Lesson 5 of 6
Roles, RACI and sign-off
12 min
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A test strategy that does not name who decides is an opinion. This section of the strategy assigns accountability for each level and each sign-off, and it settles the question every RISE program eventually asks: who tests what?
Responsible and accountable
A RACI matrix names who is Responsible (does the work), Accountable (owns the outcome and decides; exactly one per activity), Consulted and Informed. The most common mistake in SAP strategies is making the system integrator accountable for acceptance. The partner can be responsible for executing tests; only the customer can accept that the solution meets its needs.
| Activity | Customer test lead (Priya) | Process owners (Dan, Maria) | Partner (SI) | PMO (Grace) | SAP (RISE) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Program test strategy | A | C | R | C | I |
| Unit and string tests | I | - | A/R | I | - |
| SIT execution | A | I | R | I | - |
| Data migration reconciliation sign-off | C | A (Dan for finance data) | R | I | - |
| UAT execution and acceptance | R (coordinates) | A | C | I | - |
| OAT | C | I | R | I | C (infrastructure items) |
| Infrastructure, backup and technical operations | I | - | I | I | A/R |
| Go-live recommendation from testing | A | C | C | I | - |
| Go-live decision | C | C | C | R | - |
An illustrative testing RACI for Contoso. The program sponsor is accountable for the go-live decision; adapt to your contracts.
Shared responsibility under RISE
RISE with SAP moves infrastructure, technical operations and the technical execution of upgrades to SAP. SAP publishes a roles and responsibilities document for SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition that sorts tasks into standard, optional, additional and packaged services, and customer-only tasks. In the version current at the time of writing, functional and regression testing are not standard SAP tasks; they appear only as separately purchased packaged services against test cases the customer provides. Testing and validation after an upgrade fall to the customer.
Read the version of the document attached to your contract, and write the result into the strategy: which levels the customer owns, which the partner executes under the statement of work, and which SAP performs, if any. Contoso's strategy states that Contoso owns all functional, integration, regression and acceptance testing; the partner executes SIT and supports UAT under its contract; SAP's responsibility is limited to infrastructure and technical operations items in OAT.
The sign-off chain
- Test lead recommends: exit criteria met or not, with evidence and exceptions.
- Process owners accept: their processes are fit for use, with known defects and workarounds.
- Data owners sign reconciliation for migrated data.
- Operations lead accepts operability (OAT).
- Program sponsor or steering committee decides go-live on the basis of these signatures.
- Test lead recommendsPriya: exit criteria met or not, with evidence and exceptions
- Process owners acceptDan for finance, Maria for order to cash
- Data owners signReconciliation of migrated data
- Operations acceptsOperability proven in OAT
- Sponsor decidesGo-live on the basis of these signatures
Risk acceptance
Sometimes the program goes live with known defects. The strategy should say who can accept that risk. Usually the process owner accepts risk within their process, and the sponsor accepts risk that crosses processes or affects compliance. Each acceptance is written, with the defect, the workaround, the owner and the date. The test lead's job is to make the risk visible, not to accept it.
- Does the defect stay within one process?Yes → the process owner may accept it, such as Maria for fleet pricing · No → the sponsor decides
- Does it affect compliance or financial reporting?Yes → the sponsor accepts, with the process owner consulted · No → process owner decision stands
- Is the acceptance written with defect, workaround, owner and date?Yes → recorded risk · No → not accepted yet; the test lead keeps it visible
What would you do?
Contoso's partner proposes that its own test manager sign UAT acceptance "because we ran most of the tests". What should Priya's strategy say?
- Use a RACI with exactly one accountable role per activity; customers own acceptance.
- Under RISE, SAP runs infrastructure and technical operations; functional, regression and acceptance testing stay with the customer unless separately purchased.
- The sign-off chain: test lead recommends, process and data owners accept, operations accepts operability, sponsor decides.
- Name who may accept risk, and record every acceptance with defect, workaround, owner and date.
Check your understanding · not graded
Lesson check
1. How many Accountable roles should each RACI activity have?
2. Who should be accountable for UAT acceptance?
3. Under the RISE Private Edition roles and responsibilities document, how is functional and regression testing treated?
4. What is the test lead's role in go-live risk?