We 've helped a wide range of organisations implement and test their Workday deployments, and we 've seen what works and what doesn 't. All Workday deployments require rigorous testing, right from the initial implementation. Whether that approach to testing is completely manual, or takes advantage of automation, central to its success is an effective strategy. So here are six testing tips to help you along and ensure your testing strategy covers all bases.
1 Decide who is doing what
It might seem like an obvious point, but everyone on your testing teams must know their role and responsibilities. It isn 't just a case of mapping this out it also needs to be clearly communicated. Tasks can fall between the gaps in even the best functioning team if owners aren 't clearly allocated.
2 Define success
It's difficult to know how well your testing event is working if you don 't know what success should look like what results do you need? Your team needs to be able to provide an objective measure of success. This could involve the categorisation and counting of the types of defects thrown up in your testing. For example, acceptance criteria will be met if there are zero 'critical' defects, up to five 'major', up to ten 'minor' and so on. With this approach you need to define what each category is. For example, a 'critical' defect would mean that a mission critical component of the solution is broken.
3 Plan early
Get the test team involved in the Workday implementation process as soon as possible, preferably during the design stage. This gives the test team an early understanding of the requirements and specific needs of the business so that it can start planning its testing strategy accordingly.
4 Report on progress regularly
Moving to Workday is a big move for any organisation, and key stakeholders will want to know that its new investment is going to plan. Reporting is a vital part of this, but it's important to know your audience and ensure the detail in the reports is pitched at the right level. Too much detail in a report for key stakeholders will mean they don 't see the key message you 're trying to get across.
5 Make important documents easily accessible
Typically, out of the initial architecture phase will emerge a number of key documents and references relating to the implementation design, as well as the testing strategy and test plan. Everyone involved in the testing process should be made aware of these, the purpose they serve, and how they can access them. An internal Wiki, for example, can be a great way to ensure everything is in one easy to access place.
6 Track problems
Make it clear to everyone involved exactly what should happen when an error is found. Without this level of clarity, it can be chaos. In a best case scenario, testing takes longer than it should as you end up retesting errors that haven 't been properly logged. In the worst case scenario, errors get missed and slip through into the production environment, causing delays and problems for the wider business.
These are just some of the most common areas where we 've seen scope for improvement in Workday testing strategies. If you want to get it right from the start, make sure you grab our
free 21-page definitive guide to testing Workday. It 's also worth considering
testing automation as a way to speed up and streamline your testing process and reduce the hours needed to implement your testing strategy.
