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Paper Title: Automated Testing in SAP EnvironmentBy Deepak Kumar

Deepak Kumar

Senior Consultant, Infosys Technologies Ltd.

1. Overview

Automated testing has assumed significance as it is seen as a tool which can be used by the

Organizations to attain and maintain the competitive advantage. It helps to react quickly in a

structured way to the changes in business processes which are enabled by various enterprise

applications and legacy systems.

The customers can shop anytime and from anywhere in a global environment and this had put

the pressure on the Organizations to make the business solution robust, scalable and available.

Automated testing helps in achieving these objectives.

This paper illustrates how the Automated testing can be made used of in an environment with

multiple SAP Applications e.g. R/3, APO, EBP, BW etc. It also covers the usages and the

requirements which are critical to deploy an Automated Testing solution.

This article will help the Consultants and the Project Managers alike to gain insight in the

application of Automated Testing in a SAP Environment and help in to bring the best return

on the investment. This article does note cover and compares the various Automated testing

tools available in the market.

This article is structured as follows:

Automated Testing in SAP Environment Page 1/8

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2. Areas of Deployment

It is important to identify what part of the testing processes would be automated. The

enterprise applications, which are subjected to change either because of maintenance or

Project go-live, are most suitable for automated testing.

Automated Testing : Areas of Deployment

Projects/RollOutsChange Management

/Support

Unit Testing (initially manually)

Integration Testing

User Acceptance Testing

Integration/Quality testing

Regression Testing

To create Master Data

To create Transaction Data

To check effects of Customisation changes

Automated Testing : Areas of Deployment

Projects/RollOutsChange Management

/Support

Unit Testing (initially manually)

Integration Testing

User Acceptance Testing

Integration/Quality testing

Regression Testing

To create Master Data

To create Transaction Data

To check effects of Customisation changes

Figure 1: Schematic Representation of the Areas of Deployment for Automated Testing

2.1 Testing during Project Life Cycle

The tenure of the Project and number of Roll-outs forms the criterions whether the Project

Life Cycle testing should be automated or not. If the Automated scripts already exist, the

same may be fine tuned for the said Project/Rollouts.

For the new Projects and rollouts the following testing cycle can be automated:

Project-Unit Testing:

This can be initially manual during the build/development cycle but subsequently canbe automated. It will aid in saving time and effort if changes and new requirements

are introduced during project execution cycle. At this stage, both individual and

combined test scripts can be used for the SAP transactions that form the Unit Testing

cycle. If the automated scripts already exist, the owner of automated testing scripts can

provide already validated scripts for the current and future projects.

Project-Integration Testing:

Automated Testing can be helpful in Integration testing cycle for projects. However,

the initial integration tests should be performed and validated manually and later on

switched over to automated testing. Impact of Bugfixes or the changes can be tested

efficiently and quick turnaround would be possible to meet the project milestones.


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Project-User Acceptance Testing:

User Acceptance should also be done manually first and than subsequently automated

to be used for tests as and when the need arises. It would bring value if the same

solution is to be rolled out to multiple locations. Automation would help in testing in a

wider User community and to extend the testing to various variations in the business

processes which otherwise are time consuming or cannot be simulated or testedmanually.

The time span and effort for User Acceptance Testing can be drastically reduced by

use of automated testing as business would not have to spare critical resources for

longer times. Unplanned and last minute changes arising out of User Acceptance

Testing feedback can also be incorporated without impacting the project timelines.

After the Project Go-live, User Acceptance Test scripts can be used by the support

team for ongoing change management and regression testing.

Tip: For a given project, Automated Test scripts should be made one of the

deliverables of the Project. After the Project Go-live, these can be used by the SAPsupport team for handling changes and to perform regression testing as and when

need arises.

2.2 Testing for Change/Release Management

In a SAP support environment, the maintenance and support activities are regulated by the

Change Management procedures defined in an Organization. The changes would be released

periodically as per release calendar to productive environments and should be tested and

approved beforehand. The following Testing would be applicable:

Change Management-Integration Testing for the Changes:

The changes as a part of change management would be linked to the business process

and the changed functionality can be tested quickly and comprehensively for the end-

to-end business process using automated testing. The test cases should be well

defined for the objects or process that is to be tested. Custom Developments should

also be covered with the required test cases as these are often changed because of

bugfixes or enhancement. This would result into faster turnaround of the changes.

Before releasing the changes to the business solution as part of release management

the automated testing can be utilised as an efficient tool to check the integrity of

business solution and to clear the changes for release as per release calendar. This is

an important consideration for a Release may contain changes that are individually

tested but not from the perspective of the business solution as a whole.

