Accelerate ERP Migration with Test Automation

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions are business critical to any organization. Companies are slowly acclimating to the next-generation ERP solutions, as the major players tend to end support to their traditional ERP systems.  

According to Duncan Jones, VP and Principal Analyst at Forrester, “The traditional enterprise resource planning era is over. The ERP model of a single integrated suite to handle every process for every division within the enterprise did not work. They are realizing that the rigidity of their traditional ERP systems is not going to support their digital transformation efforts.” 

Post the pandemic, enterprises have accelerated their ERP migration as digitalization and new ways of working pattern became the norm. In terms of resilience and operational flexibility, the decisions the organizations take about their ERP systems will set the trajectory in coming years. 

Drive towards Digital Transformation 

While developing a nuanced cloud strategy around digital transformation is already happening, now it is about augmenting the cloud landscape and using it as an effective innovation platform. 

An intelligent core ERP powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), analytics, and test automation can help scale innovation and bridge functional and business silos.  

Today’s digital ERP systems such as SAP S/4HANA, and Oracle Cloud have made multi-cloud compatibility an essential feature configured and integrated for common cloud services. This enables new use cases to emerge when the ERP systems are capable of securely extending across clouds. 

Without modernizing their ERP software, many enterprises focusing on digital transformation have realized that the full potential of their investments cannot be unlocked. 

According to Gartner, “Nearly 75% of all ERP deployments fail to meet their expected business objectives in entirety.” 

For a successful ERP transformation, accelerated and effective ERP testing across all the phases remain a major roadblock.  

As enterprises manage the transition to next-gen ERP systems encompassing cloud features and digital solutions, they must first mitigate the risks by addressing all the business challenges. 

The business challenges of ERP Migration 

Inefficient Change Management: It is estimated that on an average more than 50% of the implementation time is spent on managing changes leading to scope creeps. 

Data Quality Issues: While companies transfer their legacy data into a new ERP system, data quality plays a relevant role. Experts cite that 1/5th of the most common problems with ERP implementation are related to poor data integration. In the new ERP reality, the old data that remained in the legacy systems is more error prone. 

Compatibility issues with ERP modules: Companies associating multiple vendors to implement different ERP modules might welcome many compatibility issues that need to be addressed. 

ERP System Selection Criteria: It is imperative to do enough groundwork before finalizing the ERP system for your enterprise. Without a clear business goal, one may face repercussions if the ERP system that you select doesn’t coincide with your business requirements. 

Technical Setbacks: While you are on the path of ERP migration, it is important that your internal network is analyzed and modernized if required. It is also likely that you may want to revamp your existing servers and other hardware to adapt to the new ERP migration unless your company is adopting a cloud-based ERP system. 

The extent of complications may vary depending on the sector in which your company operates. 

Postmodern ERP 

According to Carol Hardcastle, research vice president at Gartner, “The increasing complexity of the ERP application portfolio is driving the need for a defined postmodern application integration strategy. Without addressing the integration concerns in a strategic manner, cost and complexity will begin to spiral out of control and any benefit will be quickly eroded.” 

The Postmodern ERP as put forth by Carol represents a fundamental shift away from a single vendor mega–suite toward a more loosely coupled and federated ERP environment and this new environment promises more business agility, but only if the increased complexity is recognized and addressed. 

Testing is a bottleneck for teams adopting Agile ERP migration methodology 

One of the major bottlenecks for enterprises adopting agile ERP migration is the strain it puts on the testing team. Moreover, ERP testers are understaffed and need to go through a complex test strategy. 

This often leads to challenges like regression fatigue, incomplete test coverage, and insufficient testing. 

While agile methodology is majorly implemented by enterprises for its huge benefits, the possible way to go ahead is to find the right approach in overcoming these challenges.  

This is where most of the successful ERP migrations have been known to adopt an integrated and accelerated ERP Test Automation approach. 

Continuous Testing and Test Automation for ERP Migrations 

Effective continuous testing cannot be achieved without test automation. However, it is no easy task to implement continuous testing for ERP systems.  

While huge data volumes and multisystem integrations make continuous testing a tough nut to crack, other factors like customizing localizations, increased security needs, and omnichannel UX testing prove to be challenging. 

According to a recent report published in SDTimes, “While enterprises continue to move towards agile, agile testing remains one of the pertinent issues for teams. 70% of respondents followed agile while only 30% deployed automated testing.” 

Smart Test Automation – Hyperautomation – is probably the only way to accelerate ERP migration and make continuous ERP testing a reality. To attain this, it is imperative to choose the right tool for your ERP Test Automation. 

Key factors to choose the right ERP Test Automation tool 

Choosing the right ERP Test Automation tool for your ERP migration initiatives is often half the battle won. Knowing what is right and what is wrong largely depends on the business needs and not the tool by itself.  

Few questions to be asked while choosing the right ERP test automation tool for your ERP migration include –  

• Is it adaptable to your agile ecosystem? 
• Can it support all your integrated business applications and interfaces? 
• Will it support the end-to-end ERP testing landscape? 
• Does it have the flexibility of No Code/Low code approach (Scriptless Test Automation) for testers to easily adopt? 
• Will it adapt to any ERP customizations? 
• Can it facilitate administrative and operational ERP strategies? 

Enterprises implementing large scale ERP migration programs are predominantly adopting Cloud, Agile and DevOps for efficient change management and early visibility. However, ERP testing in its current form cannot handle the challenges posed by these technologies.  

It is further realized that the only way to scale testing is by implementing continuous testing, and to implement continuous ERP testing, it is imperative to adopt Test Automation. 

Concluding thoughts 

If you are undertaking an ERP migration project, it is imperative that you realize expected benefits and justify costs. Ensure end-to-end testing of ERP packages with quality, speed, and cost effectiveness. 

Cigniti’s end-to-end ERP testing services assure seamless functionality, performance, and integration of your ERP applications. It has forged strategic partnerships with various testing tool vendors and offers additional business value to its clients. It’s partnership with tool vendors like AppDynamics, HP, Smartbear, Neotys, and more provides customers the option to choose the right tool based on their requirement and budget. 

Cigniti’s proprietary ERP Test Accelerator supports a wide range of ERP packages. The ERP Test Accelerator ensures acceleration of ERP migration and reduces the overall testing time, cost, and risk for the enterprises. Cigniti has executed many ERP testing engagements for SAP, Oracle, Peoplesoft, and other ERP packages and has a dedicated ERP Testing Center of Excellence (TcOE) to offer customized ERP testing solutions to its clients. 

Are you looking out for any help pertaining to ERP migration? Contact our team of ERP test automation experts to leverage seamless business process centralization & integration.