SAPLIB

Industry data shows that removing system defects in a live production environment is at least 20 to 40 times more expensive than doing so in the unit-testing phase or during the requirementsgathering phase. Many defects can be eliminated or prevented altogether with thorough evaluation and peer review of requirements. Many corporations pay expensive consulting fees to fix production problems arriving at the production help desk rather than address these problems or defects during the applicable testing phase. The main reason that this occurs is that SAP projects often do not spend the time or have the appropriate resources to ensure that the captured requirements are peer reviewed and evaluated with objective criteria, or to construct an RTM to provide coverage for all requirements and establish objective testing criteria for each testing phase. Another critical or overlooked reason that causes defects that should have been resolved during testing to slip into the production environment is that individuals acting as SAP testers cannot reach consensus on testing nomenclature or the test approach. (more…)

Popularity: 5% [?]

Established commercial implementation methodologies for SAP typically fail to address how requirements will be met, the criteria for testing, the framework for utilizing test tools, necessary resources for testing, estimating testing budgets, specific testing roles and responsibilities, and how test defects will be managed and resolved. Furthermore, many factors hamper successful testing at most SAP projects such as unclear requirements, inability to trace the system design to requirements, missing dedicated test teams, waiving defects without appropriate workarounds, and inadequate involvement of needed participants for testing such as subject matter experts (SMEs) for capturing requirements and end users for user acceptance testing.

Despite these testing challenges, many SAP project managers perceive that their SAP implementation is successful or “fine” even when the production help desk team is flooded with complaints that the system does not perform necessary functionality, the production system does not meet intended performance SLAs, security roles are not defined and implemented correctly, the system produces short dumps because it cannot perform exception handling or not enough negative testing was conducted, data is not converted properly from legacy systems, and end users cannot find even the most basic data or necessary reports.

The SAP arena is replete with functional, development, and technical consultants that moonlight and parade as SAP testers for various testing efforts but often lack sufficient knowledge to establish a successful testing strategy and framework. What is more puzzling and baffling at SAP projects is that it is the individuals with the least amount of knowledge and skills in the area of testing who are the ones in charge of leading and managing the testing effort since many SAP projects do not have dedicated test managers or centralized test teams. Admittedly, testing at any SAP project is an integrated effort that requires the (more…)

Popularity: 8% [?]