Types of testing in SAP

SAP stands for Systems, Applications, and Products in Data Processing. SAP provides the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software which integrates a large number of modules and databases from different sources to deliver the product for an organization. SAP software is used in many industries such as healthcare, information technology, finance, e-commerce, banking, etc.

What is SAP Testing?

SAP Testing is one of the important processes in SAP ERP software development. Testing needs to be carried out for all development processes to check the application is working as expected. It involves various types of testing, testing strategies, and testing tools to ensure the expected outcome of an application. The testing is carried out at each release development. It follows the end-to-end testing pattern for an application to ensure an error-free product. SAP Testing supports both manual testing and automated testing. Let us discuss the types of testing that are carried out for SAP development.

Testing Types in SAP

Testing Types In SAP

1. Unit Testing

Unit Testing in SAP involves testing individual units or components of a software application in isolation to ensure their correctness and reliability. It typically focuses on testing small parts of code, such as functions or methods, to validate their behavior according to specifications and requirements.

Example: In this example, we directly calculate the sum of 5 and 10 and then use an ASSERT statement to check if the result is 15. If the assertion fails, it indicates an issue with the sum calculation.

DATA: lv_sum TYPE i.
lv_sum = 5 + 10.
ASSERT lv_sum = 15 MESSAGE 'Sum calculation failed'.

2. Integration Testing

Integration Testing in SAP refers to the testing phase where a group of modules or components are tested together to validate their interactions and functionality as a whole. It involves testing the interfaces between modules and ensuring that they work correctly in an integrated environment. Integration testing in SAP can be performed using automation tools and manual testing techniques to verify the overall system’s behavior.

Example: In this example, we’re performing integration testing by adding up three amounts (100, 200, and 300) and displaying the total amount using the WRITE statement. This represents how different components integrate to produce the final result.

DATA: lv_total TYPE i.

START-OF-SELECTION.
  lv_total = 100 + 200 + 300.

  WRITE: / 'Total Amount:', lv_total.

3. Regression Testing

Regression Testing is a kind of testing that can be done when new functionalities or features are added to the existing developed component. Regression testing ensures that the new changes should not affect the existing SAP components. This is carried out by testers. This can also be automated with the help of an automation tool. SAP regression testing ensures an error-free application in production.

Example: Let’s take the above example requirements that we have mentioned in the integration testing. Now, the developer has a new requirement to add 1 more input field to display the average of given numbers.

DATA: lv_total, lv_avg TYPE i.  START-OF-SELECTION.   lv_total = 100 + 200 + 300.
  lv_avg = lv_total / 3    WRITE: / 'Total Amount:', lv_total.
  WRITE: / 'Average :', lv_avg.

Here, the developer added the new component to the existing component. QE team will test whether this newly added component is working fine and it should not affect the already existing component.

4. Functional Testing

SAP Functional Testing is nothing but ensuring that the application covers all the possible scenarios and all the possible requirements for the specific test users. Testers will create the test scripts which include all test scenarios and requirements for different test users. Test scripts cover all the business requirements to validate the application. If any of the scenarios are not covered, then that will be reported to the respective team to implement those functionalities.

Example: If there are 2 types of user scenarios for a given healthcare application. One set of users can access the web page of Allopathy treatment and another set of users will access the page of homeopathy treatment. Here, the user data will be collected by the QE team to test the different scenarios. They also do the end-to-end testing for each component or scenario associated with those types of users.

IF lv_medical_type_user = 'Allopathy'.
WRITE: / 'Access to Allopathy Medicine Page'.
ELSE. 
  WRITE: / ' Access to Homeopathy Medicine Page'.
ENDIF.

5. Performance Testing

Performance Testing is one of the important testing techniques or types to be carried out. Performance testing simply checks that the system is performing under various conditions such as high traffic, low bandwidth, etc., Performance testing covers load testing, endurance testing, stress testing, and so on. It checks the SAP system with various load factors to ensure the stability of the application. These are automated in SAP.

Example: Here, the tester will test the actual web traffic that the application can handle per second or minute. How many services are called within the given time frame, how many violations are there in the service call, and so on?

