A guide to SAP Testing and the need for test automation
SAP offers a diverse suite of products and subproducts that caters to areas of ERP and Finance, CRM, Network and spend management, Supply chain, HR and people management and business technology platform. The diversity in SAP’s offerings and the number of customizations that it accommodates, demands periodic SAP testing strategies. We will discuss more on SAP testing, SAP testing best practices and the need for SAP test automation, in this blog. All of which ensure that the changes and integrations implemented function in a secure and error-free manner.
What is SAP testing?
The first and foremost step in SAP testing requires understanding the SAP software architecture, configurations and customizations made to the existing deployment and proper knowledge of the system’s business processes. Usually, experienced testers work with various tools and technologies with the assistance of a large community of users who collaborate and share insights, to arrive at the right approach of the SAP testing process.
Since SAP applications are not specific to a single domain, testing cannot happen in a single direction. In SAP enterprise stack, we work with native applications, mobile applications, web applications, etc. and hence the testing process is split across multiple domains used for specific application types or across various ones.
Different types of SAP Testing
1. Functional Testing
Functional Testing for validation of application functionality against business requirements. This tests individual SAP modules, transactions, and processes to ensure proper execution and expected outcomes.
2. Integration Testing
Integration Testing verifies the seamless integration of SAP applications with other systems, interfaces, or external components. This tests data exchange, communication protocols, and end-to-end business processes across integrated systems.
3. Performance Testing
Performance Testing evaluates the performance of SAP applications under different loads, stresses, and scalability scenarios. This type of SAP testing measures response times, throughput, and resource utilization to ensure optimal system performance.
4. Security Testing
Security Testing assesses the security measures implemented within SAP applications to protect sensitive data and prevent unauthorized access. Tests user access controls, encryption, authentication, and vulnerability assessments.
5. Regression Testing
Regression Testing validates that changes or enhancements made to SAP applications do not negatively impact existing functionalities. This re-executes selected test cases to ensure the stability of the system after modifications or upgrades.
By incorporating these testing types into the SAP application development and maintenance lifecycle, organizations can mitigate risks, improve quality, and enhance the overall reliability and performance of their SAP systems.
Best practices of SAP testing
- Switch to test automation from the very start, to save time and expenses by carrying out quick execution of repetitive tasks like SAP Regression testing.
- Carefully consider risk-based testing, as businesses usually focus on segments that can cause changes in another in case of iterations. While this can help manage costs, there interconnectivity risks are high.
- Shift Left or testing early in the project’s test lifecycle is ideal as SAP implementations have inherently high complexity and inter-dependencies. There is a demand for greater than normal clarity of process flows and test planning at an early stage.
- Integrate testing with CI/CD with SAP testing should start soon after the code is ready for deployment. Integrating CI/CD when integration-test readiness is reached helps achieve trust in the product and shorten delivery cycles.
The need for SAP test automation
A paradigm shift in the way testing happens for SAP implementations is to first foster the concept of SAP test automation. SAP test automation deals with leveraging SAP testing tools and platforms, along with SAP Testing best practices to enable a seamless and automated testing experience for digital systems. Through SAP test automation, it becomes possible for development and testing teams to verify and validate customizations and new feature development initiatives quickly.
Let us sum this up now:
- SAP environments are complex, modular and function with integrations. Manual testing can be time-consuming and erroneous.
- SAP automated testing reduces the time and effort required for repetitive and time-consuming tasks.
- Since test automation allows execution of more test cases simultaneously; it validates multiple business processes, user interactions, and system integrations, improving test coverage.
- It is possible to automate tedious and repetitive tasks, hence more test scenarios can be covered in less time.
- An intuitive, no-code test automation platform for SAP increases your test speed, reduces developer dependency and results in more agile processes.
- Test automation brings about faster feedback cycles and shorter release cycles.
- Continuous testing can be implemented with test automation, where tests can be executed in parallel with development efforts, providing prompt feedback to developers and helping them fix bugs and deployments faster.
Build a competitive SAP test automation strategy with ACCELQ
While SAP has its own testing tools like eCATT and SAP TAO, there are some disadvantages such as limited testing scope etc. For instance, with eCATT, it is possible to access all SAP layers excluding UI and API. With cloud-based SAP test automation for SAP cloud-based computing infrastructure and tools can be accessed to automate SAP testing. Test environment and test data are hosted and managed in the cloud. SAP test automation helps businesses achieve a higher ROI. ACCELQ Codeless Test Automation for SAP is not only based on the cloud but is powered by AI self-healing features.
Get in touch with us to know more about creating an SAP testing strategy that resonates with your business’s digital ambitions and ensures seamless onboarding of the latest innovative systems over time.
Geosley Andrades
Director, Product Evangelist at ACCELQ
Geosley is a Test Automation Evangelist and Community builder at ACCELQ. Being passionate about continuous learning, Geosley helps ACCELQ with innovative solutions to transform test automation to be simpler, more reliable, and sustainable for the real world.
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