SAP Testing - Overview



Many organizations implement SAP ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) to manage their business operations and adapt according to new market challenges. SAP R/3 is an integrated ERP software that allows organizations to manage their business efficiently. Organizations can reduce the cost to run their operations by using SAP R/3 ERP packages.

SAP R/3 also allows customers to interact with different databases to run different applications with the help of a user-friendly GUI. The SAP R/3 system is divided into different modules to cover the functionality of different business operations in an organization.

The most common SAP R/3 modules are −

  • SAP Material Management.
  • SAP Financial Accounting and Controlling.
  • SAP Sales and Distribution.
  • SAP Human Resource.
  • SAP Supply Chain Management.
  • SAP Plant Management.

SAP Testing is about testing the functionality of these modules and to ensure that they perform as per the configuration.

SAP Testing

A SAP system undergoes various changes like patch management and fixes, new module implementations, and various other configuration changes. All these modifications raise a need for Regression testing that is to be performed in SAP environments. SAP testing automation tools like SAP Test Acceleration and Optimization tools can be used for this purpose.

SAP TAO is an automation tool to generate test cases for end-to-end scenarios for SAP applications. Apart from this, there are various other Automation testing tools for SAP testing like HP QTP, and ECATT, etc. that can be used.

Importance of Testing

Here is a list of key reasons why SAP testing is performed and why it is an important function in the growth of an organization −

  • System Validation − SAP Testing involves complete end-to-end testing and validation of all SAP modules in SAP ERP environment.

  • Quality and Revenue − SAP Testing is an output-based testing and not like conventional testing methods which are input-based. It ensures the quality of SAP system and also focuses on revenue and cost of the organization.

  • Cost and Predictability − SAP Testing involves reducing the SAP development costs and improve predictability.

  • Compliance Requirement − SAP Testing ensures that the SAP implementation is meeting the new compliance requirements in a specific organization and all the modules are working as per the expected configuration.

  • New Implementation and Configuration Changes − There are different types of changes implemented in a SAP system, like patches and fixes, new implementation, configurational changes. Therefore, SAP testing ensures that all the modules are performing as per requirement in this dynamic system environment.

  • Integration − SAP testing is performed to test various reports, data flows and work flows, GUI forms, etc. It is used to check system integration between different modules. For example, if an order posting is done that requires an action in Sales and Distribution, MM and FICO, then SAP testing checks the integration between these systems.

  • Performance − It is also used to ensure if the system will be able to meet the Service Level agreements, time taken by system to perform specific actions, performance of the system, etc.

Advertisements