Testing Minor Changes to SAP Systems
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Key Takeaways
⇨ Any modification in SAP systems, regardless of size, can affect performance, functionality, and security.
⇨ Maintaining a strong testing process for all updates, whether large or small are crucial for delivering dependable, high-quality software that meets user expectations and business objectives.
⇨ For any change in the SAP system, major or minor, Int4’s automated testing solution enables accelerated testing leading to continuity of operations, eliminating the likelihood of errors or disruptions to systems.
Any modification in SAP systems, regardless of size, can affect performance, functionality, and security. Testing helps ensure that these updates integrate smoothly without causing problems. More rigorous testing saves time and resources through early identification of potential issues. This makes maintaining a strong testing process for all updates, whether large or small, crucial for delivering dependable, high-quality software that meets user expectations and business objectives.
When a major implementation project like the move to SAP S/4HANA takes place, a project team is normally created to manage the process and the groups involved in the implementation. Once the project is complete, the goal is for business, and the use of the software, to be able to proceed as usual. To enable this, and to ensure continuity of operations without disruptions, proper testing is necessary. Given the scope of projects like an SAP S/4HANA implementation, organizations usually dedicate time and resources to putting effective testing in place.
However, this may not always be the case with smaller changes. Any lack of testing can result in unexpected problems, so it is best to test everything from a minor change, such as a user interface update, to a major API change. Although both these scenarios need to be tested, the time, effort, and money required for testing a small change, such as one that only affects a few technical components, is much less than a major change which might impact the global system and IT infrastructure.
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Minor changes require less code to implement but it may take a longer to test as small changes are left to be tested until close to go-live. In an on-premise setting these changes can be bundled to make the testing more efficient. Cloud environments can help facilitate testing because the cloud software provider may manage some of these tasks. However, the downside is that the ways of working may need to be redefined to make sure that small changes are moved continuously to production, without increasing the risk of business impact. The solution to this problem is test automation.
Int4’s test automation solution helps make testing more efficient by querying historical logs and data that contain variants of business process and converts them into test cases nearly automatically. This is much more efficient than manually recording these steps.
For any change in the SAP system, major or minor, INT4’s automated testing solution enables accelerated testing leading to continuity of operations, eliminating the likelihood of errors or disruptions to systems. Companies interested in learning more can watch their latest interview on this topic.
