Good vs Bad ERP Test Automation Vendors. 15 Signs to Spot the Difference Early

If you are evaluating test automation vendors for ERPs such as SAP, Oracle, or Workday, you already know this is not a simple decision. Most vendors look good early, demos run clean, slides sound familiar, and promises feel safe.

But what separates vendors is not what they show you. It is how they think when the slides are gone.

The signals are there from the first few meetings, in the questions they ask and in how they talk about business flows, change, and ownership when things go wrong.

This guide helps you spot those signals early. For each signal, you will see how strong vendors behave, how weak vendors behave, and one quick check you can use in real conversations. These signals are easy to use during vendor discussions, demos, or internal reviews.

If you are in the middle of a vendor evaluation, or expect to be soon, these signals will help you avoid the wrong choices and select the right partner.

Let’s start with the most important one.

1. Understand Your Business Processes, Not Just Tools 

This is the first filter. If this fails, nothing else matters.

Good vendors:

• Repeat your business process back to you clearly
• Understand end to end flows, not isolated screens
• Talk in terms of Order to Cash, Procure to Pay, Hire to Retire
• Ask how outcomes are validated, not only how tests are executed

Bad vendors:

• Jump straight into tools and frameworks
• Talk mostly about scripts, coverage numbers, or execution speed
• Treat ERP testing like generic UI automation
• Avoid deep questions about how your business actually runs

Quick test:
Ask them to explain one of your core business processes back to you in two minutes, start to finish.
If they cannot do that clearly, automation quality will suffer later.

2. Have Proven Experience in Your Exact ERP Landscape

Experience in one ERP does not automatically translate to another. Platform specifics shape how testing really works.

Good vendors:

• Speak comfortably about SAP, Oracle, or Workday
• Understand platform-specific release cycles and behaviors
• Share concrete examples from past ERP testing work
• Know where ERP testing typically needs extra attention

Bad vendors:

• Claim to support all ERP systems without specifics
• Rely on general automation experience
• Give answers that sound interchangeable across platforms
• Struggle with detailed ERP questions

Quick test:
Ask them to describe one real testing challenge they handled in SAP, Oracle, or Workday and how they approached it.
If the answer lacks specifics or real context, you are watching them learn in real time.

3. Design Automation Around End-to-End Business Flows

ERP value lives in flows, not screens.

Good vendors:

• Design tests around full business flows, not isolated steps
• Validate how data moves across finance, HR, and operations
• Cover happy paths and real exceptions
• Talk about outcomes, not only clicks

Bad vendors:

• Focus mostly on screen-level automation
• Test single transactions in isolation
• Avoid complex cross-functional flows
• Optimize for speed instead of business confidence

Quick test:
Ask which end-to-end business flow they would automate first and why.
If the answer is not tied to business risk or impact, important flows may be missed.

4. Focus on Outcomes, Not Just Script Pass Rates

Green reports do not always mean business confidence.

Good vendors:

• Validate business outcomes, not only technical steps
• Tie test results to real business impact
• Highlight what could go wrong even when scripts pass
• Talk about confidence, not only execution success

Bad vendors:

• Measure success only by pass or fail status
• Celebrate high execution numbers without context
• Ignore outcome drift across releases
• Assume green reports equal low risk

Quick test:
Ask how they confirm that a critical business outcome is still correct when all tests pass.
If they talk only about scripts and execution, risk is being missed.

5. Handle ERP Updates and Ongoing Change Properly

Change is constant in ERP environments. Automation must survive it.

Good vendors:

• Plan automation with regular ERP updates in mind
• Explain how tests stay stable across releases
• Build maintenance into the automation approach
• Take ownership when updates affect tests

Bad vendors:

• Treat updates as an afterthought
• Assume automation will “mostly work” after changes
• Push maintenance effort back to your team
• React only after tests start failing

Quick test:
Ask what happens to your automation after a SAP, Oracle, or Workday update.
If they cannot explain this clearly, stability will suffer over time.

6. Test Integrations and Cross-System Data Flows

Most ERP issues appear between systems, not inside one screen.

Good vendors:

• Test how data moves across various ERPs and tools 
• Validate timing, dependencies, and downstream impact
• Cover real business scenarios, not only technical handoffs
• Understand where integrations affect finance, payroll, and reporting

Bad vendors:

• Focus only on single-system automation
• Treat integrations as out of scope
• Limit testing to UI or API checks only
• Miss downstream business impact

Quick test:
Ask how they would test data flowing from one ERP system into another and what could break along the way.
If they focus only on one system, integration risk is being ignored.

7. Manage Test Data and Environments Realistically

Automation fails quietly when data and environments are not handled well.

Good vendors:

• Ask early about test data availability and refresh cycles
• Plan for realistic data scenarios, not perfect data
• Understand environment constraints and dependencies
• Design tests that remain stable across environment resets

Bad vendors:

• Assume clean and complete test data will always exist
• Ignore how often environments are refreshed or copied
• Discover data issues late in the cycle
• Treat data problems as someone else’s responsibility

Quick test:
Ask how they plan to manage test data and environment resets during automation.
If the answer is “we will handle it later,” problems will surface during execution.

