Overview of Workday Testing
Welcome to another edition of In the Loop!
Stormloop is back to discuss best practices when testing Workday initiatives. Our goal in this blog is to provide insight into the various stages of testing during any Workday Project, from the implementation to post-production projects, we will outline each phase and the objectives. Testing can seem like a daunting and repetitive part of the implementation cycle; however, understanding each cycle can help increase the success and adoption rate post-go-live and improve morale around future Workday projects.
It is crucial to run through multiple testing phases at various points within the implementation. The following are the different testing cycles included within each workstream: Unit Testing, End-to-End Testing, Parallel Testing, Data Validation, Smoke Testing, User Readiness Review (UAT), and Regression Testing.
We invite you to review your current testing protocols and confirm that each phase is well-defined within your team. Additionally, note that the various phases differ within each functional area and as you zoom out on the project as a whole. The overarching theme across any project is that all Workday elements are connected and must be tested individually and together before going to Production.
See below for a brief definition of each testing phase. To track your progress across the tests, we recommend using an approved application such as Microsoft, Smartsheets, or JIRA to report on progress and open items & ensure you remain on schedule. This is especially important for End-to-End and UAT testing.
Unit Testing
The first testing cycle called unit testing should be an initial test of the configured tenant to validate siloed tasks, core configurations and business processes. Testing should be done via individual cases and tracked to confirm completeness. For instance, integration developers and report writers should complete basic unit tests on their initial builds to validate against the requirement and confirm that core functionality is operational.
End-to-End Testing
The next phase of testing, also referred to as end-to-end testing, should cover the entire process flow from start to finish between multiple functions and 3rd parties. Please work with all stakeholders to identify the testing scenarios required for each area. For instance, a basic employee file that is sent to an active directory might include a hire, termination, job change, and address change. If your team also uses a custom object on this integration, this client-specific functionality needs to be included in this testing phase to ensure it’s tested prior to go-live. Other items to be tested include in-scope functional configurations, BPs, core integrations, reports, worklets, notifications, event maintenance, and security configurations. It is crucial that these test cases are documented and that all scenarios are signed off migrating to the next tenant for any additional testing or Production. By the end of this testing cycle, the goal is to identify workarounds for urgent and high-category issues missed during requirement gathering or design and work through testing them in the subsequent testing phases so that scenarios are not missed.
Parallel Testing (Usually only done for Payroll Projects)
Following unit and end-to-end testing comes parallel testing, which is specific to payroll. The purpose of parallel testing is to duplicate a selected pay period (a prior period in the legacy system) in Workday and confirm totals align with an actual result. The goal is to obtain the same or as close as possible pay result for workers having 99-100% accuracy as well as identification and explanation of any variances. We also recommend sending integration files to your external vendors for validation, as well, such as your 401k provider or any benefit vendors that track contributions. We recommend that you confirm reporting requirements with your auditors, as well. If transitioning payroll systems, many internal & external auditors will require strong documentation around what was tested, how validations were performed, and explanations for any variance. It’s unlikely that you’ll have your testing tenant for long after Go-Live, so proactiveness here is absolutely necessary to remain in compliance.
Acceptance Testing
Acceptance testing is one of the key areas of testing within the Workday ecosystem. Workday primarily functions around the concept of self-service. User acceptance testing is critical and is where your organization will play the main role in testing. Acceptance testing is specifically designed around how your organization will utilize and maintain any new functionality. This is generally where testing scripts and scenarios will come into play. You will replicate scenarios on behalf of several users and roles to ensure the process is behaving according to expectations and requirements.
Miscellaneous Testing
Other types of testing like data validation are to confirm the data that has been loaded is accurate, smoke testing is to validate that the system components and functionality are functioning as it is intended to be. Integration testing is to validate that inbound and outbound integrations are working as designed. User Readiness Review is performed by select end users that provide final validation and identify simple updates that can be made for the system to be more user-friendly. Lastly, regression testing is performed to re-test configuration after a change has been made.
To close, testing is much more complex and all-inclusive than you may believe. When constructing a project or implementation plan, always conservatively block time for the various testing phases to give your users sufficient time to validate changes or new functionality. Remember that testing without the appropriate stakeholders is not sufficient for production approval. UAT is a necessity for a smooth release, whether making a minor adjustment to a basic process or releasing an entirely new functionality.
From all of us here at Stormloop, Happy Testing !
Contact us at info@stormlooptech.com to learn more.
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Written by: Michelle Kim
Follow Michelle here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelleyangkim/