A case study of metric-based and scenario-driven black-box testing for SAP projects

Abstract

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) projects are perceived as mission-critical initiatives in many organizations. They are parts of business transformation programs and are instrumental in improving organizational performance. In ERP implementations, testing is an activity that is crucial in order to ensure that the functionality embedded in the solution matches the business users’ requirements. However, little is known about how to make the testing process more predictable or how to increase its chances of success. This paper makes a first attempt towards improving the quality of the testing process in ERP projects by using a metric-based test case selection approach. The paper reports on how this approach was adapted to an ERP package-specific project context, how it was applied in five settings in a mid-sized project and what was learnt about using it.