Testing SAP R/3: A Manager's Step-by-Step Guide

Chapter 4. Estimating Testing Costs

Testing is an activity that typically consumes the most resources and budget in any SAP implementation or SAP upgrade. When broken down into smaller subtasks, testing is expensive because it requires labor hours from multiple project resources for test planning, test automation, test execution, recording test results, resolving defects, impact analysis, retesting the application, and applying lessons learned from testing. For example, the creation, peer review, and approval of a single SAP test case may require labor hours from the business analyst, SAP consultant, system architect, quality assurance (QA) representative, subject matter expert (SME), and test team member.

The costs associated with SAP testing are primarily attributed to the following activities and/or events:

• Hardware equipment (i.e., machines, servers, laptops, printers, etc.)

• Software costs (i.e., automation, version control, and test management software)

• Billable hours for testing activities such as test planning, test design, test execution and defect resolution (i.e., hourly rate for contractors, employee's labor costs)

• Outsourcing agreements (i.e., paying a third-party entity to conduct independent or automated testing)

• Training costs (i.e., learning test procedures for reporting defects)

• Person-hours spent enforcing quality standards and lessons learned

Accurate estimation of SAP testing costs for a given SAP test cycle (i.e., regression, performance, integration, etc.) is complex ...