Oracle EPM Cloud Patch Validation with Test Automation

Oracle EPM Cloud Applications undergo continuous evolution, featuring not only fundamental software modifications but also numerous enhancements. These enhancements include graphical user interface (GUI) updates, new features, improved performance, and functional enhancements. With the frequent patching of EPM Cloud, enterprises encounter significant testing challenges for their EPM Cloud applications. This is where the role of test automation becomes crucial.  

Learn more: A Guide to Oracle EPM

In this blog, we will delve into the challenges associated with Oracle EPM Cloud Patching and explore how test automation can effectively tackle these obstacles.  

Oracle EPM Cloud Patching Process

Understanding the patching process of Oracle EPM Cloud Apps is very important as it helps enterprises to know about upcoming fixes or enhancements and the associated need for regression testing. Since EPM is an enterprise-grade software in which tons of transactions take place daily, you simply cannot trust patching without regression testing. Testing ensures that patching has not introduced any new bugs or negatively impacted system performance, user experience, or business process.  

Types of Patches in the Oracle EPM Cloud

• Monthly Patches – The monthly patches are rolled out majorly for bug fixing and providing enhancements to Oracle EPM Cloud Apps. Irrespective of the business process (EPBCS, FCCS, PCMCS, etc.), the monthly patches are scheduled as follows:  
• Test instances are patched on the 1st Friday of the month.
• Production instances are patched on the 3rd Friday of the month.

Thus, we can infer that Oracle offers 2-week time for regression testing.

• Weekly Patches – In Oracle EPM Cloud, weekly patches can be deployed in two situations:  
• If EPM Cloud development team gets the service request which has been filed in the first week after the environment is updated in the monthly cycle and identifies a non-regression issue.

More than ten environments are impacted by the reported issue.

• One-Off Patches – These patches are only deployed to an environment to resolve a regression issue that has been confirmed by the EPM Cloud development team within the first week after an environment is updated in the monthly cycle.

Learn more: How Test Automation Optimizes Oracle EPM Financial Consolidation and Close

Why is Regression Testing required to Ensure Defect-free EPM Patching

Regression testing of Oracle EPM Cloud is critical. The deployment of a specific patch can have an unanticipated consequence on applications/ business processes. It is recommended that you should validate critical reports, key workflow approvals, and critical integrations with other applications in the Test instance before the promotion of the patch to the Production environment to ensure business continuity.

Test Automation – Your Pathway to Digital Success

Although the manual testing approach is still prevalent, it cannot be considered viable in the Oracle EPM Cloud due to frequent patch releases and short testing windows. It can prove to be a costly proposition in the long run and can lead to business disruptions due to manual inaccuracies and limited test coverage. Enterprises need to bring in highly dynamic continuous test automation to keep pace with Oracle EPM Cloud patch release.  

Automating a pre-built regression script on a monthly cadence will help enterprises by preventing unfortunate events like patch being promoted to Production to cause a delay or slowdown in the execution of EPBCS/PCMCS Calculations and is well worth the effort.  

Test automation helps in increasing the overall software efficiency with faster feedback, accelerated results, lower costs, greater efficiency, and broader coverage.  

Continuous test automation accelerates release, patch, and upgrade test cycles across the breadth of Oracle EPM Cloud Applications and beyond.

Opkey's No-Code Test Automation for Oracle EPM Cloud Patch Validation

• Opkey’s real-time Change Impact Analysis report specifies changes and risks in impacted test scripts across your configured modules and business processes.  
• Opkey provides Change Impact Advisories highlighting functional and technical changes in your Oracle EPM Cloud application. Opkey clearly informs you about the changes in your transactions, configurations, and custom screens.
• Opkey reduces your key user's test maintenance effort by providing One-Click Autonomous Self-Healing Tests for all impacted test libraries.  
• Opkey's Self-Configuring engine generates multiple relevant data combinations across various configured setups and modules.