How to Address SAP S/4HANA Testing Challenges?

SAP Testing Jan 15, 2023

Table of contents

Introduction

SAP S/4HANA is the latest generation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software from SAP. It is powered by the HANA database and has a significant impact on all aspects of a business.

However, testing is one of the most critical phases in an S/4HANA conversion. Many companies still rely on manual testing to verify changes in critical business processes. This can be costly, time-consuming, and not accurate enough, thus causing a roadblock in the transition to S/4HANA.

In this article, we will discuss the challenges of SAP S/4HANA testing and how KTern's Digital Labs can help overcome these challenges and automate the testing process.

History of SAP

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. But, what do you think is the one major constant across all these extensive software upgrades? Yes, it is SAP Testing.

Testing is one of the most crucial phases in an S/4HANA conversion. 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 accurate enough, thus causing a roadblock in your move to S/4HANA.

But, it doesn’t have to be that way. To meet quality standards when implementing continuous change, enterprises need a single tool which can not only ensure test automation, but also takes care of test management, test execution, test tracking, and test collaboration. After all, choosing the right testing solution can remove the problems involved in testing. And, that’s where KTern’s Digital Labs can help you.

Challenges during SAP Testing 

Challenges in SAP S/4HANA Testing

There are certain challenges while testing the S/4HANA readiness assesmnet:

  • High Cost: Manual testing can be costly, often representing more than 30% of a typical SAP project budget.
  • Time-consuming: Manual testing is a time-consuming process, which can delay the implementation of S/4HANA.
  • Lack of Accuracy: Manual testing is prone to human error, which can result in a lack of accuracy in the testing process.
  • Difficulty in Managing and Tracking Tests: With manual testing, it can be challenging to manage and track the progress of tests.
  • Limited Collaboration: With manual testing, it is difficult for different teams and stakeholders to collaborate on the testing process.
  • Complexity: S/4HANA is a complex system with multiple functionalities and modules, making it challenging to test thoroughly.
  • Limited Test Automation: Many companies struggle with test automation, as they lack the proper tools and resources.
  • Difficulty in maintaining the test cases : As the system is very complex it is difficult to maintain the test cases
  • Difficulty in identifying the right test cases : For complex system like S/4HANA it is difficult to identify which test cases to run and which not to
  • Difficulty in measuring the impact of changes : With manual testing, it is difficult to measure the impact of changes made to the system during the testing process.

What is Ktern.AI ?

KTern is an automated digital workplace for SAP Digital Transformations. It is an enterprise product suite that helps businesses increase productivity and assists with the migration from SAP ECC to SAP S/4HANA. The solution includes five core digital streams namely, Digital Maps, Digital Projects, Digital Process, Digital Labs, Digital Mines.

Introduction to KTern’s Digital Labs

As per SAP’s Activate framework, the SAP testing methodology or the test lifecycle consists of three phases:

  • Test Planning
  • Test Preparation and Execution
  • Test Validation

KTern’s Digital Labs can automate the entire test lifecycle and helps you test SAP solutions better. KTern is automated digital workplace for SAP Digital Transformations. It takes care of people, projects & processes at a business. As an enterprise product suite, KTern drives business productivity and is built to help the existing ECC customers migrate to S/4HANA.

Digital Labs is one of the five core Digital Streams of KTern. As organizations across the world are moving from SAP ECC to SAP S/4HANA, KTern’s Digital Labs enables them to find the relevant test cases, run test-bots, and get intelligent reports. Thus, KTern enables organizations to take full advantage of SAP test automation.

Features of KTern’s Digital Labs

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 Digital Labs of KTern is tightly integrated with Digital Projects (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 was developed to execute, manage and collaborate all the testing related activities of an S/4HANA migration/upgrade project in a single place.

Some of the prominent features of 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

SAP Testing using Digital Labs

Test Suite Cockpit

Upon launching the Digital Labs of KTern, you will be taken to the Test Suite Cockpit. It contains three sub-sections:

  • Test Catalog – universal list of test plans, test scenarios and test cases
  • Auto Recommendations – analyzes an SAP system and auto-generates test cases
  • Auto Import – imports test cases from an excel sheet

It also includes the Test Suite Dashboard and the Sign-Off Wizard.

Test Suite Dashboard – VVV Analysis

The VVV Scoring Dashboard covers the Value, Velocity, and Volume Analysis of the business per transaction usage. There could be ‘n’ number of business processes in a system. This dashboard identifies the critical business processes and prioritizes the test cases which must be tested based on the following factors:

  • Value - This score denotes the merit and significance of the transactional execution for the business scenario.
  • Volume - This score denotes the magnitude of the data and documents obtained from the transactional execution of the business scenario.
  • Velocity - This score denotes the frequency of the transactional execution for the corresponding business scenario.

Sign-Off wizard

Testing is one aspect of S/4HANA migration which can extend the timeline of the project since it involves a lot of ambiguity. No matter how well you document a test case and raise defects, there’s always some sort of difference or ambiguity between the system integrator and the customer. KTern’s sign-off wizard provides a way to ensure transparency among the key decision makers.

Test Case Wizard

Once you click and launch any test case from the test catalog, you will be automatically directed to the Test Case Wizard. The test case wizard consists of some basic information like the status, priority and the test type. It also has the option of editing the test case.

The Test Case wizard has the following sub-sections:

  • Test Center
  • Test Lab
  • Auto-test Console
  • Defects Repository
  • History

For a more detailed description of the features of Digital Labs, you can read the “The Beginner’s Guide to SAP S/4HANA Testing using KTern”

How is KTern’s Digital Labs different from that of its competitors? 

The differentiating factor of KTern is that it enables us to automate, manage and monitor the testing process analysis starting from the Discover phase itself. In addition, KTern provides a details of each test case and the materiality score formulated helps in prioritization of test execution. All this results in better decision-making and planning during your journey to S/4HANA.

Another differentiating factor of KTern is the tight integration between Digital Labs and Digital Projects. A Digital Transformation project is not dependent only on data and process flows alone. One of the critical factors for the success of any digital transformation is the active collaboration of stakeholders. The same holds true for a S/4HANA conversion project, which forms the core of your digital enterprise. In this sense, KTern provides a completely wholesome experience for all the stakeholders involved in the project.

Challenges in SAP Testing Explained - KTern Webinar

Next Steps

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.

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Rahul Jacob

Helping organizations plan and govern their Digital Transformations better.

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