Advance your SAP testing with accurate data and test automation with DSM and Worksoft

I'm extremely excited about the partnership with Worksoft pairing the de facto standard in test data management, Data Sync Manager, with high-class automation. The partnership between Worksoft and EPI-USE Labs is a very nice fit because each is interdependent upon each other. Testing is paramount. At EPI-USE Labs we require the automation of test scripts, and Worksoft require the test data to be accurate for them to actually carry out their testing automation. Worksoft is a test automation company. We've been around for approximately twenty-five years. We really help accelerate delivering large scale transformational projects. So we automate testing, removing all that manual activity, helping de-risk organizations. We require good quality data. Where this partnership is really amazing is that EPI-USE Labs can provide that data on demand to Worksoft. They give us the right data on time, every time, and we pick up that data and then use it to be able to test applications and business processes. It's a holistic automated testing approach where you can write your test scripts, you can automate them, and then automate the test data relevant to carry out those particular testing scenarios. Putting these two things together means organizations will be able to have repeatable, reliable automated testing. And in the current environment, the changes that people need to go through with S/4HANA, maybe a journey to RISE, bringing AI into the picture, now more than ever, automating high quality tests is paramount. And you can only do that when you have both the automation scripts, but also the right data underneath to make sure that the tests are accurate and valid. If you're coupling what we do, test automation with data, bringing it together successfully, you can deliver those projects a lot quicker. So we're not just testing end-to-end processes, we're ensuring that we're testing it with the right data. The aim of this partnership is to integrate Data Sync Manager more closely with the Worksoft solution. Both companies have been in existence for many years specializing in the SAP domain. Now that transformation is particularly prevalent, it's a brilliant partnership.

Why do you need automated testing and reliable test data?

As an SAP customer, you face the challenge of bringing new developments to market quickly, while ensuring stability and reliability. The complex architecture and interconnected nature of IT landscapes mean that even minor changes can have significant impacts.

Speeding up the testing process is crucial for you to mitigate the risks associated with these changes. Automation not only accelerates testing cycles, but also enhances accuracy, minimising human error. However, even with automated testing, you still need to have reliable test data in non-production systems to ensure that the tests are effective. Test automation is only as good as the data it is testing with.

Lights out testing is the aim for all organizations as they navigate the ever more rapidly changing IT landscape. With Data Sync Manager and Worksoft Certify, you can identify Master Data items in your Production system that change frequently. Then, with Object Sync, you can copy these Master Data items to your QA system. Next, Object Extractor is called to extract transactional data and sends it to Worksoft Certify to feed the test automation scripts. This process can be automated to run periodically, ensuring you always have the latest data that happens in Production being used for testing. With accurate data, you'll be able to monitor and highlight any disparities, giving you peace of mind knowing your testing is happening automatically in the background, and you only hear when there is something to investigate.

Most test automation leverages existing master data to run transactions and process flows such as 'order to cash' or 'procure to pay'. The client in which those test processes run should have master data and customising as accurate as possible compared to Production, with the additional config and data changes being tested layered on top.

Use Client Sync, part of the Data Sync Manager (DSM)™ Suite, every month to create an additional lean test automation client in your existing QA system. This will enable you to isolate changes for testing, without disrupting the existing non-production capability. By using only customising and master data (no transactional history), the size impact on the existing system is minimal. Filtering on company code could reduce the volume even further.

Ensure your test client contains the most accurate master data and customizing possible, mirroring Production as closely as you can. With Data Sync Manager, you can leverage Client Sync to create an additional lean test automation client in your existing QA system. By using only master data and optionally client-dependent customizing, the impact on the existing system is minimal. This will enable you to isolate changes for testing without disrupting the existing non-production capability. This process can be automated to run periodically, ensuring you always have the latest data that happens in Production being used for testing.

Leverage Object Extractor to drive automated testing on the data periodically as it occurs in Production.

The DSM Object Extractor can be called – either by API, or by screen automation by Worksoft – to read just the key characteristics of transactions that happen in Production to feed the test automation layout sheets. This means your projects and even BAU changes can be automatically tested against data as it happens in Production, alerting you only when there is an error.

Integrate Object Sync into this test automation process

Leverage the DSM APIs via Data Connect to provision the latest versions of Materials, Pricing Conditions, Employees, etc. that are part of the record-set read from Production and sent to Certify.

The automation provisions the relevant data before it runs the tests that leverage it. This is particularly beneficial for industries where critical master data changes regularly, such as condition records in FMCG businesses. As the transactions occurring in Production vary, there is a natural, and accurate, variation to what is being tested, with the master data reflecting the current status.

So here's the old way. I'm in my test client. I've got a need to test that order for a particular sales org. I come in and add the sold to and the ship to, and then I come down and add the material, and then I hit an error. On my test system, the material hasn't been extended for the sales org. The master data is just out of date. I can't do my test. Here is the new way. I'm going to come out of my test client and I'm going to go to Production. I'm gonna say, alright, I'm looking for orders. Let's try a few days ago for that sales organization. There we go. I can see some sales documents to work with. Ah, first one even uses the same material number. What a perfect test. So I'm going to come out of Production and now I'm going to bring up my Worksoft certified process ready to run. And this is going to use the Data Connect component to call Object Sync and Object Extractor. So first of all, it's filtering on the same order date that I just specified in the sales org, and it's now reading all the information from those sales orders that we just saw. Once it's executed that, it monitors the run to make sure that it's completed. And when it's completed, it then sets up data to go and align the master data. So it's going to read the materials that are referenced by the order and sync those materials using Object Sync. We can see that in step seven. So it's adding all the materials into the sync and then it's running that sync. Now that sync has run, it's logging on to my test system for me and it's starting to create the orders based on the data that came out of Production. That very first one has the same material. This time, the order won't fail because the material has been copied from Production, and in Production, it's been maintained for that particular sales org. This is automated testing. This can be lights out testing using real data that happens in Production to test on.