The PeopleSoft Connection, a Quest On Air podcast, released episode #4 – discussing The PeopleSoft Test Framework with PeopleSoft users Jessica Maistrovich from Hennepin County and Jennifer Gilbert from King County.
The PeopleSoft Connection hosted by PeopleSoft users Stephen Valentine, senior director of quality assurance at the Milton Hershey school and Brooke Repine, a PeopleSoft business systems analyst with Samaritan’s Purse explores and showcases how PeopleSoft customers are harnessing specific functionality and capabilities to drive business success.
In this episode, the group-of-four discuss leveraging PeopleSoft Test Framework (PTF) to improve efficiency, reliability, and standardization of testing processes without additional cost. They recommend that organizations begin using PTF for routine and high-impact testing tasks, support community engagement, and prioritize modular test design for maximum benefit.
Listen to the full episode here
Highlights from the discussion:
- PeopleSoft customers have access to PTF, a robust UI automation tool integrated with PeopleSoft for automated testing.
- Initial barriers include user skepticism, previous unsuccessful automation attempts, lack of trust in test scripts, technical setup uncertainties, and organizational inertia toward traditional manual testing approaches.
- Organizations have overcome these challenges through community building, ongoing mentorship, modularization of tests, and leveraging the tight integration of PTF with PeopleSoft.
- Adoption of PTF over the years has led to significant time savings, streamlined processes (e.g., reducing 8-week tasks to 3 hours), risk reduction from human errors, and the cultivation of a supportive user community with shared best practices and continuous improvement.
PTF’s Value Proposition:
- PTF’s seamless integration with PeopleSoft applications provides unique automation capabilities unavailable in generic tools, allowing one-line execution of complex processes and making it an ideal fit for ongoing regression and process testing.
- Regular working groups, SIGs, and documentation exchanges empower both new and advanced users, accelerate learning, and spread effective PTF usage, overcoming initial resistance and enabling knowledge transfer.
- Automation replaced labor-intensive processes such as key test cycles (like payroll) dropped from weeks of manual effort to hours, and script modularization improved maintainability and reusability, further reducing operational risk and testing overhead.
The best way to kick start your PTF project:
- Ensure installation and technical setup of PTF on required environments with sysadmin support for initial rollout .
- Identify the highest-impact, most repetitive testing processes as quick-win candidates for initial PTF automation roping in QA leads, business analysts to take ownership. Document ROI by comparing manual vs. automated outcomes.
- Enroll relevant staff in PTF learning forums, SIGs, and working groups to promote skills transfer and support .
- Modularize scripts (one page/user per test), use descriptive naming conventions, and structure test libraries by business module.
- Leverage community resources for support and best practice sharing.
- Develop and share a PTF best-practices guide tailored to the organization’s needs, including naming conventions and folder structure.
- Review and iterate test suites quarterly based on user feedback and evolving business needs to ensure ongoing relevance and reliability.
The PeopleSoft Connection podcast aims to:
- Introduce you to PeopleSoft capabilities you may not be using
- Allow you to explore opportunities to modernize your PeopleSoft environment
- Showcase customers who are doing amazing things with PeopleSoft
- Gain access to trusted information by tapping into the collective knowledge and experience within Quest PeopleSoft Community
The PeopleSoft Connection is available on 🎧 Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Amazon Music. Subscribe to The PeopleSoft Connection via your preferred channel to get notified when the next episode of the podcast is released. The podcast hosts will continue to bring to you real stories and strategies to help you get the most out of your PeopleSoft products.