What are the best practices for testing ERP project migrations?

Ensure that within the project plan there is adequate provision to ensure that those carrying out testing are suitably trained in the use of the system or are partnered with functional consultants to help them through the process. As the testing programme progresses different individuals can be involved from super user subject matter experts through to regular users.

Not every business's problem is the same. ERP migration problems also vary depending on business culture. However, I can still talk about common problems. Knowing the business processes you want to do with ERP leads to good modeling. If you do not master business processes, you can achieve bad results with a good ERP. Let's not forget the golden rule; A good ERP implementation is done by a team that knows the processes well.

Critical to have a detailed understanding of current process steps and activities. At times regional or service line outliers are not well understood and create scope challenges and incremental KDPs. Really understanding and documenting the end to end baseline having it signed off by process owners supports scope validation, project timelines and identifies change impact hot spots that may require more then just systems training, new behaviours and management activities may be required to reap the ROI.

Rather than just verifying that the system functions, the strategy and scope of ERP testing should include having Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) testing?each business process in the system. This is due to SMEs' in-depth knowledge of how business processes function and their ability to see possible issues that manual testers could overlook. Make sure your testing strategy and scope covers that.

Best practices in this context involve a meticulous and systematic approach. Firstly, comprehensive data validation should be a priority, confirming that all data has migrated accurately and completely from the old system to the new ERP environment. Rigorous testing scenarios and user acceptance testing (UAT) should be conducted to mimic real-world operations, ensuring that the ERP system meets all business requirements and user expectations. Parallel testing, where both the old and new systems run simultaneously, can act as a safety net during the migration, allowing for immediate issue identification and resolution. In addition, performance testing should assess the system's capacity and response times under various loads and conditions.

Make sure you cover the boundaries for test cases then execute those and log the test results make proper functional and integration regression acceptance test data .

Along with master data it should also define for which organization ( if multiple organization is there) and also ensure all the variations in the business process is also listed in the test cases.

Avoid relying on assumptions that the system operates in the way 'you expect', applying a critical thinking approach can avoid 'unwanted surprises' later. There needs to be clarity over the functionality of the ERP system both in terms of desired outcomes and undesired outcomes. When planning the testing programme and preparing the testing scripts both the desired and undesired outcomes should be included in the scripts. Be clear with the order in which testing needs to be designed and scheduled to mirror the organisations processes - with particular consideration being given to the connectivity between sub-processes.

Make sure you leverage the tools monitor the test cases and data use automation and expertise available make reliable judgment and factional approach

Any issues that is being raised should be logged in a proper issue log and it has to be tracked fully for retesting etc. There should be a clear linkage between the original test case and the retesting test cases.

Analyse the proper test results and assessments and make sure you have done the proper root causes make sure you do the proper gap analysis and analyse the test results communicate the findings and address issues

More focus and documentation of the resolution of the issues has to be detailed and easily accesible, periodically reviewed.

When testing once defects from previous testing have been resolved ensure that data in the environment where the testing will be re-performed is appropriately cleansed/modified before testing takes place. This helps to ensure any defects identified can be linked to functionality rather than inherent data issues within the environment.

Make sure you are following the systematic and consistent approach with techniques do proper resolution and coordination and make sure you develop the process .

During our most recent ERP migration project, the "review and improve" phase was an eye-opener. After the functional and performance tests were completed, we decided to conduct a full team retrospective to evaluate our testing process. We used an anonymous survey to collect feedback from our testing team, project managers, and even some end-users. One of the most surprising discoveries was that manual testers felt their work was siloed and disconnected from the automated testing process. To address this, we formed a task force made up of manual and automated testers to establish new communication protocols and better integrate their workflows. This collaborative approach led to a 20% reduction in testing time in the next sprint.

Make sure the process owners sign off on the testing process and the test results. They own the business processes, the systems that support and the data.