Oracle Apps Tutorial: How to Automate Oracle EBS Patch Testing

One of the universal facts with Oracle E-Business Suite or any other large software package is that you eventually will need to apply patches. The Oracle E-Business Suite patches vary in size and scope. From the small one-off patches (also called an Emergency Patch) to a large upgrade patch, you will need to determine two things. First, did the patch fix the problem and second did the patch break any existing functionality. The first question is usually answered by manually testing the specific issue and see if it resolves the problem. The second question is answered by regression testing.

Regression tests are tests that verify that the functionality and performance have not changed. I did a query on the Oracle Support web site for the phrase “After Applied Patch” and found over 22,000 notes with that phrase. Some of these notes described functionality problems and others described performance problems. So we not only need to test to see if the processes still work but that they also work in a timely manner.

Since regression tests are repetitive in nature, the easiest way to perform them is through automation. I started automating test scripts in 2003 (using Winrunner from Mercury Interactive and QARun from Compuware). The latest software I’m using is AppVerify from NRG Global. I’m using this software because it not only tells me if the process works but it tells me how long it took.

To help with the execution of the individual test scripts, I created a workflow that calls all the test scripts for a specific module. For example, you can create a test workflow named “Order Management Regression Tests” and that will call the “Enter and Book a Quick Order” test script and then will call the “Ship an Order” test script.

Here are the steps I used to create an automated regression test for entering and booking an order in Order Management.

1. 1. List the regression tests you wish to automate
   2. Determine the data that needs to be in variable (like dates)
   3. Determine the data you wish to pass between tests.
   4. Build your test scenarios
   5. Create a workflow
   6. Send the workflow to AppsWatch Test Manager
   7. Run your tests from AppsWatch before applying the patch. This will verify that all tests passed before the patch is applied
   8. Run your tests from AppsWatch after applying the patch.