I got this from a Basic Coating employee..
The question that was asked - testing for the type of finish that is on the wood that you are looking to clean or clean and recoat. I am going to assume he meant what type of maintenance product that might be on the floor ... paste wax or acrylic? Let me answer this way:
The Basic Coatings Maintenance System of Cleaning and Refinisher should work on most all wood floors regardless of what the "original" finish is .... water base, oil, pre finished aluminum oxide etc.... the original finish should not be a problem. As far as maintenance products that might have been used on the floor, that is where testing for acrylic and paste wax comes into play.
Testing for paste wax - using mineral spirits on a white rag. Clean the area to be tested first with squeaky cleaner then test by rubbing a white cloth with mineral spirits on it on the area. If the rag shows discoloration ( yellow, brown etc..) paste wax is probably present and the floor will need to be sanded or re - waxed.
Testing for acrylic - We have a new test kit coming out very shortly. The original way to test for acrylic is to use a mixture of 1/4 tsp IFT, 1/4 tsp of ammonia and 8 oz water. Apply few drops of mixture to corner of room and if the spot turns white or slightly cloudy, acrylic wax is probably present. We have had good success removing small amounts of acrylic maintenance products by adding 1 cup of ammonia to the IFT mix using the Dirt Dragon. If the customer has been using an acrylic maintenance product for a long time, that will have to be removed before coating.