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Introduction to Oracle Application Testing Suite (OATS)

Automation improves ROI by freeing valuable resources, cutting costs, reducing errors, and accelerating development. Oracle EBS test scripts, which consist of multiple integrated modules, can be overwhelming and time-consuming to test manually. As Oracle releases new versions and functionalities, the complexities of manual testing increase. In contrast, end-to-end testing for Oracle applications through automation offers greater reliability, accuracy, and speed. This is where Oracle Application Testing Suite (OATS) becomes a game changer, providing efficient and thorough Oracle apps testing for complex business systems.

The Challenge: Testing Complex Processes in Oracle Applications

Oracle applications are intricate systems that support various critical business processes, from financial management to inventory control. These applications handle large volumes of data and require precise, seamless operations to function effectively. Testing these systems can be particularly challenging, especially when integrating multiple modules or external systems.

Traditional testing approaches, such as manual testing, can become time-consuming and prone to errors when dealing with the complex workflows of Oracle test automation. Ensuring comprehensive test coverage while maintaining accuracy, performance, and scalability often places significant strain on testing teams. It is where OATS (Oracle Application Testing Suite) proves invaluable, offering automated, repeatable tests that ensure consistency and reliability throughout the testing process.

The ROI of Automating Test Cases with OATS

One key benefit of using OATS is its ability to automate test cases, significantly reducing the time and resources required for testing. This enables businesses to conduct more tests in a shorter period.

The return on investment (ROI) from automating tests with OATS is evident in several areas:

• Faster testing: Automation accelerates the execution of tests, streamlining testing cycles and improving efficiency.
• Cost savings: Automation helps optimize resource allocation by minimizing the need for manual testing, reducing overall testing costs.
• Expanded test coverage: Oracle automated testing suite can be run more frequently, allowing for broader scenario testing than manual methods.
• Enhanced accuracy: Automation minimizes the risk of human error, ensuring more precise and reliable test results.

Smoke Testing with End-to-End Automation: A Practical Approach

Smoke testing, also known as “sanity testing,” is an initial step in the software testing process that helps determine if a new software build is stable enough for further, more detailed testing. This technique is crucial for identifying significant issues early and ensuring the build is reliable for more in-depth examination.

• Purpose: Smoke testing assesses whether the basic functionality of a software build works as expected before proceeding to more complex testing phases.
• In Oracle Applications: An event-based testing method evaluates the system’s stability under standard usage conditions. It helps teams ensure the application performs well in real-world scenarios before moving to detailed functional testing.

Case Study Example:

Imagine a company needs to verify the integration of tax rates in its Oracle ERP system. It would involve testing various tax scenarios across multiple jurisdictions and business rules.

• Manual Testing Challenge: Testing these scenarios with each software release is time-consuming and prone to errors.
• Automation Solution: By automating the entire testing process using OATS, the company can run comprehensive tests each time a new update is deployed.
• Benefits: This approach results in faster, more reliable tests with reduced overhead, ensuring accuracy and improving overall efficiency in the testing process.

Benefits of Automating Smoke Testing

Time Efficiency and Reduced Complexity

• Automation enables businesses to quickly detect significant issues before conducting more detailed tests.
• With OATS, multiple events can be tested automatically, simplifying the process and reducing the need to handle complex scenarios manually.

Simplified Maintenance and Faster Issue Detection

• Automated smoke tests require minimal human involvement, reducing the chance of errors during testing.
• The tests are easy to update as application functionality changes, ensuring continued support with less effort.

The Trade-off: Why Discrete-Test Automation is Often Overlooked

Smoke testing automation is highly effective for detecting major issues but has limitations. Relying solely on event-based testing, like smoke testing, doesn’t provide the in-depth coverage needed to evaluate an application’s functionality thoroughly.

The Limitations of Event-Based Automation

Focusing only on smoke testing or event-driven automation misses critical detailed testing, such as discrete-test automation. This approach is essential for identifying edge cases and uncommon bugs that may not appear in routine tests. Over-relying on smoke tests can leave significant problems undetected.

