How can the modernization of a decades-old HR system succeed when processes are complex, documentation is incomplete and requirements are high? As a testing service provider, we make a significant contribution to the success of such projects by reconstructing requirements as part of the quality assurance process, creating communication structures and bringing about closer cooperation between IT and specialist departments and stakeholders.
As part of a strategic modernization project, the Oracle PeopleSoft-based HR system used by a major airline since the early 2000s was fundamentally overhauled. The technological basis and documentation of the old system no longer met current standards, which impaired security, user-friendliness and maintainability. The aim of the project was to modernize the system, reduce administrative effort and increase efficiency by upgrading and migrating the application to a cloud environment.
One of the biggest challenges was to identify and document all processes mapped in the existing HR system as well as historically grown manual side processes and map them in the new system. Many of these ancillary processes were previously undocumented or only incompletely documented, which required close cooperation between specialist departments, IT and external development partners. In addition, the specialist users had to be intensively involved in the test and acceptance processes despite time constraints.
Structured requirements analysis: At the beginning, role and authorization concepts were analyzed, test users were designed and created, the system configuration was checked and communication structures were established with all stakeholders.
Test management: The test management team supported the requirements analysis, checked roles, rights and configurations, developed test plans and carried out extensive integration and acceptance tests.
Communication: Regular coordination with the HR departments and IT development in regular meetings (weekly jour fixe and defect meeting) enabled a precise definition of the project scope, coordination, transparency and the initiation of necessary steps.
Troubleshooting: Any errors that occurred were systematically documented, analyzed and rectified in close cooperation with internal and external development.
Thanks to flexible project management and regular, targeted coordination, challenges such as incomplete documentation and the limited availability of specialist users were successfully overcome. While more coordination was required at the start of the project, this investment paid off: As the project progressed, the need for coordination was significantly reduced due to the very high level of alignment.
The upgrade and relocation of the HR system to the cloud led to a significant improvement in system efficiency, flexibility and user-friendliness. The technical modernization and optimization of the development processes enabled stable and smooth operation. A key success factor was the close collaboration between the specialist departments and IT, which ensured the tailored implementation of requirements and smooth integration of the new system.
The project shows how important a structured approach, clear communication channels and interdisciplinary collaboration are for complex IT modernizations - and how important strong test management is. The insights gained strengthen the customer's project teams for future optimizations and provide a solid foundation for further digitalization initiatives.
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