Automated Testing tools with Lawson

http://avaap.com/index.ph...vaap-Test-Automation

Rational Functional Tester

I have seen several approaches. They typically fall into one of two camps: Performance and Regression/Functional
In all reality, Performance is a special case of Functional Testing, so any scripts created for it, will work in general testing.

The tools for Performance are:
LoadRunner
WinRunner
NeoLoad
FireHose (Lawson-written, never released)
lapmimic/transgen

For Functional Testing:
Avaap (the only tool designed for Infor/Lawson products specifically, that I'm aware of)
LoadRunner (I did this at two large clients, and it was ALOT of work, so be sure you have a reusability case to justify the capital investment)
WinRunner (I saw a QA department have this down to a science...but that QA department was large)

...no matter which tool sets you use, make sure you understand what you need to test, and not, and which tools are appropriate.
For example, if you need to test mobile apps, or java based items (such as Landmark applications), the standard method used in the S3 world will not be fully sufficient.

If you have any questions, feel free to call me:

Kwane
505-433-7744

Hi Kwane,

Thank you for your response, Its very helpful. We are looking to do Regression testing with Lawson  and are looking for a automated testing tool that is open source and a remote desktop tool?

Your feed back is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
NK

NK,
I'm not sure when you mean 'remote desktop'. I will say that no open source suite will get you very close to a workable solution. You are going to have to invest a significant amount to time building your use cases, coding them up, and maintenance due to periodic changes within Infor. Not to say it can't be done, as I built a tool internally primarily for LSF900 similar to FireHose, but maintaining it was not simple.

The keys are what constitutes 'regression' for your needs, what layers of the stack are critical to that definition, and how much effort you are able to invest.

A simplified example would be: If regression to you means the user experience, then you'll need to test the weblayer (Portal, et al), and depending on time you could dust off tried and true 'junit' (if you're flush with time), or if not, then call Avaap... And by 'flush', I mean this is a full blown project.

A real world case was I needed to performance test a client, and their tool of choice was LoadRunner. They had meticulously maintained all of the usage case data needed for that requirement, but time was thin. It took 3 guys, doing marathon sessions coding up LoadRunner scripts, analyzing usage data, running tests, tuning the server: 3 guys, 1 functional user checking our results (and feeding us..literally), 1 manager...3 months, just under 2700 total man hours. We pulled 16 hour days for almost 2 months, to meet that deadline. And keep in mind, we were only testing performance, so we only coded up the high volume use cases, not ALL uses cases.

If you are salaried, think LONG and hard before you take on this endeavour, before you commit to your management, unless you have large team, or you're a guru. Also make sure you fully understand all the areas of Infor/Lawson so well you can be called an expert/guru, or you have access to people who are.

Make sure you can invest the time, and you have a process that makes reusability viable.
Otherwise...CALL AVAAP.

Also, it is telling that the reply you got from John Henley was a link to Avaap, considering he's one of the best in the field, most certainly an expert/guru at nearly every area of this system by anyone's definition, but he noticeably didn't attempt to guide you. The reason (I presume) is that since this is difficult to accomplish, and there's a prebuilt tool, the money for the tool most likely far outweighs the investment costs of the tool (although John can correct me on this one). As such, if there is a prebuilt tool (and there *is* at least one... Avaap), and an expert/guru is not suggesting to roll your own, give that action of the expert serious consideration.

Finally, consider this: Lawson Software Inc never released a tool set for this. The environment (Universe, Insight Enviroment, LSF, et al) is over 25 years old. Which means they never dedicated resources to develop one for public consumption (they have one in house as I understand for their own regression testing, though I can't vouch for it's quality). There is a reason for that...

...and it *is* hard without a set of dedicated resources.

Not trying to scare you, just want to be sure you fully understand your investment weighed against your objectives.

Now if you have looked at Avaap (or any other vendor with an available prebuilt tool), and you need something more custom, or you just want to roll your own, please feel free to call me, I'd happily steer you in a specific path, and if needed work out an financial arrangement to assist you in building one.

Kwane
505-433-7744

I did a little checking around, and after reading my previous post, if you *still* want to build *with FOSS tools*, I'd give the tools listed in the following WikiPedia article a check...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regression_testing

Hello Kwane,

Thank you so much I appreciate all your help with this. I am going to take a look at the link you provided and have to discuss with my team to see where we want to go from here.

Thanks,

NK

NK: You may also want to take a look at a company called Intellias Inc. They offer basically a 'job automation' solution that bolts right on to Lawson. We are looking at them now, as our finance dept wants to pick a process and hit one button and then viola it's done. (Which they say they can offer..) They say that it's very good for testing as well as production runs.
Anyone else have experience with Intellias Inc.?

Thanks Kwane, I will look in to this.

Hello,

Has anyone had any actual experience using avaap automated tool?