Testing SAP Like a Jet Engine – What Can We Learn from the Aviation Industry?

Can you learn ANYTHING about SAP Testing from the aviation industry?

Imagine you’re sitting at an airport, waiting for your flight. As you watch planes take off and land, you probably don’t give too much thought to how the engines are tested. Because from the standpoint of a user – all that matters is that they work flawlessly. During one of the episodes of Test Podcast, Michał Krawczyk shared a great analogy regarding testing the engines and SAP Testing:

Interestingly, there’s a lot we can learn from how jet engines are tested when it comes to SAP software testing, especially in the context of the massive transformations many companies are undergoing today.

Testing Jet Engines: A Crash Course

Let’s start with jet engines. When an engine has an issue, it’s not a simple fix. You can’t just tweak a few things and hope for the best. Often, the engine needs to be removed from the plane and taken to a specialized repair shop. Imagine it’s a high-pressure compressor that needs attention. Once it’s fixed, how do you ensure it’s ready to get back in the air?

There are a few ways to test this:

1. Testing in Production: You could reinstall the engine on the plane and take it for a flight. While this might seem direct, it’s risky and impractical. Testing an unproven engine mid-flight isn’t something any of us would volunteer for!
2. Building a Full Plane Replica: A more thorough approach would be to build a complete replica of the plane in the shop, install the engine, and run your tests. While this is safer, it’s also expensive and time-consuming. Plus, if you have multiple types of planes that use this engine, you’d need to build multiple replicas. That’s a huge investment in time and resources.
3. Using a Simulator: The most efficient option is to use a simulator. By creating a simulation of the engine’s environment, you can test it thoroughly without needing the whole plane. This method is fast, cost-effective, and allows for precise testing of individual components.

 

Applying these lessons to SAP Testing

Now, let’s bring this analogy back to SAP software testing. Many companies undergoing SAP transformations seem to think the only way to test their systems is by building something akin to that full plane replica. They set up environments that mirror their production systems in every detail—replicating all the master data, connectivity, and hardware. It’s a safe option, but just like in aviation, it’s also the most costly and time-consuming.

But what if we could approach SAP testing more like testing a jet engine with a simulator? This is exactly what it means to “decouple” your SAP system for the purpose of testing.

 
 

Thanks to this, you can also test SAP in isolation.

The Case for Service Virtualization

In the aviation world, simulation allows engineers to focus on the specific parts of the engine that need testing without the unnecessary expense of replicating everything else. This approach is possible for SAP testing as well. See the quick explanation below:

Simulating third party systems can drastically reduce the cost and time involved in testing while still ensuring that everything works correctly.

Why Aren’t We Doing This?

Despite the clear benefits, many organizations hesitate to adopt simulation-based testing for SAP. Why? Part of the reason is – they simply do not know this technology well enough.

That’s why we’ve created an official LearningSAP (formerly OpenSAP) course called “Avoid SAP S/4HANA Project Delays with Third-Party Systems Service Virtualization”. CLICK HERE to register to this free course.

Use the lessons from Aviation

As the market for SAP testing continues to grow, especially with the push towards S4HANA transformations, it’s crucial that we start thinking differently about how we approach testing. Just like the heart of a plane is its engine, for many companies, the heart of their operations is their SAP system. And just like you wouldn’t risk testing an engine mid-flight, you shouldn’t risk your SAP transformation by relying solely on the old, cumbersome methods of testing.

Instead, let’s take a page from the aviation industry’s playbook so we can achieve the same level of thoroughness without the unnecessary overhead. It’s time to stop thinking we need to build a full plane to test an engine—and stop thinking we need to replicate an entire SAP system to ensure it works. The future of SAP testing might just be as sleek and efficient as the engines powering the planes we fly every day.

Interested in making it happen? Schedule a demo of Int4 Suite and learn more about how you Enterprise could benefit: