In years past it might have been rare to hear SAP and mobile in the same conversation. But today, users at the network’s edge and SAP have a lot in common—and mobile devices have become a primary way of interacting with SAP applications and data.
In this blog, we explore the SAP mobile experience environment and consider the importance and impact of automated SAP mobile testing.
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What is SAP Mobile Testing?
SAP mobile testing is the process of verifying and validating SAP mobile applications. SAP (Systems, Applications & Products) helps teams prevent errors and problems in production.
SAP Mobile Testing Overview
The current mobile ecosystem for SAP is far reaching: A quick look at the app store reveals SAP applications for acquired technologies including SuccessFactors and Concur, applications specialized to various modules of the core ERP S/4HANA platform, and the comprehensive SAP Mobile Start application with role-based access to core ERP capabilities.
SAP has invested heavily in the Fiori mobile experience with mobile-specific SDKs available on the BTP platform, and there’s no-code and low-code development tools for mobile available from SAP and 3rd party vendors. Look just beyond SAP itself and the 3rd party ecosystem is rich with mobile applications for general access, specialized experiences, integrations and more.
SAP mobile access and ERP at the edge had become business critical. So, how do we ensure mobile applications are available for end users and are functioning as designed across hundreds of unique combinations of android, iOS, devices and software versions? We test, of course, but mobile testing has some unique challenges, and adding SAP into the mix can make it more complicated.
SAP Mobile Testing for Enterprise
When thinking about mobile testing for enterprise applications, we can take inspiration from the desktop. The mobile endpoint is generally just one part of a much larger business process spanning multiple participants and systems. While it may be initially critical to ensure a mobile application change doesn’t disrupt the user at the edge, the entire end-to-end business process should be tested, and this likely means the orchestration of test cases across mobile, desktop, cloud and on-premises systems to ensure continuity. We need an integrated and comprehensive approach!
The basics of mobile testing for enterprise applications aren’t far removed from traditional desktop or web applications: We need a resilient way to express interaction with the application that’s not fragile and break prone. Eliminating traditional test scripts with object-action or AI driven frameworks helps tremendously. We also need to solve for test data, especially since mobile experiences often involve the invocation of new process: sales orders, inventory, logistics and so on.
Related Reading: The Future Is Now: Mobile & Web Application Testing With AI
End-to-End SAP Mobile Testing
Add to the testing requirements dependencies for mobile device variances and networks: virtual devices are superb for cost-effective early functional testing, but physical hardware is the best approach for validating field compatibility with cameras, VPN over carrier networks, physical interfaces and the experience of an actual device. One might also need to validate functionality specific to devices or operating system versions. And, when non-traditional devices are at the edge – barcode scanners, RFID readers and the like – physical is the only way to be sure.
Once past the mobile user interface, we are back to the end-to-end concept, ensuring the business process can complete across all experiences, and perhaps with multiple mobile and desktop exchanges for approval and review, depending on the participants and roles in any given business process. This means a mobile testing solution should be well integrated with solutions designed for enterprise application testing and able to easily orchestrate the handoffs and sequencing required to ensure testing integrity across systems and applications hosting the complete business process.
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Overcoming Challenges to SAP Mobile Testing
In addition to the user interface, the API layer is an essential part of mobile application infrastructure. Behind the device is a service layer providing data and the backend execution of business process enabling the mobile user. Any changes here should be tested thoroughly with each release, and the recommended best practice is performing load testing against the API commensurate with expected end user and transactional volumes. This is especially true with new BTP developed interfaces to SAP where there may be multiple technical API interface layers between the end user on a mobile device and the core ERP system running the business.
There is a lot to consider! Thankfully, there are also good answers to the challenges of mobile testing in the SAP space.
Bottom Line
Functional testing and performance testing for SAP across mobile, Fiori, SAPGIU and APIs is at the center of Perforce technology, including Perfecto and Blazemeter. Perfecto from Perforce provides comprehensive mobile testing across virtual and physical devices, with full automation of physical devices including fingerprint, cameras, orientation and more. Blazemeter is ideal for test data synthesis, load testing and API testing. And the Perforce partnership with Worksoft provides the perfect technology complement for orchestrating complicated end-to-end business process testing across enterprise applications.
Together, Perforce provides the most complete testing solution for modern enterprises running SAP and other enterprise applications, with the ability to test any change at any interface across the enterprise landscape.
Start your SAP mobile testing journey with the industry’s most flexible functional and performance testing solutions. Watch a custom 1:1 demo of Perfecto and BlazeMeter.
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