3 reasons why you should invest in professional ERP testing

The ERP space is booming! There, we said it. Not only because organzations are realizing the need for efficient, integrated cloud systems to manage their business processes. But also to help them to stay competitive, leverage AI and make data-driven decisions in these economically challenging times. Great you say, but an ERP system upgrade or migration is never an easy lift and shift. Therefore, it is a wise decision to invest in professional ERP testing, as it grows the ROI of your system significantly.

 

Introduction

The shift to cloud computing has made ERP systems more accessible, flexible and cost-effective. CloudERP solutions provide the scalability and security that organizations need, without most of the classical upfront investment in hardware and infrastructure. It eliminates the need for in-house IT support and maintenance, allowing organizations to focus on their core business.

This has made CloudERP a popular option for organizations of all sizes, and that doesn’t go un-noticed. Nearly every company is now either adopting a new ERP-system or lifting their current system to the Cloud.

 

3 reasons why you should invest in professional ERP testing

Reason #1: Digital ERP failures have real-world consequences

Professional software testing is important for ERP because they are complex and integrated systems that touch many different aspects of a business. If an ERP system contains errors or glitches, it can lead to incorrect data, miscommunication, business processes breakdown, and financial loss.

Can you imagine the impact of a parts manufacturer not receiving correct Bills of Material? (BoM). It would result in inefficient production, production delays, missed production targets, inability to ship the correct parts, loads of overhead to correct this, high production costs and stagnating sales, …

Testing ensures that the new ERP is working as intended and that it can handle real-world scenarios. This before rollout in a live environment so that scenarios like this are avoided.

 

Reason #2: Your Business Key Users are not the best testers in the world

For testing purposes, you made the right decision not to completely rely on your ERP vendor. However, your Business Key Users (BKU’s) are not the greatest solution either.

• First of all, they know their way around your old ERP, but most likely not around the new one. Some processes will deviate from what they are used to. They will receive training, but flying an airplane in a simulator with clear skies will not be sufficient to navigate a real-life airplane through a thunderstorm.
• So, relying on your BKU’s only will result into insufficient test coverage. As they may not have a comprehensive understanding of all the new processes and functionalities within the ERP system. Not to mention, the lack of objectivity. They may have personal biases towards certain functionalities which can impact the efficacy and progress of ERP testing.
• Furthermore, in 96% of the cases it is found that BKU’s actually have an overall limited testing expertise. Business users often do not have technical testing skills and knowledge. Leading to inadequate testing and potential overlook of important defects that are not always visible at the UI.
• Last but not least, take note that BKU’s already have a full-time job at your business. This makes it safe to assume that they may have other priorities and may not have (or make) the time to thoroughly test the software.

It is recommended to have a dedicated testing team with a mix of technical and business expertise to ensure thorough and objective testing of an ERP system.

The investment will pay back itself, as a dedicated testing team can increase testing coverage by 71% which leads to a drastic reduction of hyper care costs.

 

Reason #3: You are underestimating the value of test automation

There is this conception that ERP systems are too complex to implement and maintain automated tests. Moreover, the immediate costs and efforts associated with test automation may be considered to outweigh the long-term benefits. This leads to underestimation of its value.

We also found that many stakeholders do not fully understand the benefits of test automation.

Proper test automation is important in professional ERP testing because it helps increasing efficiency and accuracy, reduces manual testing errors, and speeds up the testing process. Reusable scripts are possible with test automation. Meaning that you have a set of regression tests you can activate with the push of a button after each ERP update, service pack, upgrade or other releases.

Test automation can increase the speed of ERP testing. This results into 88% faster test cycles and 62% less time to activate a new ERP version in production. Say ‘bye’ to lengthy manual testing over the weekends. Say ‘hi’ to autonomous deploys and maximize the ROI of your ERP system.

 

Conclusion

While Professional ERP testing looks like an immediate cost increase at first sight, it is important to note that ERP systems are critical to a business’s operations. Every defect or downtime can have significant impacts on real-world productivity and profitability. Digital ERP failures have real world consequences.

Finding and fixing defects early in the development process through Professional ERP testing can be more cost-effective than fixing them later in production. Proper test coverage and guidance of test professionals is needed because Business Key Users are not the best testers in the world to rely on as the only quality gate.

Proper test automation set-up by professionals is important in ERP testing. It helps increasing efficiency and accuracy, reduces manual testing errors, and speeds up the testing process.

A dedicated and experienced testing team is necessary for a smooth and successful ERP implementation.