
+++ b/mongodb/src/test/java/org/hibernate/ogm/datastore/mongodb/utils/MongoDBTestHelper.java
@@ -228,6 +228,10 @@ private static MongoDBDatastoreProvider getProvider(SessionFactory sessionFactor
 		return MongoDBDatastoreProvider.class.cast( provider );
 	}
 
+	@Override
+	public void prepareDatabase(SessionFactory sessionFactory) {
+	}
+
 	@Override
 	public void dropSchemaAndDatabase(SessionFactory sessionFactory) {
 		MongoDBDatastoreProvider provider = getProvider( sessionFactory );
diff --git a/neo4j/src/test/java/org/hibernate/ogm/datastore/neo4j/utils/Neo4jTestHelper.java b/neo4j/src/test/java/org/hibernate/ogm/datastore/neo4j/utils/Neo4jTestHelper.java
index 32d89f7a5c..9623bd8cfe 100644
--- a/neo4j/src/test/java/org/hibernate/ogm/datastore/neo4j/utils/Neo4jTestHelper.java
+++ b/neo4j/src/test/java/org/hibernate/ogm/datastore/neo4j/utils/Neo4jTestHelper.java
@@ -108,6 +108,10 @@ public boolean backendSupportsTransactions() {
 		return true;
 	}
 
+	@Override
+	public void prepareDatabase(SessionFactory sessionFactory) {
+	}
+
 	@Override
 	public void dropSchemaAndDatabase(SessionFactory sessionFactory) {
 		DatastoreProvider datastoreProvider = getDatastoreProvider( sessionFactory );