iLAB Facilitates SAP Upgrade and Expansion
Introduction
A South Africa-based mining group with a market capitalization of over $7 billion engaged iLAB to implement test ware complementary to the existing integrated SAP and non-SAP environment. The goal was to facilitate test management, automation, and performance testing of SAP and non-SAP systems.
The Requirement
The client regularly uses manual testing processes to complete user acceptance testing (UAT) of end- to-end business processes at each major release or update. The client embarked on an SAP upgrade and expansion, creating further integration with legacy environments.
SAP’s release strategy of frequent SAP notes and support package releases for more minor enhancements and more extensive innovations on core applications further increased the demands on already stretched resources. In addition, essential releases and updates were delayed until they could no longer be avoided. The combination of all factors significantly impacted quality.
The Solution
Several requirements, such as integrating with Aris, Solution Manager, and custom legacy systems, had to be addressed.
iLAB was required to complete a pilot project demonstrating that the implemented tools could successfully address the requirements. The project had to be completed without having an additional impact on operations or existing testing.
The pilot automation of selected SAP and legacy business processes was successfully delivered. This included:
- Develop new and automated test cases using SAP Test Acceleration and Optimization (TAO) & Hewlett Packer QuickTest Professional (HP QTP).
- Integration into Aris and Solution Manager and central test management via Hewlett Packer (HP) Quality Center
- Bi-directional defect management using the SAP Solution Manager for SAP Quality Center by HP module.
The initial tool implementation and configuration phase was completed quickly and required extensive performance testing before the first significant release into operations. The performance testing required end-to-end performance of complex business processes to benchmark, analyze, and implement appropriate performance improvements.