Maria Homann
Given the mission-critical nature of Dynamics 365 workflows, customers want the safety of software regression testing before updates are deployed to production. Most companies will have distinct and complex IT landscapes encompassing multiple applications. This, combined with frequent Microsoft releases, makes high regression testing coverage a desirable but often seemingly unreachable state.
Most companies today rely on manual testing to secure the quality of their business processes. Manual testers are often business users who are pulled away from their day to day priorities and tasked with repetitive test script execution. Regression testing, a crucial but time-consuming cornerstone of quality assurance, is an expensive, long-winded and error prone affair when executed manually. Companies that remain on a manual testing path will face a continuous compromise between quality and speed.
Why manual testing won’t suffice anymore for robust D365 quality assurance processes
For Dynamics 365-driven businesses, this compromise is enhanced through a number of realities that these businesses face:
- D365 apps are often heavily customized to meet the needs of individual businesses
- D365 apps are most often integrated with other adjacent applications to automate business processes and drive efficiencies
- Businesses regularly use special purpose apps bringing custom capabilities within D365 instances
- Two annual release waves consisting of multiple releases
- As a part of the One Version mission, Proactive Quality Updates are rolled out frequently and automatically
Microsoft's dedication to delivering high quality, human-centric solutions has led to the introduction of the Proactive Quality Updates (PQUs). Similarly, Microsoft’s Success by Design frameworks provide customers prescriptive guidance for implementing and maintaining solutions in an evergreen platform environment.
However, the introduction of the monthly PQUs also means that companies need to find a way to speed up testing cycles in order to reach the desired level of coverage that will ensure low risk releases.
QA teams with a manual testing approach are faced with the dilemma of either delaying software releases to reach this coverage, and compromising innovation, or limiting the scope of testing and taking a risk-based approach. PQUs are mandatory and implemented automatically, and regular releases can only be postponed or rejected to a limited extent, hence, many QA teams resort to the latter; reducing the test scope and thereby leaving critical business processes exposed to risk.
Reducing risk and TCO with Leapwork automation
How do businesses solve this challenge and get to a point of high speed, high quality deliverables?
To reduce risk with each release, appropriate test coverage is essential. For D365-driven organizations faced with customizations, integrations, updates and releases, this requires a shift from manual testing to automation. Without test automation, organizations will remain in technical debt, unable to innovate.
Leapwork, a strategic and recommended Microsoft test automation partner for Dynamics 365 and Power Platform, provides a solution to this challenge.
The solution enables companies to automate testing across applications both inside and outside the D365 portfolio, Power Platform products and Azure universe. For companies taking a business-process-first approach, these end-to-end capabilities are key. Examples of such end-to-end processes are Order-to-Cash, Procure-to-Pay or Warehouse and distribution processes.
In addition, the urgency of addressing the dilemma of speed vs. quality and achieving success in the shift from manual to automated testing requires a test automation solution that:
- Can be implemented and deliver value in less than 30 days
- Can be adopted by the same non-technical audience that was previously testing manually
- Enables new teams to quickly learn and become proficient in testing
- Most importantly is easy to maintain to avoid jeopardizing the ROI of test automation
With a visual and intuitive business process model representation of test cases, Leapwork speaks a language that is immediately understood by anyone in an organization. With the visual approach, QA teams, business users, IT users, software delivery teams, and citizen developers are enabled to automate and create efficiencies without the need for developer support. With the AI-augmented technology that Leapwork provides, this becomes true not just for building, but also for maintaining automated tests in the long run.
With these capabilities in place, companies will see fast efficiency gains and enhanced quality across their Dynamics 365 business processes and beyond that secure good customer experiences in the long run.
To learn more about Leapwork’s visual, end-to-end testing platform, visit our page on Dynamics 365 test automation.
