Etac and the digitalization program

Etac is a world-leading developer of innovative assistive devices that increase independence and quality of life for people with functional disabilities, as well as solutions that make patient transfers easier and safer for healthcare and care staff.

Since 2021, the company has been running one of its most extensive digitalization programs: consolidating the group’s ten divisions into a single business system solution in Infor M3 Cloud. Torbjörn Zacco, project manager responsible for the program, explains:

– The strategy is about transforming Etac Group’s various system solutions into one shared business system. It gives us better conditions for establishing common ways of working and processes, and in turn a better basis for governance and reporting across the group, says Torbjörn.

From Excel to a structured testing tool

The program began with a pilot project at a production unit in the USA. The divisions that were already running Infor M3 on-prem were then moved to Infor M3 Cloud in a “big bang” launch covering six divisions. In the pilot project, tests, defined requirements and test scenarios were managed in Excel. The structure worked but brought several challenges: heavy manual follow-up, scattered information, and defects handled in a separate system with no direct link to the test cases.

– In Excel it became quite fragmented and hard to standardize. It works fine initially, but as the project grows, test cases need adjusting, and more people get involved in testing, it quickly becomes clear that it’s not efficient, says Torbjörn.

Ahead of the next wave of rollouts, Etac IT therefore began looking for a dedicated testing tool. The tool needed to be easy for super users in the business to use, able to keep requirements, tests, and defects together in one place, and make it possible to reuse test material from project to project. The choice fell on Reqtest.

– What we immediately liked about Reqtest was that it felt approachable and easy to get started with.

With Reqtest, deviations are reported directly from the test step where something fails, linked to the correct test case. This makes it easier to distribute the work within the IT team and track what remains.

– It needs to be easy to report a deviation as soon as something doesn’t work as expected, so that as much as possible is captured during the test phases. With Reqtest, we have a tool that delivers clear value in every project we run, says Torbjörn.

80 percent of test cases are reused

When Etac rolls out the ERP system at a new unit, the entire M3 project is copied in Reqtest. This means the same structure for requirements, processes, and test cases is in place from day one – regardless of country.

– We estimate that 80 percent of the test cases are reused directly as part of Etac’s standard solution. The remaining 20 percent are adjusted to fit the specific division, says Torbjörn, and continues:

– Previously, it could take several hours, sometimes days, to set up the test structure when we started from Excel. Today we get a new project up and running with Etac’s standard structure within an hour.

Saves hours of reporting work every test week

To keep project members updated during test weeks, Torbjörn compiles daily reports ahead of the morning meeting. Previously, this required significant manual work: data was exported, statuses were mapped, and test cases were aggregated as best as possible. With Reqtest, Torbjörn can now produce visual status reports in just a few clicks, based on real-time data from ongoing test runs.

– Previously I would sit every evening compiling test data exported to Excel. Now we have our standardized reports in Reqtest, used across all projects. I can go into the morning meeting, pull up the report live, and say: here’s where we stand right now. The reporting module saves me at least 20 hours every test phase compared to before.

Reqtest as the foundation for FDA audits

As a medtech company selling in the USA, Etac is subject to FDA oversight, which involves extensive requirements for software validation. Reqtest has become an important part of the documentation in these audits.

– We reference what we’ve done in Reqtest during our audits. There, we can show what has been functionally tested, present the results, and report any deviations. It provides value long after the project has ended, since it forms part of our Performance Qualification (PQ), says Torbjörn.

The future: from ERP to the entire IT portfolio

The next step for Etac IT is to expand the use of Reqtest beyond ERP projects – both to manage more general requirements ahead of audits and to ensure quality across more applications within the organization.

– We see no reason to limit the use of Reqtest to just the business system. What we’ve built is a model we want to apply to more projects where there’s a need to ensure the quality of requirements and functionality.