S/4HANA isn’t just a system upgrade. It’s a transformation that touches every part of the business – processes, integrations, reporting, compliance, and performance. Which is why testing becomes one of the most critical phases of the program. 

Most transformation teams understand this. They ramp up test automation, expand coverage, and shift validation earlier in the cycle. But despite that, regression cycles are slow. Failures multiply. And just when confidence should be building, it drops. 

The problem usually isn’t the automation. It’s the data.  

Because even the most well-designed test cases can’t succeed if the data they rely on doesn’t reflect how the business really works. 

The Real Bottleneck in SAP Testing 

In most SAP QA environments, test data falls short.  The customer record is incomplete. The credit limit isn’t set. The material group isn’t compatible. Or the test data that worked in cycle one has been consumed by cycle three.  

As the S/4HANA journey advances, these cracks widen:  

• false positives 

• brittle test runs 

• weeks lost chasing defects that aren’t caused by code. 

This is where most testing strategies break quietly and consistently. While the automation gets all the attention, the data gets left behind. And S/4HANA only increases the complexity.  

These environments are hybrid, distributed, and fast-moving. Testing a process in S/4HANA doesn’t just mean testing what happens in one app. It means validating behavior across finance, procurement, logistics, reporting, and often across surrounding ecosystem of non-SAP applications as well. 

Which means synthetic or placeholder data would cut it… You need data that is: 

• Structured according to configuration and master data rules 

• Aligned with cross-system dependencies 

• Masked for compliance and safe for non-production 

• Reusable across test cycles  
    

But in most programs, that kind of data isn’t being provisioned. Or if it is, it’s done manually and inconsistently. The result? Tests that run but don’t validate the risk. Tools that work, but test outcomes that can’t be trusted. 

When Test Data Fails, Transformation Slows 

First, it’s a dry run that starts to fail. Then it’s a regression suite with gaps and false failures. Then it’s a cutover rehearsal where no one’s sure whether to trust the result.  

At that point, testing becomes a bottleneck, not because the tools aren’t working, but because the assumptions about the data were wrong from the start. 

What Success Looks Like 

We see the most successful S/4HANA programs treat test data as a core dependency, not an afterthought. They don’t wait for test failures to diagnose the data. They design automation and data strategy together. They provision test data that’s reusable, masked, production-grade, and specific to the process under test. And they remove the guesswork. 

The Worksoft + EPI-USE Labs Difference  

At Worksoft, we partner with EPI-USE Labs to give QA teams the best of both worlds.  Worksoft delivers intelligent, scalable automation that supports full end-to-end testing across SAP and integrated systems. EPI-USE Labs enables tenables compliant, business-ready data provisioning through Worksoft Data Connect.  

It’s the combination that lets QA teams do more than just “get through” testing. It lets them validate transformation under real-world conditions, spot issues early, and accelerate delivery with confidence. Because at the end of the day, testing S/4HANA isn’t about volume. It’s about trust. And if your test data doesn’t reflect the system you’re about to go live with, then your testing won’t reflect the risks you’re about to take. 

Getting the data right changes that. It gives teams the ability to test faster, test smarter, and test in a way that aligns with how the business really operates. And in an S/4HANA program, that’s not a nice-to-have. It’s what keeps you on track. 

Ready to take the next step? 

Choose how you’d like to move forward:  

• Speak to a consultant about improving test reliability with data-aware automation  
• Download the eBook: Smarter SAP Testing Starts With Smarter Data  
• Visit our website to explore how Worksoft helps QA teams deliver automation that works