6. Comparability Testing

Comparability Testing is nothing but testing the developed application in different web browsers and devices to check whether the application supports and looks good with easy accessibility for users.

Example: Here, the testers use different sets of devices such as Samsung, iOS, notepad, etc., to check the application performance and UI accessibility. Testers also check it in different web browsers such as Chrome, Edge, and Firefox to ensure browser compatibility for the SAP applications.

If the user wants to check about available medicine under homeopathy for certain health issues then that medicine will be displayed. The SAP code is given below for example.

7. User Acceptance Testing

User Acceptance Testing is carried out before the application goes live. Here, the testers will set up the test environment for a set of users or audiences to test the application i.e., selected users or audiences will be called to use the application to know the user satisfaction before it goes live to end users. It is also known as end-user testing. QA team will prepare the test plan, test strategies, and test scripts to execute this testing. It ensures testing the application in a real-time environment.

Example: An organization selects a group of users to test the entire application before its launch. The QA team guides them through using the application to collect valuable feedback. Based on audience comments, a satisfaction index is calculated to gauge the application’s readiness for release.

IF lv_homeopathy.
  IF lv_ulcer.
    WRITE:/'AZY medicine'.
  ENDIF.
  IF lv_thyroid.
    WRITE:/'XZY medicine'.
  ENDIF.
  IF lv_blood_pressure.
    WRITE:/'NZY medicine'.
  ENDIF.
ENDIF.

8. Usability Testing

Usability Testing is one of the ways to confirm the UI responsiveness of the application. Here, the testers will check how many clicks are needed by the mouse to achieve the functionality of the application. If we are using keys to access the UI components of the application, then how many clicks are required to achieve the functionality? This can be tested in a QA environment. It is helpful for people who are handicapped and blind. They are most using this accessibility method to access the application.

Example: Testers will test the application by using the keys to navigate from one component to another component. They can use arrow keys, shift + arrow keys, function keys, and so on to use the website. If the enter key does not work for the given button then this will be reported to the development team.

9. Stress Testing

Stress Testing is a type of performance testing. This ensures the high performance of the developed SAP application. Here, the extra load will be given to the application to check the stability of the application. If an application has declared that a certain number of users can only be active within a given timeline, then the extra number of users will be stressed during that timeline period to check the stability of the application.

Example: If an application can allow 1500 users per second and that is the actual capacity, then the tester will try to check the application with more users per second. QE team will load more than 1500 users per second to check the actual performance of the system during the high traffic time.

10. Database Testing

As we know, SAP integrates large databases with ERP systems to meet business deliverables. Database Testing comes under the back-end testing. In this, testers will execute the different test query scenarios to retrieve the data from the database. It ensures the data are correctly executed and passed to the front-end framework.

Example: To test the data in the database then the tester needs to execute the query to make sure that the given query is fetching all the responses. Now if the tester is testing the scenario like fetching all the patient details with name and address. Then, he will execute the query like selecting a name, and address from the patient to fetch the data.

We can execute the SQL query to retrieve data from the SAP database using any of the SAP Graphical User Interface Browsers.

Conclusion

In conclusion, SAP Testing plays a crucial role in ensuring the quality and reliability of SAP ERP software. It encompasses various testing types such as Unit Testing, Integration Testing, Regression Testing, Functional Testing, Performance Testing, Comparability Testing, User Acceptance Testing, Usability Testing, Stress Testing, and Database Testing, each focusing on different aspects of application functionality and performance to deliver an error-free and stable product.

FAQ’s

1. How is the career progression for SAP Quality Engineers?

Ans: The career progression for SAP Quality Engineers are high in demand. They do have good career progression with full of functional, testing and business learning. It is one of the interesting jobs to do so.

2. Is there any Open Source test software available for SAP Testing?

Ans: Yes. Selenium, JMeter and Katalon are some of the open source softwares used for SAP Testing.

3. What is the average SAP test engineer salary?

Ans: The average SAP test engineer salary is $99500 – $110000. It goes beyond this salary with good work performance.