Effective QA Practices for Legacy Integration with an ERP Dr. Sundar Ramaswamy Ms. Robin Smith Boston University Information Services & Technology 14th Mar 2012 NERCOMP 2012 Annual Conference

SAP Implementation Project (BUworks) Objective: To provide BU with an integrated set of administrative tools and processes needed to support a leading research university. SAP implementation went live in July, 2011, for HR/payroll, finance, and sourcing/procurement. Integration of SAP with impacted legacy applications was a significant effort.

Legacy Integration with SAP Project Background 25+ legacy applications Approximately 2,000 legacy application modules impacted SAP HR data “replenishment” to legacy reduced integration requirements significantly Formal project management, software development & QA practices Project team of 50+ over 10 months

Impacted Key Legacy Systems Identity & access management Library and door access control Student Systems Admissions, FinAid, Registration, Student Accounts Student Employment/Student Payroll Fitness & Recreation center memberships Parking & MBTA Tpass Cashier (credit card and ACH payments, etc) Other Miscellaneous systems

Legacy Integration Key Objectives Ensure successful integration of impacted Legacy applications with SAP using real-time and other suitable interfaces Involve Business Stakeholders to comprehensively test integration interfaces to eliminate surprises Implement formal functional design and test planning templates/methods Align SAP Implementation and Legacy Integration QA objectives Leverage common test repository to track testing progress Ensure successful coordination with BUworks team during Two rounds of Integration Testing One round of User Acceptance Testing (UAT) Multiple rounds of “Wave” testing – post-UAT before Go-Live

Legacy Integration Project Team Project Manager Application Technical Lead Application Integration Lead Business analysts Data base administrators Tiger Teams Application QA Lead

Tiger Teams Eight teams organized by business area Each team responsible for several applications Each team contained Team lead Subject matter experts Programmer/analysts Application architect BUworks/SAP team contact

Team Organization Legacy Integration Sponsors BU Works SVP and IS&T VP CIO Legacy Integration Management Team IS&T VP, CIO IS&T Apps AVP Apps Mgmt Dir Arch Dir. PMO Dir. Legacy Integration Project Manager BUworks Project Managers Application Integration Lead QA Lead Technical Lead DBAs Business Analysts Parking /FitRec HR / Finance / HR Integrations Faculty /Financial Aid/DAR ID Management Registration / Student Employment Admissions /Student Accounts Mugar Library /Housing /Building & Space FA&T Financial Systems

Key Challenges Introducing formal functional design and QA practices to a large team for the first time Involving top management appropriately Effective coordination between BUworks and Legacy teams for test schedule / defects Establish interface readiness before stakeholder testing Implementing HPQC as test manager platform (as a common repository) In a time crunch, conduct post-UAT QA

Integration/UAT QA process flow Develop Legacy Functional Design Develop Test Plan Develop Test Case Upload to HP Quality Center (HPQC) Develop Test Data w/Users Schedule Testing w/ BUworks Perform Testing w/Users Track Defects w/HPQC Run Daily Defect Status Meeting w/Reports

Post-UAT “Wave” testing process flow Combine UAT scenarios into Wave Test Plan Upload to HP Quality Center (HPQC) Develop Test Data w/Users Schedule Testing w/ BUworks Coordinate Test Data Prep w/Users & BUworks Perform Testing w/Users & BUworks Combine & Evaluate Test Results Track Defects w/HPQC Run Daily Defect Status Meeting w/Reports

QA Practices Developed formal Functional Design Specification template Engaged Tiger Team leads to develop template/sample Developed comprehensive test scenarios across related legacy systems Workshop with Tiger Team leads to develop scenarios HPQC orientation to familiarize team leads Provided support for test case upload to reduce load on team leads

QA Practices Engaged top management to communicate test schedule/expectation to Business Owners Conducted Business Owner QA orientation to set testing and defect tracking expectations Daily meeting between BUworks and Legacy teams to check interface readiness and plan test schedule Unified communication to Business stakeholders for AM/PM schedule

QA Practices Daily defect status meeting with top management, BUworks/Legacy teams to track defects Prioritization of defect fixes, workarounds, and verification were key focus areas Post-UAT “Wave” testing to mimic payroll cycles for processing deductions and student payroll “Wave” testing covered impact of SAP HR actions on impacted Legacy systems Hire, Leave of Absence, Retirement, Promotion, and Termination

Benefits and Summary Created of a test scenarios KB for use with enhancements Introduced standard QA practices to Legacy application team members Promoted adoption of QA practices with templates, samples, and coaching Enhanced communication, collaboration, and consistency across teams and applications Established several useful communication workflows Built useful design documentation for future testing & audit Provided executive level summaries of testing progress to management

Thanks, Sundar Ramaswamy srajan@bu.edu (until 3/16/12) Robin Smith rsmith@bu.edu