Top 5 Challenges of SAP Testing that Impacts Customer Experience

According to a Forrester study, scaling automation across the application life cycle with technology, such as SAP testing solutions, can help achieve a 334% return on investment (ROI) and organizational benefits of US$7.8 million in three years.

However, the challenge of SAP testing is immense as most SAP environments are heterogonous and complex with intricate legacy message formats and protocols such as RFC/BAPI, IDOC, and ECC. That’s not all; SAP middleware PI and XI mapping/routing scenarios typically span multiple business units and technologies, such as IDOC, HTTP, JDBC, EDI, File, and web services.

As a result, many organizations face core challenges such as expensive test maintenance, long ramp-up period, low test coverage, frequent application, system updates, and other end-to-end testing challenges when trying to automate testing in the SAP landscape. Given the complexity of its modules and the diversity of its third-party collaborations, SAP testing is highly tricky to perfect. A successful SAP testing implementation requires high-level SAP technical knowledge and resources.

The challenge of SAP testing is immense. It requires thorough knowledge of the business processes, various modules, their integration with other systems, and a deep understanding of the technical aspects. To ensure that SAP software meets the requirements of its users, it must be tested meticulously and effectively.

Let’s discuss some of the challenges associated with SAP testing and how to overcome them.

1. Data Integrity Testing



Data integrity testing is essential for any organization that uses an SAP system. This testing ensures that data is accurate and consistent throughout the system by validating accuracy across multiple applications and databases. Data testing can be time-consuming due to the complexity of the SAP system and its different components. For successful data integrity testing, it is essential to understand all data elements involved in each process and how they interact. Additionally, having detailed test plans and scripts will help ensure that data integrity tests are conducted thoroughly and accurately.

2. Cross-Functionality Testing



Due to the interconnectedness between different modules within an SAP system, it is essential to conduct cross-functionality tests to validate that changes made in one area do not affect another area negatively. For example, if a change is made in one module (e.g., manufacturing), it should not result in errors or incorrect results in another module (e.g., finance). These tests can be challenging because they require a comprehensive understanding of how each module interacts with all other modules within the system.

Additionally, cross-functionality tests must be conducted using realistic scenarios to ensure accurate results; otherwise, issues may go undetected until after deployment into production.

3. Performance Testing



Performance testing measures how quickly an application can respond under varying loads or conditions (e.g., the number of users accessing a website at once). As businesses continue to increase their reliance on technology solutions such as those provided by SAP systems, performance becomes even more critical as it directly impacts user satisfaction and experience levels while interacting with these solutions.

Performance testing can be challenging when dealing with complex systems by SAP due to its multiple components interacting simultaneously; however, several available tools can help make performance testing easier for developers and testers (e.g., HP LoadRunner).