Testing is the key to having a Workday® solution that meets your unique business needs, is free from software bugs, brings your company time and money savings, and has a high adoption rate among employees. But what exactly goes into the testing process? Who is doing the testing, and what is really happening within the software?
The answer depends on whether you’re talking about automated or manual software testing. Let’s take a look at what each one entails, when you should use them, and how IJA approaches these two testing methodologies.
Automated vs. manual software testing
The biggest difference between automated and manual testing is who executes the test. Automated testing uses a templated, pre-written series of testing code to run your Workday® configuration through some basic high-level scenarios. Manual testing, as the name suggests, is handled manually by a person or team of people. The latter allows testers to get in the weeds and tailor each scenario to the company’s unique processes and workflow.
So which one is better? That ultimately depends on what you’re testing. Automated testing requires little-to-no manpower, but is also not as comprehensive. While it’s more time consuming to test manually, this method of testing will give you more accurate results of how the system will operate day by day.
Automated Workday® testing
Any time a company is testing a system that has already been built and needs re-tested, automated scenarios are an efficient and powerful option. For instance, if you are re-testing a Workday® solution after a new release, automated testing allows you to check for common bugs and ensure the configuration is operating correctly at a foundational level.
Automated scenarios are not normally built by subject matter experts. They’re meant to find bugs in the tool, identify where a configuration is broken, and make sure the software is successfully completing processes from a high-level standpoint. They don’t test the system to work in the way that it will be used day to day. That’s why IJA doesn’t currently use any solutions for automated testing. If a client has a pre-existing tool for automated testing, however, we can always learn it and help create scenarios.
Manual Workday® testing
While automated testing has its place, we believe very strongly in the power of manual testing. On each project, IJA works with subject matter experts—those that use the system most often in their daily jobs—to test exactly HOW the company will use Workday®. This allows end users to get a feel for the system or updates to ensure everything will work once live.
IJA always facilitates testing and stays with the team every step of the way, but the super users are typically the ones doing the testing. After all, they are the ones who can give the best insight into the daily operations of the company and determine whether or not the system is working to their standards! This also allows them to get familiar with the software before it rolls out to the rest of the company and positions them as “experts” for when other members of the company have questions.
Manual testing will always be a part of the IJA process. We believe that technology should serve people, not the other way around. So while we may use automated testing to help root out bugs or glaring issues, it’s only by manually simulating the actual way Workday® will be used each day that we can determine if we’ve truly optimized the configuration to meet the unique needs of an individual company.
Learn more about how we approach testing and contact us if you have any questions we can answer!