Regression Testing:

Regression testing is performed before the Project Go-Live if it is rolling onto an

existing productive system. The Project Go-Live may require that a regression test

may be performed by the already productive entities/countries/regions to ensure that

their processes are not impacted by the new project or roll-out. Performing regression

testing is a time consuming activity which can be automated. Automated testing wouldreduce the time span and would result into efficient and comprehensive testing.


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3. Automated Testing Approach

The Testing Approach should satisfy the following criterions : Simple to follow

Easy to Create and Maintain Test Scripts

Covers Business processes

A combination of the following two approaches are likely to provides best results in a SAP

environment:

Functional Decomposition Approach

Modular Approach

3.1 Functional Decomposition Approach

The Business Processes is decomposed to the lowest level which is to be automated. This is

illustrated as follows:

CorCor

e Processes

Order to Cash

Procure to Pay

Plan to produce

Sub Pocesses

Sales Order Processing

Create Sales OrderCreate Delivery

Create Invoice

Processes

Order to Cash Processes


Consignment Processing

Customer Returns Processing

Transactions / Tasks

Create Sales Order

Perform Availability Check

Perform Credit Check

Save Sales Order

e Processes

Order to Cash

Procure to Pay

Plan to produce

Sub Pocesses


Create Sales OrderCreate Delivery

Create Invoice

Processes

Order to Cash Processes


Consignment Processing

Customer Returns Processing

Transactions / Tasks

Create Sales Order

Perform Availability Check

Perform Credit Check

Save Sales Order

Figure 2: Functional Decomposition of Business Processes provides clarity and granularity

Functional decomposition helps in identifying the extent and degree of automation that can be

targeted.

It also brings clarity to plan the quantum of work by identifying the reusable components andcapturing the variations e.g. Create Sales Order may be a common step in Sales Order

Processing and Consignment Processing.

3.2 Modular Approach

It starts by creating a recording of execution of a manual transaction, which is a part of the

business process. A transaction forms the script or a segregated step (also called module) of

the testing chain. All the transactions that form the overall business process are captured and

linked together. The output of one transaction serves as input to subsequent one. Thus, with

user defined external data the entire business process can be executed automatically. Theresults along with errors if any are documented in the test log and are available to users.


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Create Sales Create Create Invoice

Order (VA01) Delivery (VF01)

Capturing of Messages and Propogation of input values

1. Scripts are linked together to form Business processes

2. Out ut of one scri t asses values to the next scri t

Figure 3: Individual Transaction Scripts forms the lowest level of Automation

This improves the maintainability and the scalability of the testing by protecting the entire test

case because changes would be limited to an individual script.

4. Benefits

Automated Testing provides a methodical and more intense way of testing the requirements

and business processes. It brings many benefits which are summarized as follows:

Facilitator in Change Adaptation:Automated Testing provides speed to the testing phase of a complex and critical requirements

thereby assisting in not only testing of multiple variations in a given scenarios but also

extending testing depth to include non routine test conditions. It gives confidence to the

Organizational`s ability to adapt SAP business solution to the changes in the business

environment in the specified time frame.

High Reusability:

The testing effort is saved by using reusable tests thus enabling personnel to find and fix more

errors. The reusability benefits also enables to build libraries of repeatable test assets and are

particularly helpful in project rollouts and the regression testing at the country/region level. It

also aids in bringing standardization across geographies for a company having global

operations.

High Consistency:

Automation would enable a test to run with utmost consistency. By running regression tests it

can be quickly verified that pre-existing functionality are not impacted by new changes at the

time of development or at the time of releasing the changes to productive environment.

High Productivity:

Automated testing creates a high-productivity environment in which organizations can

increase testing capacity without additional resources. Test can run unattended on a 24x7basis to test an application across multiple platforms and environments and results are

intimated by email to relevant persons. This frees up personnel to concentrate on other issues.


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Assistance in Data Creation:

Though not the prime objective of Automated Testing , it can be utilized to create both Master

and Transaction data which may be required for the new SAP client preparedness for various

reasons or as a pre-requisite to simulate or to test month/quarter /year end enhancements or

reporting wherein pre-existing data in relevant volume is required. The automated scripts ofrequired Master or Transaction data can be executed to create the required data.

Impact Analysis and Data Validation:

Automated Testing can be utilized by consultants for feasibility or for analysis of

requirements. The effects of customization change on transactions can be quickly checked by

running automated transaction scripts. It also helps in data validation of identified fields in the

transactions if the transaction input is predetermined and for example key fields like Purchase

order item value or Sales order item value comes to a predetermined value when transaction is

done thus indicating that transaction is created correctly.

Stress / Volume Testing:The program behavior and responses can be tested for situations when multiple users are

logged in and accessing the common programs. This is particularly true where SAP system is

accessed by web enabled front end applications.

