The top Five SAP Testing Tools to make a testers life easier

S/4HANA Testing Jul 23, 2020


SAP launched R/3 way back in 1992 and has since come a long way to the modern-day ERP, SAP S/4HANA. It is the next-generation ERP suite powered by the HANA database and it impacts every nook and corner of the business. One of the most crucial phases in an S/4HANA migration process is SAP Testing. Yet, 72% of the companies depend on manual testing  to verify changes in critical business processes. Manual testing is costly (representing over 30% of the typical SAP project budget), time-consuming, and not thorough and accurate enough to guarantee that critical risks will be exposed.

Table of contents

What is Automation Testing

Automation testing is a Software testing technique to test and compare the actual outcome with the expected outcome. This can be achieved by writing test scripts or using any automation testing tool. Test automation is used to automate repetitive tasks and other testing tasks which are difficult to perform manually.

Need for Automated testing

What makes manual SAP ABAP testing so scary? Imagine you have just completed your sandbox conversion. After the conversion, you must deploy at least 30-40 testers to test each scenario and business process. This is a cumbersome task and takes 2-3 weeks of manual effort. The accuracy part of such manual testing scenarios can only be left anyone’s imagination. Now, this process must be repeated for the development conversion, quality conversion and production conversion as well. Sounds tiring, right? So, is there a way to automate the testing process?

To meet quality standards when implementing continuous change, enterprises need a single tool which can not only ensure test automation, but also take care of test management, test execution, test tracking, and test collaboration. There are several SAP testing automation tools available in the market today. In this article, we will discuss some of the top SAP testing tools.

1. Tricentis Tosca

Tricentis Tosca is a testing tool for SAP solutions that helps you test SAP better. It has a quicker time-to-delivery than the legacy SAP testing tools. Tricentis is a scriptless, no-code Model-based Test Automation (MBTA) software, which can build resilient test cases. As organizations make the move from legacy ERP systems such as SAP ECC to SAP S/4HANA and beyond, Tricentis enables them to update and reuse these test cases on the go. This enables organizations to take full advantage of all the benefits of SAP test automation.

Features of Tricentis:

  • Tricentis LiveCompare uses Artificial Intelligence to identify the exact objects that need to be tested to achieve 100% risk coverage. This reduces the actual time utilized in testing

  • Tricentis Tosca is an automation platform that helps to accelerate testing by 90% or more. It can test any SAP application or end-to-end business process, including APIs and 160+ technologies

  • Tricentis Analytics brings together the test results from across the continuous testing platform, including manual, automated, API, and performance testing.

  • It offers a comprehensive test automation solution for multiple generations of SAP UIs, from SAP GUI to SAP Fiori 2.0. It also integrates with SAP Solution Manager.

  • The tool increases business risk coverage by 85% and reduces the number of test cases by 50%

2. KTern's Digital Labs

KTern.AI is an automated digital workplace built for SAP Digital Transformations. With decades worth of SAP Tribal knowledge combined with automation, governance and collaboration capabilities, KTern is built to help the existing ECC customers migrate to S/4HANA. KTern covers the entire lifecycle and guides you before, during and after the conversion. Its inbuilt S/4HANAPEDIA rule engine combined with several modules eases the transition from SAP ECC to SAP S/4HANA.

KTern’s Digital Labs is an end-to-end test management solution, built specifically for SAP Digital Transformation projects. It delivers 30% to 40% reduction in testing effort. The SAP testing tool of KTern is tightly integrated with the project management hub. Typically, the testers would be testing the various test cases on one side and the governance would take place via emails or chat or any other project management tool. The whole process was cumbersome and arduous for all the stakeholders involved. Therefore, Digital Labs of KTern was developed to execute, manage and collaborate all the testing related activities of an S/4HANA migration/upgrade project from a single place.

