Cloud-powered ERP solutions have enabled companies to save business costs and run their operations smoothly. Built on the popular Salesforce CRM platform, FinancialForce is a cloud-powered ERP tool that provides a 360-degree customer-focused view of any business.
FinancialForce also acts as a centralized ERP platform that can integrate the front-office CRM with the back-office ERP, which means that all running applications can share information on a real-time basis. As a result, companies can operate their business applications on a centralized ERP platform.
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What Is FinancialForce ERP?
FinancialForce is a complete cloud-based ERP solution built on the Salesforce platform and bundled with other product offerings from Salesforce. The FinancialForce platform offers a range of bundled financial applications designed for:
- Billing and Accounting
- Professional services automation (PSA)
- Human capital management (HCM)
- Supply chain management (SCM)
Built on the Salesforce Cloud, FinancialForce integrates business applications to enable processes like sales, customer service, and human resources for customer-focused enterprises.
Why should companies opt to choose FinancialForce ERP? In essence, FinancialForce provides an end-to-end customer-centric view of the business on a cloud platform, which enables organizations to place their customers at the center of everything that they do. As a result, with a single customer account, FinancialForce serves as a trusted source of "truth" that can help streamline business operations.
In fact, Lori Williams of Traction on Demand says that "with FinancialForce, we now have a fully automated snapshot of our customer portfolio."
Likewise, Alex Calder of United Services Group says that "by implementing FinancialForce, we now have the systems, processes, and data accuracy we need to accommodate new business growth."
Next, we shall discuss why an ERP solution like FinancialForce needs end-to-end testing.
Why Is the Testing of FinancialForce ERP Crucial?
Whether manual or automated testing, ERP solutions like FinancialForce need end-to-end software testing to ensure they work as expected. Companies using FinancialForce can achieve this objective through ERP testing.
With FinancialForce ERP, companies can now customize their business rules in the ERP tool according to their business needs. Using end-to-end integration testing, companies can validate if their FinancialForce ERP solution is synced with their business requirements.
Here are a few reasons why the ERP testing of FinancialForce is necessary:
- To check if the technical aspects of the ERP solution are functioning smoothly.
- To keep the ERP implementation on track and detect any factors that can cause ERP failure.
- To ensure compliance with industry regulations through complete testing and documentation.
- To validate any defect resolution and functional enhancements in the ERP solution.
- To enable end-users to learn with an improved understanding of their business processes.
As more companies work in complex IT environments, they should test FinancialForce solutions in an organized way. Here are some of the important steps to execute when testing FinancialForce:
1. Define the Testing Goals
Using these goals, companies can decide the type of testing they need and the testing tools they should use.
2. Identify the Test Cases
To achieve optimum business functionality, companies must identify the test cases to conduct exhaustive tests in the most-critical functional areas. For instance, test if ERP applications are integrated with the existing legacy systems.
3. Analyze Defects
After executing the test cases, analyze the number of defects found in the ERP solution. This measures the readiness of the FinancialForce ERP solution for the organization.
Next, let's discuss how "traditional" ERP testing poses challenges for the FinancialForce solution.
Challenges of Traditional ERP Testing for FinancialForce
ERP solutions like FinancialForce consume massive data volumes, which require daily testing. As more companies move to Agile and DevOps environments, they expect their software testers to complete testing on time to meet product deadlines.
The traditional form of manual (or human) testing is no longer sufficient to meet modern testing requirements. Furthermore, manual testing requires more time, costs, and resources. Customized ERP solutions like FinancialForce are complex and tightly integrated with third-party systems. For smooth operation, they require a smooth data flow from one ERP module to the next.
In sum, test automation can overcome these challenges of "traditional" ERP testing. As organizations move from on-premises ERP to cloud-based ERP, they must execute this migration smoothly to avoid system downtime. In these scenarios, automated testing fulfills the security requirements of the backend ERP data.
To that end, here are the benefits of test automation for ERP solutions:
1. Time Efficiency
Automated testing means spending less time testing new ERP features, thus enabling faster implementation. Besides, automation testing integrates ERP applications and manages back-office operations.
2. Faster Feedback
With test automation for ERP solutions, companies can significantly reduce the feedback time and validate the product across the development stages. With continuous testing, developers can fix software bugs early in the development phase, thus saving time and improving efficiency.
3. Cost Savings
In any automated testing environment, companies can leverage the capabilities of test automation frameworks and tools (available with the solution provider). Hence, they'd consume lesser resources for testing the ERP implementation. This can, in turn, save business expenses.
How ACCELQ Can Help Accelerate Test Automation of FinancialForce
ERP solutions like FinancialForce are critical for business growth across organizations and industry domains. As ERP solutions work across business functions, comprehensive ERP testing can provide a competitive advantage for companies.
As a solution provider, ACCELQ has transformed ERP testing with its no-code test automation platform on the cloud. With the ACCELQ platform, customers can improve their test performance by 3x and save up to 70% of their costs.
Are you looking for an innovative testing solution for your FinancialForce implementation? We can help you design the right ERP testing strategy. Just share your requirements and place a request for a product demo.
