IFS Testing

Hari Mahesh

About IFS

IFS Cloud is a comprehensive Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) solution offered by IFS, a global software provider. It is designed to support organizations in managing their core business processes efficiently, from project and asset management to supply chain operations, human resources, and customer engagement.

IFS Cloud integrates various functionalities into a unified platform, enabling businesses to improve operational efficiency, adaptability, and decision-making through real-time data insights and modern technology. It caters to industries like manufacturing, energy, utilities, aerospace, defense, construction, and service management.

IFS Cloud is feature-packed, and a few of its key features are listed below:

• Unified Platform: IFS Cloud combines ERP, EAM, FSM, CRM, and HRM into a single, integrated solution for streamlined operations.
• Cloud-Native Architecture: Offers scalable, flexible, and accessible solutions with deployment in public, private, or hybrid clouds.
• Advanced Analytics and AI: Provides real-time insights, predictive maintenance, and intelligent automation powered by AI.
• ERP: Manages core business processes like financials, procurement, and inventory within a centralized system.
• EAM: Supports the complete lifecycle of assets with predictive maintenance and compliance tools.
• FSM: Optimizes field service operations with AI-driven scheduling and mobile technician support.
• Project Management: Facilitates efficient resource planning, risk management, and project delivery.
• HRM: Simplifies workforce management with payroll, benefits, and employee self-service capabilities.
• CRM: Enhances customer engagement through sales automation, service management, and feedback analytics.

Testing IFS Cloud

IFS Cloud testing involves validating its extensive functionalities, integrations, and performance to ensure the platform meets business requirements and operates reliably in a real-world environment. Due to the platform’s comprehensive nature, testing must cover its various modules like ERP, EAM, FSM, CRM, and HRM.

Major testing that needs to be performed on IFS applications include:

• End-to-end Testing: End-to-end testing simulates real-world workflows in IFS Cloud to validate entire business processes from start to finish, such as placing an order, managing inventory, and generating an invoice. It ensures that all integrated components work together to meet business goals.
• Integration Testing: Integration testing examines how different modules within IFS Cloud (e.g., CRM and ERP) interact and share data. It ensures seamless integration with third-party tools, APIs, and legacy systems to avoid data flow issues.
• Performance Testing: Performance testing evaluates IFS Cloud’s speed, responsiveness, and stability under varying loads. It identifies bottlenecks and ensures the platform can handle large-scale operations without performance degradation.
• Security Testing: Security testing assesses IFS Cloud for vulnerabilities such as data breaches, unauthorized access, and compliance with security standards. This includes penetration testing and encryption validation to protect sensitive enterprise data.
• Load Testing: Load testing evaluates how IFS Cloud performs under heavy user loads or large transaction volumes. It simulates concurrent users to ensure system reliability during peak usage.
• Scalability Testing: Scalability testing assesses how well IFS Cloud scales with increased users, data volume, or expanded business operations. It ensures the platform’s ability to support organizational growth seamlessly.

For IFS Cloud, we can perform both manual and automated testing; however, being an ERP application, there are numerous scenarios that need to be validated across different browsers and platforms, making manual testing less ideal. Additionally, certain tests, such as performance and load testing, cannot be effectively executed manually. Therefore, the best approach is to rely more on automated testing to ensure comprehensive, efficient, and repeatable validations.

End-to-end Testing for IFS Cloud

End-to-End (E2E) testing in IFS Cloud ensures the reliability and efficiency of critical business processes, such as order management, asset tracking, and financial reporting, by validating that these workflows operate without errors across modules. It also verifies seamless communication between various IFS Cloud modules, such as ERP, CRM, and EAM, as well as with third-party systems or APIs.

Additionally, E2E testing confirms that the application behaves as intended across all platforms, including web and mobile, ensuring a consistent and user-friendly experience. Finally, it identifies defects that may arise due to module interactions or data flow issues, ensuring smooth and error-free operations across the system.

testRigor for IFS Testing

IFS cloud is a large and complex application, so using traditional automation tools adds more maintenance effort and cost, bringing less advantage for automation. That’s where modern AI-enabled automation tools come in place. Considering the generative AI-based tools, testRigor stands out from the rest due to its remarkable features.

Let’s understand how testRigor brings value to E2E testing.

• Natural Language Automation: testRigor allows you to write test scripts in plain English, making it accessible to non-technical team members like manual testers, management, and business analysts. This broadens participation in test creation, increasing test coverage and addressing more scenarios.
• Stable Element Locators: Instead of using traditional XPath or CSS locators, testRigor identifies elements based on visible text on the screen. This AI-powered approach reduces maintenance effort and lets teams focus on building use cases rather than fixing flaky tests. For example:

  click "cart"
  enter "Peter" into "Section" below "Type" and on the right of "Description"

• Comprehensive Testing: testRigor handles a wide range of testing needs, including web, mobile apps, desktop apps, APIs, visual testing, accessibility testing, all within a single tool.
• Cross-Platform Support: The platform supports web, mobile, and desktop applications, allowing for comprehensive testing across various platforms.
• Reduced Test Maintenance: By focusing on the end-user perspective and minimizing reliance on locators, testRigor reduces the time spent on test maintenance, especially for rapidly changing products. Read: Decrease Test Maintenance Time by 99.5% with testRigor.
• Seamless Integrations: With built-in integrations for CI/CD tools like Jenkins and CircleCI, test management systems like TestRail, defect trackers like Jira, and communication tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams, testRigor easily fits into your existing workflows.

login
create new lead // Reusable rule
go to leads // Reusable rule
check that table at row containing stored value "lastName" and column "Status" contains "Created"
click "Add New"
fill user details // Reusable rule
click Save

You can understand from the above script that creating automation scripts is very easy with testRigor. You can easily create functions for the test steps you use repeatedly. You can use the Reusable Rules to create such functions and call them in test cases by simply writing their names. Also, check here how login is handled by testRigor in-built and other options.

The points above highlight just a few of the many powerful features testRigor offers. To discover all its capabilities, explore here or sign up for a demo to start your journey.

“We spent so much time on maintenance when using Selenium, and we spend nearly zero time with maintenance using testRigor.”

Keith Powe VP Of Engineering - IDT