The added value of testing: more than just error detection

Testing is an essential part of IT implementations. It not only helps identify errors early on but also provides valuable insights into the operation of business processes in conjunction with the software that will serve them. Testing allows users to become familiar with the new system, which benefits the impending change.

A test manager guides this company-wide change process and minimizes problems and errors prior to the go-live. Whether it is an ERP, CRM, or POS system, the ultimate goal remains a smooth transition to a new version of the IT landscape.

Judith de Koning, test manager at Agerion IT: "Testing gives the organization confidence in the chosen solution. We run through such a wide range of scenarios that we are working towards a very solid IT solution. If you do not test beforehand, you are blindly jumping into a new work environment. Launching an untested environment often undermines an organization's daily operations far more than the testing process we conduct beforehand (in a secure test environment)."

It all starts with establishing a test strategy, along with a schedule. The team involved is involved in this process, as an IT implementation often impacts all levels of the organization. Judith: "Communication is a key part of our role. We liaise with team members, the steering committee and project management, the implementation partners, and the suppliers."

Once the core principles are established, test scenarios are developed and validated, and test tools are set up. Execution is then the responsibility of a team of testers or the test automation we deploy.

Test Automation?

Within test management, we distinguish three roles, with a fourth role increasingly reserved for test automation:

1. Test Manager: responsible for the test plan, coordinating test activities, and monitoring progress. They have an overarching role for the client, the implementation partner, and suppliers.
2. Test Coordinator: responsible for supervising functional and integration testing activities.
3. Tester: responsible for guiding key users and actually executing tests according to the test plan.
4. Test automation: the use of software to automate and manage test execution.

Ruhi: "Testing is a team effort. Of course, it takes time to write test cases and test them thoroughly. In addition to the roles mentioned above, subject matter experts from within the organization are needed. Involving these users early on makes the implementation much smoother. They speak, instruct, and consult colleagues – it takes root within the company before it is even implemented. By properly guiding this process as a test manager, you increase support and reduce the risk profile in this area of ​​an implementation. Insufficient involvement, resistance, and inadequate training are, besides technical problems and integration challenges, the biggest risks in an ERP implementation, for example."

Is testing necessary for an ERP implementation?
Running an implementation without thorough testing is nevertheless possible. This increases the implementation's risk profile, and that can be a conscious decision. However, making this choice from a cost-saving perspective often proves difficult to maintain. A system can be described in detail, but this doesn't mean it actually meets the users' needs and expectations and functions optimally on the required environments and hardware, or integrates with third-party systems. Starting testing early in the process improves the quality of your implementation and reduces the risk of business process disruption after Go Live, through the ultimate optimal deployment of a new IT environment. As the American National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has already researched, defects are significantly more costly in later stages of the software development life cycle (SDLC).

The Building Blocks of Testing

Ruhi: "You can actually view testing as building blocks. Simple tests build on each other to ultimately create more complex test scenarios. We start with the simple unit testing block and build up to complex integration testing. This is something the "regular user" often overlooks. It might seem to be going well in theory, but the key question remains: what does it do in reality? The pit stop we safely create through testing is initially perceived as an "extra investment," although it will always translate into a well-founded success. Something that is unfortunately unrealistic with an implementation without a strategic testing approach.

No more bugs

Are there really no more bumps to overcome? Judith: "There will always be bumps. The 90-95% that we eliminate before go-live saves headaches, and we resolve the remaining bugs during our hypercare process. By then, our test managers are already so intertwined with the organization and the IT landscape that a few weeks of hypercare are often more than sufficient."