Oracle Magazine - July/August 2012

Testing Makes Perfect
Successful application upgrade testing combines
leadership, preparation, and the best people.

People say “practice makes perfect,” but in the enterprise application and enter-
prise resource planning (ERP) world, a more
appropriate statement might be “testing
makes perfect.”
A recent OAUG ResearchLine report1
about enterprise application/ERP suite
upgrade strategies indicates that proper
testing is of great importance. The report,
based on the results of a research study
conducted with members of the Oracle
Applications Users Group (OAUG), mea-
sured how respondents perceive the
business opportunity and the process for
moving to the latest release of an enterprise
application suite. The testing process was
identified by a majority of respondents ( 63
percent) as a key risk area, leading the list in
terms of ERP upgrade challenges.

While there are a number of diverse software development methodologies, testing is one of the most critical. Here are three key ways to make your organization’s application upgrade testing experience as smooth and as “perfect” as possible.

LEADERSHIP MUS T EDUCATE

The first strategy for ensuring a smooth-to-perfect testing experience starts with leadership. The leadership team should educate users on the overall testing process, the various types of testing, when each type occurs, and how users are involved. Users are in the best position to determine if a system is going to meet their requirements when it is turned over to them, and it is the leadership team’s responsibility to make sure users know what is expected of them during the testing process.

For example, users involved in testing should not just run a process or report to see that it has been executed; they should instead review the results and make sure the results are exactly what was expected.

Some people
naturally make
better testers
than others.

In addition to using correct testing processes, users should be educated and prepared to do negative testing. Negative testing helps to ensure that the system prevents or traps errors or properly unwinds transactions that are being reversed or canceled.

With their big-picture vantage point, project leaders are in the best position to engage users, establish expectations and objectives, and direct testing efforts.

BE PREPARED

In addition to leadership, preparation is key to a successful testing experience. Proper preparation includes training and educating the users on the appropriate way to go about testing and how to log, report, and track errors. Users should be instructed on how to communicate perceived issues by including screen shots or other documentation with the issue being logged. Those tasked with issue resolution must understand why the test case failed so they can work on a proper fix. The testing team should understand who is responsible for tracking the issue and ensuring that the issue is fixed.

Additionally, testing teams should be provided with proper test cases, test scripts, and test data. A systematic effort that includes a repeatable approach allows testing teams to approach the job in the same way each time patching and upgrades occur.

GE T TING THE BEST

After focused leadership is in place and nec-
essary preparation is done, a third strategy
for successful testing is to make sure the
best people are involved in the hands-on
testing process. Some people naturally make
better testers than others. These are the
people who can anticipate how the system
may break or how someone may try to use it,
and they have an innate sense of the overall
processes and functions of the software.
These team members will understand if
a system as built or configured is actually
meeting business requirements. Sometimes
these people may be wearing multiple hats
within the organization, or they may have
gained their special insight from working
in a wide variety of roles within a business.
People with an audit background frequently
make great additions to a testing team.

Mark C. Clark is president of OAUG and has been an active member since 1992. As a senior partner at O2Works, Clark is currently engaged with customers worldwide in their Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 and 12. 1 efforts.