8. Build Automation That Business Teams Can Actually Use

Automation only creates value if people trust and use it.

Good vendors:

• Make test results easy to understand for business teams
• Use clear, readable test steps and reports
• Reduce dependency on business users during execution
• Support collaboration between QA and functional teams

Bad vendors:

• Require technical skills to understand results
• Produce reports that only engineers can read
• Depend heavily on business users to explain failures
• Create automation that feels disconnected from daily work

Quick test:
Ask if a functional lead can review results and understand risk without help.
If not, adoption and trust will drop over time.

9. Bring the Right Team, Not Just a Sales Pitch

The quality of the team decides the quality of automation.

Good vendors:

• Introduce the people who will actually build and maintain tests
• Involve experienced ERP testing engineers early
• Answer technical questions without deflecting
• Stay consistent from sales through delivery

Bad vendors:

• Keep all conversations at the sales level
• Avoid introducing delivery team members
• Change faces after the contract is signed
• Rely on vague assurances instead of expertise

Quick test:
Ask who will work on your automation day to day and request to speak with them.
If that conversation never happens, expectations will not match reality.

10. Show Clear Ownership When Tests Fail

Failures will happen. Ownership decides how painful they become.

Good vendors:

• Take responsibility for diagnosing failures
• Explain clearly whether the issue is test logic, data, or change related
• Act quickly to restore confidence
• Communicate openly when things break

Bad vendors:

• Push blame to tools, environments, or other teams
• Argue instead of fixing
• Leave your team to figure out failures
• Treat broken tests as someone else’s problem

Quick test:
Ask who owns test failures during a release cycle and how fast they respond.
If ownership is unclear, escalation is guaranteed later.

11. Start With a Small, Clear Pilot

Early proof matters more than big promises.

Good vendors:

• Propose a focused pilot before full rollout
• Define clear goals for the first few weeks
• Show value quickly without heavy dependency on your team
• Share a clear path from pilot to scale

Bad vendors:

• Push large contracts upfront
• Avoid pilots or downplay their value
• Keep early goals vague
• Delay real results until much later

Quick test:
Ask what success looks like after the first 30 to 60 days.
If they cannot describe early success, progress will be difficult to measure.

12. Be Honest About What They Can and Cannot Do

Honesty early prevents surprises later.

Good vendors:

• Set clear expectations from the start
• Explain where automation works best and where it needs care
• Call out assumptions and dependencies openly
• Push back when something is not a good fit

Bad vendors:

• Say yes to everything
• Avoid talking about limits or constraints
• Overpromise timelines or coverage
• Leave hard conversations for later

Quick test:
Ask what part of your automation scope will be the hardest and why.
If the answer sounds overly confident or vague, realism may be missing.

13. Measure Success in Business Terms

Automation success should be visible beyond QA dashboards.

Good vendors:

• Measure impact in time saved, risk reduced, and confidence gained
• Tie automation results to release readiness
• Track improvements across cycles, not single runs
• Speak the language of business outcomes

Bad vendors:

• Measure success only by number of scripts
• Focus on execution volume instead of value
• Avoid discussing business impact
• Treat reporting as a technical artifact

Quick test:
Ask how they will show value to a CIO or business leader after a few cycles.
If the answer stays inside QA metrics only, impact will be hard to prove.

14. Offer Clean Exit and Ownership of Test Assets

You should never feel trapped by a vendor.

Good vendors:

• Give you full ownership of test assets
• Use approaches that can be handed over cleanly
• Explain exit terms clearly and early
• Make transitions possible without disruption

Bad vendors:

• Lock tests inside proprietary setups
• Make it hard to reuse or transfer automation
• Avoid exit discussions
• Tie long-term access to ongoing fees

Quick test:
Ask what happens to your tests if you decide to move on.
If the terms are not straightforward, dependency risk is higher than it appears.

15. Avoid Fear-Based or Urgency-Driven Selling

Pressure early often signals pain later.

Good vendors:

• Let the decision move at your pace
• Focus on fit, not fear
• Answer questions calmly and clearly
• Respect internal evaluation processes

Bad vendors:

• Create artificial urgency
• Push “limited-time” offers or deadlines
• Use fear of failure to force decisions
• Rush you past open questions

Quick test:
Slow the conversation down and ask for time to evaluate.
If pressure increases instead of clarity, trust the signal.

Closing Thoughts

ERP test automation success depends less on what a vendor shows and more on how well they understand your business and stay aligned as it evolves.

Most of the signals that separate good vendors from bad ones show up early. You can hear them in the questions they ask, the way they explain trade-offs, and how clearly they talk about ownership and outcomes. If you know what to look for, you do not need months to figure this out.

Use these points as a working checklist. Bring them into vendor calls. Share them with your team. Slow the process down just enough to make a confident decision.

A strong choice here reduces risk for years. A weak one usually shows up at the worst possible time.

Choose carefully.