Introduction
In the world of SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud, change is constant—monthly delivery of innovations, localisation updates, and fast-paced deployments. Ensuring business continuity and quality assurance in such a dynamic environment is no longer optional—it's essential.
SAP’s Test Automation Tool (TAT), embedded within the S/4HANA Public Cloud system, empowers functional consultants and testers to build automated test cases without coding and execute them as part of release cycles or ongoing change initiatives.
In this post, I’ll walk you through what TAT is, why it matters, and how you can start automating your first business process—with no need to install anything externally.
What is the Test Automation Tool for SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud ?
SAP's built-in Test Automation Tool (TAT) is a cloud-native feature available for all S/4HANA Public Cloud customers. It's designed to automate business process testing without any third-party tools.
Key features include:
- Pre-delivered test scripts for standard business processes (like Procure-to-Pay, Order-to-Cash)
- A graphical UI to record and modify test steps
- Support for reusable test components and variants
- Integration with SAP Cloud ALM for test orchestration
- Test analytics for tracking pass/fail results
Why Use TAT ?
Benefit | Description |
Speed | Automate in hours what used to take days manually |
Resilience | Standard test scripts get updated with SAP releases |
Compliance | Easy to run tests before and after upgrades |
Low-Code | Functional users can build and update tests without ABAP skills |
Step-by-Step: How to Create Your First Test Script
Let’s say you want to automate a scenario - Procurement of Direct Materials in the system
🔹Step 1: Open the Test Automation Tool App
- Launch the SAP Fiori Launchpad.
- Open the Automated Testing space.
- Pre-requisite: Ensure your user is assigned the role SAP_BR_ADMIN_TEST_AUTOMATION to access the test automation features.
- Navigate to the “Manage Your Test Processes” app to start working with test scripts.
🔹Step 2: Choose a Pre-Delivered Test Script
- Use the search function to locate a relevant SAP-delivered test script, such as:
- “Procurement of Direct Materials” or “J45”
- Review the process steps to ensure it matches your requirements.
🔹Step 3: Copy and Customise the Test Script
- Click “Copy” to create your own Test Process as a custom version.
- Modify the test process:
- Adjust steps to suit your business scenario
- Enter required input parameters (e.g., supplier, material number, plant, quantity)
- Make the Test Script Visible.
🔹Step 4: Create a Test Plan
- Open the “Test Your Processes” app.
- Click the “+” (Create) button to define a new Test Plan.
- Search and select your customised test script from Step 3.
- Click “Save” to save your Test Plan.
🔹Step 5: Execute the Test
- Open your saved Test Plan.
- Click “Execute”.
🔹Step 6: Review Test Results
- Go to the “Test Results” - > “Logs” section.
- Review:
- Pass/Fail status for each step
- Execution logs for troubleshooting
- Screenshots captured during test run for audit and validation
Best Practices for Success
✅ Use Pre-Delivered Scripts
Don't reinvent the wheel. Start from SAP-delivered templates and tailor them.
✅ Maintain Reusable Components
Create and reuse process steps and scripts
✅ Align with Release Cycles
Execute automation runs before and after innovation updates to catch regressions early.
✅ Leverage Cloud ALM
Integrate with Cloud ALM for full test orchestration, requirements traceability, and defect logging.
Conclusion
The SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud Test Automation Tool is not just a nice-to-have—it's your first line of defence against change-related defects in a fast-evolving cloud ERP world. Functional consultants and test engineers now have the power to automate business processes without writing a single line of code.
In future posts, I’ll deep-dive into:
- Creating test data variants
- Handling failed scripts
