How Test Automation Accelerates S/4 Hana Migration

Sooner or later, anyone who uses SAP will not be able to avoid switching to S/4 and Hana. The new ERP system brings many opportunities for companies and supports them in their digitization. 63 percent of DSAG members who have already switched to S/4 say that S/4 has enabled them to optimize their business processes. 48 percent see the new system as putting them in a better position to implement innovations more quickly. And 44 percent confirm that they benefit from an increase in performance and efficiency. 

But migrating from ERP/ECC 6.0 to S/4 is a big step that also entails risks. In most companies, the ERP system has been in operation for many years and is deeply integrated into the IT landscape. Countless business processes are linked to it that may no longer function in the new world.

Companies need to re-evaluate their customizing and integrations, revise them if necessary, and re-implement them. Many in-house developments can be replaced by the standard functions of S/4 and should be discarded. A challenge is also to switch to the new data model of S/4 and to connect data from different sources.

Migration and updates

So there are many concerns associated with migration. Knowing the risks and assessing them correctly is important to better master the changeover. Traditional testing procedures do not help here. Typically, companies usually first have their power users test for problems during an update. This is followed by a complex hypercare phase.

This approach is already inefficient and expensive during ongoing operations. It is completely unsuitable for S/4 migration. After all, companies need a clear idea in advance of where there might be which risks. Yet 70 percent of users migrating to Hana and S/4 say that their test procedures give them too little insight here. So it's not surprising that many companies are still putting off their migration. Only 59 percent of SAP's existing customers in the EMEA region have partially migrated to S/4 or have only just begun. So fear of the unknown is putting the brakes on digitization.

The dilemma can be solved by companies introducing modern, automated testing procedures. For example, automated code impact analysis identifies code changes between the old and new systems and highlights business and technical risks they pose. This allows companies to target these areas. So-called quality gates also help to test data integrity in a standardized and automated manner, thereby avoiding problems with data formats.

DB change

Vodafone, one of the world's leading telecommunications companies with around 625 million customers, decided to implement SAP S/4 back in 2017. The first step was to convert the database from Oracle to Hana. Subsequently, the SAP ECC application layer was newly implemented in Fiori.

Vodafone had previously used script-based test automation. However, this did not support the latest SAP technology. In addition, the process could not cover the required scope of testing in the short time available.

Vodafone also wanted to gain more agility in testing in view of future, shorter update cycles. Therefore, the company implemented the Tricentis test automation solution. It enables employees to focus on the highest risks and automated test environments to run up to 200 percent faster. It also enabled Continuous Testing to be integrated into the CI/CD pipeline.

The new solution helped Vodafone complete the entire transition to S/4 in just 18 months. All in all, it is one of the five largest S/4 implementations in the world.