This is part of our "8 ways to reduce costs in SAP series". You can return to the first article here.
In Part 3 of our series of ways to cut SAP running costs we look at why you should properly evaluate test automation to reduce wait time
Have you felt the frustration of having your entire programme team waiting around for a test phase to complete before other work can continue? Or has your business suffered because the programme has had to take key business resources away from their day job in order to support testing?
If the answer to either of these questions is yes, you should be evaluating test automation.
Test Automation used to be Science-fiction. The technology has moved on and it is now quick and simple to implement – but there are traps.
A Systems Integrator may look to implement 'test automation' that requires an army of people to maintain scripts. The testing will sound inexpensive, it may even be open source, but it could come with a hidden maintenance cost.
Good test automation tools, those in the top-right of the Gartner Magic Quadrant , have intelligent maintenance built in and require minimal maintenance or fast re-recording. For example, a good tool should only take 20% more time to record than running the test in the first place. Combined with this, they will use techniques such using object ID’s on the screen that the script will recognise even if the screen layout is altered.
The ROI on test automation will usually be based upon the reduction of waiting time for the rest of your SAP team. Consider what your run-rate is for the team waiting around for UAT and Regression Testing to complete. The true ROI on test automation though is the ability to ship functionality that impacts your top and bottom line on time or even earlier than planned.
Now is the perfect time to properly evaluate the impact that test automation can have on the duration of your programmes and wait time within your business. Aligned to this is the consideration of risk-based testing. There are various tools available that will tell you what you should be testing based upon analysis of what you are changing and who is using them.
Contact Us if you would like help to evaluate Automated Testing
Next: How to eliminate the hidden processing costs of your SAP solution
