SAP Upgrade Organizations having SAP-based business solutions are involved in an SAP upgrade project at one time or another.

At the present time, many of them are involved in or are planning upgrades to SAP E P !, "hich "ill form the stable version until #$%&. 'he periodic improvements "ould be delivered through enhancement pac(ages, "hich "ould be installed and activated as per the needs of the organization. 'he success of SAP upgrade projects relies on efficient and comprehensive planning of testing activities that start from the project (ic(-off itself and last until a fe" "ee(s before the project go live date. Organizations involved in SAP upgrade projects face a dilemma over the testing of the upgraded and the unicoded SAP-based business solution. 'he )uestion that each organization faces is over the )uantum of testing* ho" much to test, the scope and the effort involved. +t becomes important that the optimum testing approach be defined upfront for the SAP upgrade project -- and then follo"ed. 'esting involves substantial effort and has a direct impact on the project plan and the project budget. +t forms the crucial parameter "hich, if not managed "ell, may result in serious doubts over the acceptability of the upgrade project by the business users. 'his article covers the inputs to plan and manage efficiently the testing scope and effort in an upgrade project. Sandbox Testing-Pyramid Approach 'he objective of sandbo, testing is to ascertain the potential scope of changes and issues in the upgraded and unicoded SAP system so that the testing approach can be suitably framed-revised for the project. 'his "ill also act as an input to the project effort planning and duration. 'he scope preparation starts in parallel "hile the sandbo, is being prepared and is finished "hen it is ready. 'his helps to initiate sandbo, testing "ithout any delay.'he important aspect is to test the critical and important transactions of the business processes by the various functional teams to ascertain the e,tent of changes in the ne" system. A representative set of testing scope .also called /'op of the Pyramid/0 covering the follo"ing is prepared based on these factors*

1ritical SAP standard and custom transactions-to ma(e sure that fre)uently used SAP standard and custom transactions are behaving as e,pected. 'ransaction usage statistics from last year or a given period provide important inputs. Additionally, less used but critical transactions .e.g., month-end or year-end reporting0 should be covered. 1ritical reports in different languages-2oth custom developed and standard reports should be covered in different languages used in the system. epresentative set of critical interfaces-All the critical interfaces should be identified and their connectivity should be established "ith corresponding test systems. +t is also of importance that all (inds of interfaces are covered* e.g., inbound, outbound, file-based, database connects. A matri, of business and +' contacts for interfaces should be maintained for faster contact and issue resolution.

epresentative set of printouts in different languages-All the important printouts that go to outside entities either electronically or in manual form should be covered. Printouts in different languages should be considered to assure the correctness of layout and characters in the output.

1omple, enhancements .e.g., custom developed functionality, user e,it0 should be included in the scope.

+f the number and nature of issues is high, the testing scope should be suitably increased in the /)uality testing/ so as to increase the confidence in the )uality and stability of the upgraded and unicoded SAP system. +n this situation, sandbo, testing scope should also be revised to cover medium impact transactions so as to gain a suitable confidence level on the ne" system behavior