Lesson 4 of 6
Automates, test plans and results
18 min
Listen to this lesson
The Test Automation Tool is embedded in Public Edition. You don't install it; you prepare test users, adapt automates to your processes, group them into test plans and read the results. This lesson walks through each part with an eye on what breaks at upgrade time.
Test users
Automated steps run as virtual test users. SAP Learning describes three kinds: a business user for processes entirely inside the system (named DEFAULT and given the relevant business roles), a communication user for integration steps, reusing existing communication arrangements, and a conditional authentication user when a non-SAP identity provider is in use. The stored password must match the real user's password and must be updated in the app when it changes. Every test plan needs a virtual test user, and a pre-check confirms the user has the right roles before execution.
Standard and custom automates
In Manage Your Test Processes, SAP's standard processes are read-only. To adapt one, you copy it; the copy becomes a custom process. When you change a step to a custom step, its Release Compatibility marker changes from a check mark to a question mark, which means the step must be validated after future upgrades. To add actions you record them: the recording panel offers Check (verify values, labels and messages) and Read (capture values for later steps). Copies are hidden from Test Your Processes by default, so change their visibility before adding them to a test plan.
- CopyCopy the standard process in Manage Your Test Processes
- AdaptChange steps to custom steps; record new actions with Check and Read
- Bind dataUse a test data container and variants for country and company code
- PublishMake the custom process visible for test plans
- PlanAdd it to a test plan with a test user in Test Your Processes
- RevalidateAfter each upgrade, validate every step marked with a question mark
Test plans and data
Create a test plan in Test Your Processes with the + icon and assign processes; the order you select them sets the execution sequence. The Variants tab sets values such as country/region and company code, which decide the test data used. The tool provides a default variant and a default test data container so tests can run immediately; you can add your own containers so that, for the Contoso what-if, orders use Great Lakes Fleet Services and material CMC-ALT-100 rather than demo data.
| Upgrade risk | What to prepare | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Custom steps change behavior | Validate every step marked with a question mark | Manage Your Test Processes |
| Test user lacks a new role | Review roles and catalogs against the release impact | Business role apps; RASD |
| Data no longer valid | Refresh data variants and containers | Test Your Processes; test data containers |
| Password expired | Update the virtual test user | Test Your Processes |
| Plan order broken | Check dependencies between processes in a plan | Test Your Processes |
Common causes of upgrade-day automation failures that have nothing to do with SAP's software.
Reading the results
The Analyze Automated Test Results app shows dashboards for post-upgrade and customer-specific test runs. You drill into a failed test plan down to the failed step and see the screenshot of the error. Dashboards can be shared by link or saved as a launchpad tile, which is a simple way to give Grace and the process owners a live view. Results of automated test plans are also visible in SAP Cloud ALM next to manual test plans, so one place can hold the whole regression picture.
What would you do?
In the what-if, the test system was upgraded on Saturday. On Monday morning all 18 of Contoso's custom automates fail at their first step, and the pre-check reports that the DEFAULT test user lacks a business role that the release now requires for the sales order app. What should Priya do first?
- Test users must have current passwords and the roles each process needs; a pre-check verifies roles.
- Copy standard automates to adapt them; custom steps carry a question mark and need validation after every upgrade.
- Test plans define sequence, test user and data variants; bind your own data where demo data won't do.
- Analyze Automated Test Results shows step-level failures with screenshots; Cloud ALM brings automated and manual results together.
Check your understanding · not graded
Lesson check
1. What does a question mark in the Release Compatibility column mean?
2. How do you adapt a standard automate to your process?
3. Which kind of virtual test user is needed for integration steps?
4. Where can you drill into a failed step and see an error screenshot?