Some of the prominent features of KTern’s Digital Labs include:

  • Built on SAP’s Activate framework, specifically for SAP transformation projects

  • An in-built AI based S/4HANAPEDIA rule engine

  • Value, Volume and Velocity (VVV) based auto test case recommendations

  • Auto test case executions and defects repository

  • API-based and screen recorder- based (readable scriptless test cases captured in real time) testing

  • Tightly integrated project management capabilities

  • 30% - 40% reduction in total project cost and timeline

3. Worksoft

Worksoft is a scalable test automation solution which ensures flawless execution of SAP platform. Worksoft combines deep, unparalleled SAP testing expertise with industry-leading, code-free continuous automation platform to deliver unmatched agility and risk mitigation. Worksoft enables faster, more comprehensive testing of mission-critical business processes spanning multiple applications and systems. Not only does continuous testing save time, but it also ensures business processes are functioning properly, even amidst frequent technology upgrades or process changes.

Worksoft delivers proven SAP test automation that spans all the applications. Whether the processes happen in mobile apps, on premises, in the cloud, or all of the above, Worksoft’s continuous automation platform covers the end-to-end testing.

Some of the salient features of Worksoft include:

  • Offers full test coverage of the complete set of SAP applications

  • A code-free solution that can be leveraged across user types

  • Supports agile-plus-DevOps testing cycles

  • Automated discovery and documentation capabilities

  • Advanced object recognition capabilities for SAP Fiori

  • Rapid release of version updates

4. HP MicroFocus QTP

HP Microfocus Quick Test Professional (QTP), also known as UFT, is an SAP ABAP testing tool which accelerates end-to-end functional test automation with one intelligent solution for enterprise apps using embedded AI-based capabilities. It automates the end-to-end testing of 200+ enterprise apps, technologies and environments (including web, SAP, mainframes, Salesforce, PDF, Java, Citrix, business applications, and more) with a single intelligent testing tool.

MicroFocus simplifes multi-layer testing with a visual test-driven design that displays UI and API tests in an intuitive graphical canvas and easily manages API testing at the headless layer without extensive coding.

Some of the features of MicroFocus are:

  • AI-powered intelligent test automation platform which reduces functional test creation time and maintenance effort

  • Testing of both front-end functionality and back-end service parts of an application

  • Achieves test execution at full velocity with parallel testing and cross-browser coverage

  • Facilitate continuous quality across multiple teams and locations by breaking down silos

  • Supports multiple testing strategies, eliminate bottlenecks, and create efficiencies across the lifecycle.

5. Ranorex

Ranorex Studio is an automated testing platform for any desktop, web or mobile technology. It empowers testers with a complete toolset for end-to-end testing of desktop, web and mobile applications in a single license. Ranorex automates tests on a Windows desktop, and then execute them locally or remotely, on real iOS or Android mobile devices or on simulators/emulators. It also supports cross-browser testing.

The platform’s easy-to-use tools and a built-in methodology enable testers to create modular automation scripts that are efficient and maintainable, regardless of programming expertise.

Some of the salient features of Ranorex are:

  • Easy-to-use tools and a built-in methodology enable testers to create modular automation scripts that are efficient and maintainable, regardless of programming expertise

  • Capture and replay functionality to build reliable automated test cases without writing a single line of code

  • Flexible test automation scripts using standard programming languages

  • Data-driven and keyword-driven testing

  • A central command center to set-up and manage endpoints as well as configure their environments

  • Ranorex Remote to run remote desktop tests in different environments

Reimagining SAP Testing With Digital Labs

Conclusion

Manual testing has its own set of limitations for complex IT projects like SAP. But, all the above SAP testing tools can automate the testing process up to some extent.

You should give enough time to consider the in’s and out’s of the project, before finalizing the SAP testing tool. Considerations such as the budget, team expertise /experience and technologies should be taken into account because automation success very much depends on the right selection of the testing tool.

Next Step

Now that you are aware of the capabilities of  KTern’s Digital Labs, you can get started with the same at Getting Started. Alternatively, if you would like a guided demo of the product from one of our product engineers, kindly get in touch with us by submitting a message at Contact Us.

Tags

Kirthan Ramesh

Ideas and Technologies are dime a dozen. But it's only when they're translated into reality and reach the people they're intended to, that they actually start to change lives.