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Technology & systems

Test the workflow, not just the connection.

An integration is ready when the real business process works from source entry to the final report.

A successful data transfer is one part of a working integration. The more useful question is whether the information supports the business process from beginning to end.

Expense, payroll, and project systems often describe the same activity differently. A connection can move a record while leaving the team with an incorrect project, an unexpected allocation, or a result that is difficult to reconcile.

Choose scenarios that reflect real work

Build a small set of representative examples with the people who will use the process. Include routine transactions and the exceptions that matter: a split allocation, a changed project assignment, a corrected record, or a missing mapping.

For each scenario, write down the expected result before testing. That gives the team a shared basis for identifying a defect and deciding whether it has been resolved.

Follow the record all the way through

Trace each example from its source through the transfer, destination, and final report. Reconcile totals and key fields. Confirm that a rejected record is visible, that someone owns the correction, and that rerunning the process does not create unintended duplicates.

Test with the people who will operate it

A technically correct process can still be awkward in daily use. Ask users to complete the workflow with the proposed instructions. Watch for repeated manual steps, unclear approvals, or dependencies on one person’s knowledge.

  • Can the user complete the routine process?
  • Can the team identify and resolve an exception?
  • Do the reports show the detail leadership needs?
  • Is support ownership clear after the project team steps away?
A useful acceptance standard: the business can run, reconcile, and support the process with documented ownership.

Ascent supports implementations through workflow design, testing, documentation, training, and ongoing system administration.

Put this into practice.

Explore how our unanet implementation and it and business systems services support this work.

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Discuss your systems workflow.

Start with the systems you use and the process you want them to support.

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