🧩 Full-Stack Awareness for SDETs

Testing Beyond the UI: Navigating Every Layer of Modern Applications

In today’s enterprise systems, software spans far more than just front-end components. SDETs are expected to understand and validate the entire application stack — from the UI and APIs down to databases, batch jobs, file transfers, and deployment pipelines.

A full-stack-aware SDET brings strategic insight, identifying where risks hide, how systems interact, and what needs validation across both modern and legacy components.

🔍 Key Layers and Test Focus Areas

1. UI Layer (Frontend)

🧪 Tools: Selenium, Playwright, Cypress
✅ Validate user workflows, responsiveness, accessibility
⚠️ Handle dynamic DOMs, modals, async content, Shadow DOM (embedded views), etc.

2. API / Service Layer

🧪 Tools: Postman, REST Assured, Karate, Pact
✅ Test status codes, payloads, schema, error handling
🔁 Contract testing, mocks, service virtualization

3. Backend Logic & Middleware

🧩 Understand orchestration flows, event-driven logic, microservices, caching, and messaging
🪵 Trace logs and events across distributed calls
🔁 Validate chained flows and integration points (e.g., order → invoice → fulfillment)

4. Database / Persistence Layer

🧪 Tools: SQL clients, JDBC, MongoDB, Flyway
✅ Verify CRUD operations, integrity constraints, and joins
📥 Automate test data setup and teardown for repeatable runs
📄 Validate audit trails, timestamps, user activity logs, and change history

5. Batch Jobs & Scheduled Tasks

🕒 Tools: cron, Spring Batch, Control-M, Quartz
✅ Validate job execution, output accuracy, failure recovery
🧪 Trigger jobs via APIs or scripts and verify DB/file changes
📈 Confirm proper handling of duplicate records, edge cases

6. File Transfer & Integration Workflows

📂 Tools: SFTP, MFT, ETL, shell scripts
✅ Validate file structure (CSV, XML, JSON), naming conventions, and encoding
📤 Simulate inbound/outbound data feeds and post-transfer processing
📎 Monitor logs and file movement between staging and target systems

7. Authentication & Authorization

🔐 OAuth2, SAML, JWT
✅ Test login flows, session expiration, role-based access controls
⚠️ Validate security boundaries and protected endpoints

8. Infrastructure & CI/CD

🧪 Tools: Jenkins, GitHub Actions, Docker, Kubernetes
✅ Run post-deploy tests and configuration validation
🧱 Test behavior across environments (QA, UAT, PROD)
📊 Integrate test observability and alerts (e.g., Grafana, ELK)

🎯 Why Full-Stack Awareness Matters

• ✅ Enables end-to-end testing across all technical and business layers

• 🧠 Supports deeper debugging and root cause isolation

• 🤝 Improves collaboration with full-stack developers, DevOps, and architects

• 🛠️ Elevates test automation from execution to engineering strategy

🏢 Testing Enterprise Platforms: ERP & CRM Systems

Deep Integration, Complex Workflows, and Mission-Critical Validation

Enterprise systems such as Salesforce, SAP, Oracle EBS, and Oracle RMB form the operational backbone of many large organizations. These platforms handle critical business processes — from billing and customer data to procurement, HR, and financial reporting. For SDETs, testing these systems requires not just automation skills, but a deep understanding of integration flows, data dependencies, access control, and compliance.

Enterprise systems like Salesforce, SAP, Oracle EBS, and Oracle RMB introduce unique testing challenges:

• 💼 Salesforce Lightning: Dynamic UI, custom components, iframes, Shadow DOM

• 🧠 SAP Fiori / SAP GUI: UI5 controls, legacy GUI, hybrid testing needs

• 🧾 Oracle EBS / RMB: HTML-based and Java-heavy UIs, batch jobs, file processing

• 📊 ERP/CRM-specific workflows: Approvals, financial reconciliation, pricing, billing

🔍 Common Characteristics

• Highly configurable platforms with frequent customization

• Blend of modern UIs and legacy components

• Complex workflows (e.g., quote-to-cash, approval chains, account reconciliation)

• Dependence on batch jobs, file-based integrations, and role-driven logic

• Strict audit, compliance, and data governance requirements
  
  

🔑 Test Considerations

• 🔄 End-to-end business flows (e.g., quote → contract → invoice → payment) 

• ✅ UI automation using Playwright/Selenium (with ERP-aware locators)

• ✅ API and service-layer validations (custom and platform APIs)

• ✅ Batch job validation (Control-M, Spring Batch, SAP jobs)

• ✅ File-based integrations (MFT, ETL pipelines)

• ✅ Audit and compliance logging

• ✅ Role-based access control and permission testing

✅ Best Practices for Testing ERP & CRM Systems

Use hybrid automation frameworks
Combine tools that support Windows UI apps (e.g., SAP GUI, Oracle Forms, legacy .NET apps), thin client apps (e.g., Oracle Web Forms, SAP WebGUI, Citrix-hosted apps), web UIs, APIs, databases, and file validations to cover all layers of enterprise platforms.

Automate smoke and regression suites
Focus on stable, high-priority workflows like login, approvals, invoicing, master data updates, and batch triggers. This ensures early detection of business-critical issues across frequently used modules.

Leverage mocks, stubs, and virtualization
For 3rd-party systems, batch triggers, or unavailable dependencies, use service virtualization (e.g., WireMock, Parasoft, SAP Test Double Framework) or mock APIs to maintain reliable and decoupled test pipelines.

Collaborate closely with business analysts
Align automation scope with business rules, field-level validations, and configuration-driven behavior — especially in systems like Salesforce, Oracle EBS, or SAP that allow heavy customization and module-specific logic.

🔗 Continue Exploring

👉 Foundational CS Concepts for SDETs →
👉 Test Automation in CI/CD Pipelines →
👉 Designing Resilient Automation Frameworks →