Your UKG workforce management solution helps drive business outcomes by providing powerful tools for managing and retaining a high-performing workforce.
However, every change you make to your workforce management system creates risks, which could affect your employees, and ultimately, your business.
Whether you’re implementing a new workforce management solution such as Workforce Dimensions, upgrading to a new version, or releasing business-driven system changes, it’s critical to test your system thoroughly.
UKG testing can be time-consuming, expensive, and stressful. But it doesn’t have to be.
In this article, we’ll walk you through the five types of testing that UKG customers are responsible for, and you’ll learn how to reduce the risks associated with making changes to your workforce management system.
1. Functional Testing
Functional testing validates your workforce management system changes against functional requirements. This type of testing ensures your system is working as planned, and meets specifications and end-user expectations. Functional testing also ensures a minimum level of software quality and is typically a precursor to further types of testing (which we cover in the rest of this article).
The process of functional testing validates numerous combinations of inputs and boundary cases within the software application to make sure it meets the expected output.
The functional testing of your UKG workforce management system includes the writing of detailed test cases and is best-organized by functional areas of the application e.g.:
- Timekeeping: this consists of several building blocks such as breaks, exceptions, overtime, holiday rules, and employment terms.
- Accruals: areas to test include specific policies, limits, carry-overs, and grants.
- Scheduling: areas to test include minimum hours per day/per week requirements, the time between shifts, and other rules.
2. Systems Integration Testing
Systems integration testing works to validate interactions between the modules of your workforce management system, including interoperability with other internal and external platforms and hardware.
This type of testing is incredibly important because it ensures that all of your enterprise systems work together correctly. Imagine the disruption to internal end-user workflows if your UKG changes don’t ‘play well’ with your legacy platforms. Even more concerning, consider the impact on your customers. Systems integration testing allows you to fix possible issues before they’re released to your end-users.
Systems integration testing goes beyond a basic exchange of data and looks closely at the context of this exchange. Instead, this type of testing seeks to validate the business use cases for each interface by testing them individually. This upfront process eliminates any production issues when your UKG changes go live.
For example, consider Employee Import. Instead of just validating the file specification, systems integration testing confirms specific processes, such as:
- New employee hiring
- Promotion or demotion
- Job changes
- Termination
Our experience has shown us that this type of testing can uncover issues with the quality of the source data, allowing you to correct it in advance of any problems affecting end-users.
In many ways, systems integration testing is like a business insurance policy, giving your team the confidence that the latest UKG changes will deploy smoothly and efficiently.
3. Parallel Testing
Parallel testing is a comparison between your current and new software. This type of testing helps you to identify and respond to any behavioral differences between the two. The term ‘Parallel Testing’ historically implies an apples-to-apples comparison between two types of software.
However, in many cases, new features or policies are intentionally added to your workforce management system, making an apples-to-apples comparison irrelevant. In such cases, your parallel testing is about validating changes by reviewing and accounting for the differences in real-life situations.
In this co-opted form of parallel testing, a subset of real-world data from production is extracted and re-created in a test environment. This allows the testing team to safely review and validate any differences between the two systems or versions of the software. The subject matter experts (SMEs) can analyze, understand, and sign off on these differences before deployment.
Parallel testing can also help with stakeholder buy-in by building trust and confidence in the new UKG version or release by:
- Doing real-world testing in specific situations.
- Verifying the impact of new features on current workflows.
- Providing a final opportunity to rectify anything that is misunderstood and make changes to the system before the go-live.
- Helping train key SMEs such as department heads in the new software.
Parallel testing can minimize the impact to end-users while securing the support of SMEs, who can return to their departments as UKG evangelists and be crucial in helping the adoption of the new system.
4. User Acceptance Testing
User acceptance testing (UAT) validates that the end-to-end workflow for the new software meets the business requirements. Typically, SMEs from the field will perform real-world business scenarios to ensure the software is fit for delivery to employees in the field. UAT helps them perform end-to-end workflows using production-like data.
Examples of UAT done during a UKG workforce management system implementation or initiative include processes such as:
- Employee requests time off
- Employee views their timecard or schedule
- Manager approves time off requests
- Manager approves payroll
- Manager creates the schedule
UAT helps to ensure a smooth software rollout of your workforce management system in four crucial ways:
- It validates that the software will work in real-life situations and supports the various roles and workflows within your organization.
- It ensures there were no misunderstandings of requirements and that any requirements that changed during the project didn’t get missed.
- It provides valuable feedback in a controlled setting before rolling out to your organization.
- It often functions as a dry-run of training and communications processes and materials.
5. Regression Testing
Regression testing ensures that a recent fix or change to your workforce management system doesn’t negatively affect previously working functionality and your end-users.
This type of testing is critical for UKG software releases as well as compliance and policy changes. It lets you accept the change and move forward quickly and with confidence.
Typically, regression testing is performed by re-running a subset of functional test cases that provide sufficient coverage across the entire application. Every release to your workforce management system needs to be regression tested.
Examples of changes to your production system that require regression testing include:
- Corporate policy and procedure changes
- Legislative or compliance rule changes
- New release updates or software upgrades
- Rollout to new employees, locations, business units, or regions
- Fixing a production defect
Reduce Your Risks and Move Faster with Confidence
These five types of testing are labor-intensive but crucial to minimizing your risks. Without them, you can’t be confident that the changes to your UKG workforce management system won’t disrupt your business.
By understanding these different types of testing and how they complement each other, you can introduce new functionality, geographies, and updates with confidence. You can also reduce your risks and ensure that your people continue to get paid correctly.
Whether you’re implementing a new UKG workforce management system, upgrading to a new version, or releasing business-driven changes, we can help.
TestAssure is committed to providing UKG customers with QA planning and test automation to help you minimize the impact of your system changes, reduce your risks, and help you move faster with confidence.
Contact us today for a test drive.