What are the benefits of ERP testing?
Today’s enterprises are subjected to a lot of pulls and pressures - from the markets, competitors, customers, and stakeholders, among others. They need to be up with the times in terms of technology, processes, and general market trends to meet their productivity and sales targets. However, given their footprints, in many cases, lying across territories, they need to remain connected with their branches, employees, and stakeholders, in real time. This is where an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software can help matters by tying the organization in a single unit.
The ERP software enables an organization to run smoothly by collating all data generated from various units. It helps stakeholders to analyze such data and get insights into the processes and requirements in real time. The insights can further help in formulating and implementing strategies on the ground to remain competitive. An ERP software can have interfaces with various departments within an organization viz., finance, human resources, administration, supply-chain management, and customer relationship management, among others. By streamlining business processes and eliminating manual work, an ERP software suite can help improve productivity and efficiency, enhance the quality and speed of delivery, and achieve ROI.
Since the ERP software can be the virtual lifeline of an organization, its effectiveness needs to be top-notch at any given point in time. This is of utmost importance as any software glitch can bring processes to a standstill by giving erroneous inputs to the respective departments. To ensure smooth functioning of the software system under severe test conditions, ERP testing should be made a routine exercise. Nowadays, enterprises deploy third-party resources to manage various tasks owing to the latter’s core competencies. These resources are accessed (both ways) through the cloud or mobile services. To ensure a smooth progression of such services, businesses should brace themselves for testing ERP solutions. This is in alignment with the objectives of Agile or Lean methodologies. Let us understand in detail as to what an ERP testing exercise can deliver -
 Why ERP quality assurance and testing?
For beginners, ERP testing is a QA process to ensure the comprehensive software suite is made fully operational before deployment. It checks various units, features, and functionalities of the software against a set of parameters or metrics. The various tests that are part of the ERP QA include functionality testing, performance testing, integration testing, user acceptance testing, and unit testing, among others. So, why do we go for ERP validation in the first place?
Time-saving: During ERP implementation, any glitch can derail the functioning of the software or generate erroneous results. To identify such glitches, the testing team needs to unscramble each of the integrated units. This can be hugely time-consuming leading to delays. However, should testing ERP solutions be a part of the SLDC in the Agile format, considerable time can be saved in mitigating glitches.
Early mitigation of glitches: By following a shift-left automated ERP testing process, glitches can be identified quickly. Since both testing and development processes take place in a sprint, identification and mitigation of glitches can be quick.
Data security: One of the biggest issues plaguing the digital ecosystem is data security or the lack of it. Moreover, since an ERP system pools data from disparate sources to a centralized repository, hackers can exploit the data pool. An ERP centre of excellence can leverage the right tools to verify the centralized database. This way, it can secure the database by removing any inherent vulnerabilities.
Improved productivity: An operational ERP software can identify the operational needs and verify the presence of inventories. It can ensure the proper deployment of resources, thereby saving time and cost. Also, automated testing can get around the slow response times of manual testing and improve productivity.
Achieves ROI: An efficient ERP system can deliver suitable outcomes within tight turnarounds thereby saving time and cost for the organization. Moreover, by streamlining processes, breaking silos, and attending to customer feedback promptly, the organization can deliver better user experiences. A happy end-customer will generate better sales and enhance brand equity through word-of-mouth. This leads to better ROI for the organization.
 Conclusion
Testing of ERP applications entails the validation of their performance, functionality, user acceptability, and security. Its absence can have serious implications for the business processes, configuration, interfaces, or security of an organization. A robust ERP testing exercise can help an organization to meet its business objectives by optimizing costs.