Why Skipping Discrete-Test Automation Hurts Testing

Neglecting discrete-test automation risks overlooking complex issues that could emerge under specific conditions or workflows. A more detailed testing approach is needed to ensure all areas of an application are tested. A balanced strategy combining smoke testing and discrete-test automation is key for thorough, effective testing.

Risk Management: How OATS Helps Minimize Testing Risks

Enterprise applications, especially those supporting critical functions like financial management or supply chain operations, can have serious business consequences if they fail. Issues like inaccurate data, downtime, or security breaches can result in financial losses and damage a company’s reputation.

How OATS Minimizes Risks:

• Automated Testing: OATS provides automated, repeatable, and consistent testing, reducing the risk of human error.
• Comprehensive Risk Assessments: OATS helps identify potential issues during testing, addressing them before they impact production environments.
• Reliable Results: With OATS, tests are consistently executed, ensuring reliable outcomes and thorough validation of Oracle applications.

Using OATS, businesses can effectively manage risk and ensure their systems are secure and fully functional.

Conclusion: Maximizing OATS for Enterprise Success

The Oracle Application Testing Suite (OATS) is an essential tool for businesses aiming to optimize their testing processes and effectively manage risks. OATS ensures application stability, performance, and reliability by automating smoke testing and detailed oracle test automation.

Whether businesses choose full automation or focus on smoke testing, adopting Oracle OATS is crucial for maintaining high-quality applications that drive success. As enterprise systems become more complex, OATS plays a key role in a robust testing strategy, minimizing risks, saving time, and ensuring the smooth operation of critical business systems.

If you’ve ever read anything that we’ve written about Oracle Application Testing Suite, you can tell we’re pretty big fans.

And why not?  When the vast majority of the enormous quantity of repetitive testing required for every patch, update, and release of your ERP system can be executed with the mere press of a button, you have a recipe for a pretty significant ROI.  For enterprise-level companies with Oracle ERP systems or custom web applications, automation seems like a no-brainer.

That is, unless those companies don’t account for that kind of testing in the first place.

While discrete-test automation may make a lot of sense intuitively, a lot of organizations simply don’t do enough of that type of testing to justify the investment.  The truth is that a lot of companies don’t have formal testing requirements in place for patches, releases, and upgrades—they simply rely on their SMEs to make sure that “enough” testing is done to ensure user satisfaction.  Without stringent testing criteria, the “traditional” value of automation is abstract at best.

So does that mean that Oracle OATS is worthless to companies like this?  Not by a long shot.

During a presentation at the recent Oracle OpenWorld conference, a current Oracle OATS user detailed their strategy for test automation.  Just like the aforementioned organizations, they didn’t have enough need to automate their discrete test cases.  Instead, the folks at this company were much more concerned with “events”.  Also known as the end-to-end process of ferrying data across multiple modules in Oracle EBS, these intricate processes can wreak havoc on testing teams due to their multiple moving parts and lengthy time to complete.

In this company’s case, they were concerned with the varying tax rates on orders flowing through their continuously-changing applications.  Naturally, testing those “events” is a non-trivial process, so they looked toward another direction: automation.  By automating the full end-to-end process (an endeavor that included the time-consuming task of parameterizing every field in every form to ensure data validation), the company can now smoke test 1200 different “events” with just the press of a button—making for an easily-maintained, adaptable system with simpler, faster defect detection.

Now, it’s worth bearing in mind that even though this company’s approach is innovative, noteworthy, and valuable, it’s certainly not the most cohesive, either.  In ignoring discrete-test automation, companies aren’t just ignoring a potential ROI; they’re losing the chance to test much more comprehensively.  Since executing automated test scripts requires little human involvement, running a test 1 time is as easy as doing it 1000!  It’s this comprehensive testing that not only drives savings (through the elimination of costly rework and error-driven revenue loss); but also user satisfaction.

Granted, how much a company tests comes down to how risk-averse they choose to be.  And while that trait may vary wildly across the various companies that run Oracle ERP systems or custom web apps, one fact will always ring true: Oracle OATS is about the most risk-averse investment a company can make—no matter how they choose to utilize it.

Cheers,

Mike Hodge
Lighthouse Technologies, Inc
Software Testing | Quality Assurance Consulting | Oracle EBS Consulting