SAP R/3 Testing with CATT (Paperback)

~ Gerhard Oberneidermaier (Author), Marcus Geiss (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

(Pearson Education) A practical guide to the use of CATT, SAP's Computer Aided Testing Tool, during the implementation of SAP R/3. Teaches how to use CATT tools in testing transactions and database field values, configuring system tables, as well as many other tasks and procedures.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

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Product Details

• Paperback: 292 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional (October 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 020167517X
• ISBN-13: 978-0201675177
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,403,426 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Solid look at R/3 testing, role and value of CATT on project, March 14, 2001

By A Customer

If you're involved in testing R/3 systems, this book should be on the shelf. We've all purchased a clunker or two when it comes to R/3 reference books -- this one's a keeper for a change!

The R/3 CATT tool is one of those golden gems that isn't given much notice, but is quite easy to use, surprisingly comprehensive, provides a wealth of robust features, and provides tremendous value-added potential to projects large and small. We'd looked at CATT way back with 3.0d and recoiled in horror -- it was simply brutal. Somewhere along the road SAP turned that ugly frog into a prince (and hardly told a soul in the process!). Committed to a 4.6b functional upgrade the first quarter of 2000 (we were one of, if not THE, first to take shipment of the software) we found our previous 3rd party test tool unsupported and, best case, at least one quarter behind shipping. Forced to take another look at CATT as the only product on the market "guaranteed" to work with 4.6b we were surprised and delighted at what we found. We printed everything off the system on-line help we could find, pieced together a workbook, found an SAP America CATT resource for guideance, and went off to our functional teams to "sell" CATT. This book was exactly what we were looking for.

The book offers overviews of testing as a whole, some development methodology/ASAP material that you can gloss over, and then provides procedural examples of simple test modules and test procedures that you can record/build on your own system. You can quickly move to record and build test modules for functionality within your own development scope. With this under your belt you can then begin to explore the robust features of the CATT Expert mode. Yet, even at this fairly simple low-level testing perspective, you've got a lot of R/3 testing power in hand.

A comprehensive test plan can be composed of these building blocks, test modules for each transaction within the business string, assembled into test procedures. The few limitations for CATT (transactions that behave differently in background vs. foreground, transactions that LEAVE TO TRANSACTION, screen-dependent selections (menu's, drill-down's, etc.)) can easily be isolated from the CATT-driven test plan and manually tested in a supplemental test plan.

The fruits of CATT test catalogues extend long after successful implementation 'go live'. Phased implementations benefit from having a regression test tool readily available to insure there are no unpredicted impacts within the existing production base functionality. Hot pack acceptance, and kernal upgrades are readily testable and even full-blown functional upgrades SHOULD be possible with minimal disruption to the test scripts EXCEPT where changes have occurred -- and the failure of your existing CATT scripts would point those areas out!

There's still a healthy market out there for third-party R/3 test tools, and of course CATT doesn't do everything. But for a "free tool" there's a lot of value out there to harness. This book is a solid step in that process.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Book for SAP Version 4.0; needs updating, February 14, 2002

By A Customer

Bought the book in March 2002 and much to my surprise, this book deals with R/3 Version 4.0. Given the CATT tool and workbench went through a major overhaul in versions 4.5 and 4.6 (including the addition of a new, simplified transaction), this should be recognized. If your buying this for the tool, be aware.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reference Book to SAP R/3 Testing, May 19, 2001

By	[e-mail] (Philadelphia, USA) - See all my reviews

Easy to read, easy to summarize and most importantly you can start putting it to use day one. If you are beginning to look at the advantages of utilizing the CATT tool within your SAP project or you have reached that threshold of being able to capture scripts but need to take advantage of the power, risk reductions and cost savings provided by implementing test procedures on a more integrated level, then this is your book. The added bonus is it also provides an overall view of the system development life cycle utilizing the various different implementation methodoligies known today in an easy to understand format.