5 key considerations for your S/4HANA migration testing strategy

Testing is vital to every upgrade project. And with the migration to S/4HANA likely to affect every corner of your business – a solid testing strategy can make all the difference.

According to Eoin Kiernan, Senior QA Manager at Expleo, the importance of testing can’t be overstated.

“The main thing to consider in an S/4HANA implementation is that SAP is the core system in the company. It’s normally the direct centre of everything they do,” he says. “Our advice with testing is to shift left. Test early and test often, but not exhaustively.”

Here, Eoin outlines five key ways to make sure your testing strategy secures a safe transition.

1. Get a clear understanding of your test scope

Defining the test scope is a critical first step. During the design phase, our test team collaborates closely with IT and business stakeholders to thoroughly review the scope. This partnered approach ensures everyone has a clear understanding and consensus on what needs to be tested. It’s our first opportunity to identify defects and risks before the system reaches the test analysts for functional testing.

When defining the scope, key considerations include performing a Fit/Gap analysis to ensure the S/4HANA implementation aligns with your organisation’s business processes and requirements. Identifying and prioritising key business processes, like Order to Cash and Procure to Pay, as well as integrations with both SAP and non-SAP systems, is essential. This clear scope definition clarifies what needs to be tested and helps guide our testing approach.

2. Select the right testing approach

Now that you understand your test scope, the next step is to define the correct test approach. Successfully testing a SAP S/4HANA implementation requires a multi-layered approach. At Expleo, we focus on testing the business processes, functionality, security, and overall acceptance of the solution, in partnership with IT and the business.

To achieve this, it’s important to assign the right level of testing to each part of the project. This means using the test approach that fits the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) model, whether it’s Agile, V-Model, or aligning with SAP’s Activate methodology. Testing the right elements at the right time with the right team is crucial to successfully execute on your test approach.

3. Prioritise non-functional testing

As well as operating correctly, ensure you validate that SAP S/4Hana can handle your business demands as expected. By expanding your testing beyond functional requirements and including rigid non-functional testing as part of your test approach, you can prevent any potential performance and security issues.

Non-functional testing is just as important as functional testing in any test strategy. While functional testing addresses obvious considerations such as customer transactions on SAP Fiori Launchpad tiles, non-functional testing ensures that the system operates efficiently and securely under various conditions, performs well and remains secure. This is especially significant for S/4HANA, where improved performance is a major selling point.

Non-Functional testing can be underestimated in terms of time or resources – a risk factor in difficult implementations. Don’t make that mistake. Prioritise Non-Functional Testing as part of your test approach and bring in your test team to make sure their strategy around this area aligns with overarching project goals.

4. Set up multiple testing environments

To ensure testing runs seamlessly, you need to minimise the impact on business as usual. For this, you need to set up separate testing environments for different stages of the project. It’s not about a single pipeline from development to production. For complex implementations and migrations, consider having separate paths for development, testing, staging and production. This allows you to run go-live rehearsals at the same time as ongoing test phases. And that frees up QA teams to focus on testing instead of navigating resource conflicts and downtime.

It’s also a good idea to utilise SAP’s Charm transport methodology, in SAP Solution manager, to effectively manage environment transitions.

5. Use the right tools

There are several tools available to streamline the design, build, and test phases of your migration. When implementing S/4HANA, it’s important to select the right tools that suit the customer’s needs. Utilising an integrated platform for business processes, change management and testing is essential. This approach provides traceability throughout the project and makes the job easier for a Test Manager.

Embracing automation tools for faster regression testing and performance testing can significantly enhance efficiency. Integrating these automation tools with the chosen integrated platform ensures streamlined workflows, assured accuracy, and ultimately a smoother S/4HANA migration journey. The careful selection of these tools is crucial, as it impacts overall project success.

Having a partner on board who understands your business needs is invaluable in helping you arrive safely at S/4HANA. With 30 years’ experience and deep expertise in your industry, Expleo provides an independent partnership-driven approach that covers all aspects of testing. We’ll manage the programme and test throughout the full software delivery life cycle – allowing for course corrections where necessary.

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If you’d like help with this or any other part of your journey to S/4HANA, please get in touch