A high rate of change overwhelming the users
In addition to SAP there are numerous integrated applications, including Salesforce, Manhattan Associates and Hybris. Changes come thick and fast from multiple sources while overlapping projects from different business units compete for scarce analysis and testing resources.
Business users were being asked to abandon their day jobs and repeatedly assist in the verification of the changes. Some teams were scattered across a range of time zones exacerbating communication and collaboration.
The solution would need to check every item on every screen and report all differences.
Marc knew they needed to test the areas that had changed, but as importantly, they needed to test that defects had not been unwittingly introduced as a result. Marc likened the process to an airport luggage carousel, where every difference found in a regression test is automatically captured and tracked like all the baggage from an aircraft arrives on the carousel. Business analysts (just like passengers) would ‘collect’ the differences they expected, and anything still on the carousel would be an unexpected change needing investigation.
The Result
The implementation of Marc’s ‘carousel’ vision and the running of weekly regression tests has identified significant defects that, if they had not been caught before going live, could have halted the business. CertainTeed now supports a faster delivery schedule, and more is being achieved with the same resources. Completely documented test results are also being used as the basis for training and onboarding new staff. Marc estimates that hundreds of workdays have been saved in this area alone.
Marc also reports that he now has a happier user base who have regained confidence that IT can deliver the evolution needed and the stable platform for business success.
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