5. Limitations

It is very important to identify the areas where Automated Testing would be applied. This due

diligence helps to identify upfront the quantum to be automated and what is to be testedmanually. The Automated Testing tool features also play an important role in defining the

limitations. The limitations may be faced in the following areas:

Testing of the Forms/Printouts:

The printouts from SAP Applications should be checked manually for format and correctness.

Integration with the other systems:

The test cases involving interfaces of SAP System with other applications can form a part to

be tested manually. Though the automated testing tools may have the ability to connect to the

interfaces but the effort to do should be evaluated beforehand.

6. Develop and Deploy a Test Management plan

A comprehensive Test management plan should be developed and deployed both for the

Projects and the Change Management.

Test Management plan is essential to the planning and administration of the test activities. It

should consist of the following:


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6.1 Development of Test Plan with Test Cases and Test Scripts

A test plan should be developed for testing requirements during project life cycle and for the

change management. Testing requirements should be built at an early stage into the Project

plan so that testing can progress simultaneously for development, unit and integration testing

requirements and can be transitioned to support department after the Project Go-Live/Rollout.

Test Plan:A Test Plan should be developed for a given process, sub-process or for

developed/custom objects as relevant. Test Plan consists of the relevant Test Cases and the

Test Scripts.

Test Cases:These are created by combining relevant Test scripts with required

validations for running the End to End Business Process automatically. Output from

preceding Test Scripts is supplied to the next Test Scripts based on the coverage of the

Test cases.

Test Scripts:These are created for a specific transaction e.g. Create Sales Order,Create Delivery etc. Single scripts can be use in multiple Test cases.

The development of Test plan for Automated Testing should cover the following:

Coverage of the business processes and requirements

Documented Test Cases with Test Scripts

Required Master Data for the Test Cases

Manual testing and validation of test results before test scripts are automated

Development of Automated test scripts

Validation of Automated Test scripts Deployment/Release of Automated Test scripts

A test plan should first explore whether a valid automated test scripts exits or a new one is

to be developed.

6.2 Repository and Ownership of Automated Testing Scripts:

A central team should maintain the tested and validated automated test scripts. A repository

should be maintained and published so that Project and Change Management team uses

appropriate test scripts to meet their testing goals.A Test Script should be tracked and managed by assigning a unique number and status (for

example: Created, Validated, Released, Suspended).

6.3 Separate Test Data from Test Scripts

Automated Test scripts should be separated from test data and should be able to call the

separately maintained Test data. A test script will work on identical data from different region

or countries as the case may be. Test data should be separately maintained and should be

appropriately linked to test script as an input. While developing the Test Plan in Automated

Testing tool, the validated Test Script is linked to the relevant input data.


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By : Deepak Kumar

6.4 Availability of Test System/Data

Required data should be identified and made available in the system where testing is required

to be carried out. It is recommended that data similar to production environment should be

made available.

6.5 Considerations from Automated Testing Tool

Automated Testing is enabled by Automated Testing tools which have variety of features and

functionality available. The following are the important considerations or expectations from

the tool:

Integration with SAP systems: Testing can be conducted in multiple SAP systems e.g.

Development, Integration and Quality environment and also across applications e.g.

SAP R/3, EBP, APO etc.

Integration with Non-SAP systems to facilitate Interface Testing

Ability to perform test in remote SAP systems

Facilitates Functional Decomposition of Business processes

Management of Test Cases and Test Scripts including Planning, Development,

Tracking , Change Management and Administration

Flexibility to customize the Test Scripts for incorporating additional conditions

Attachment of Supporting documents to Test Cases and Test Scripts

Ability to schedule and run Test on 24x7 basis

Test Execution Dashboard to shows status, progress and relevant details

Features for Issue Logging and Resolution Tracking

Email Notifications with customizable details to the Tester/Bug-Fixer/Relevantpersons

Ability to Simulate Users or Transactions for Stress/Volume Testing and Monitoring

of associated parameters

7. Conclusion

Automated Testing brings a structured approach to define, perform and meet the various

Testing Requirements in a SAP R/3 system environment. It is important to identify the testingareas which are to be automated. It is recommended to begin the automation with simple

processes and than extending to the complex business process. Automated Testing forms an

important part of the Organizations SAP centre of excellence and adds value in faster

turnarounds of requirements and thus aids in sustaining of SAP solutions. It has also emerged

as a tool which helps Organizations to react swiftly to market environments as it shortens the

time to adapt the changes in SAP solution.

About the Author

Deepak Kumaris Senior Consultant in SAP Practice at Infosys Technologies Ltd. He has

over 13 years of experience in Business & IT Consulting and SAP Implementations. He can

be reached at [email protected]

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