Dynamics 365 F&O/AX
Dynamics FO / AX
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Microsoft updates & upgrades. How are you managing these?
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Microsoft updates & upgrades. How are you managing these?
I’m looking to understand how other companies are managing Microsoft updates (e.g. updates, patches, bug fixes). Here are a few questions I have:
Staffing model:
-How many IT staff members are supporting your solution?
-What are the IT roles (PM, BA, Developer, etc.)?
Testing:
-What is your standard testing approach for updates and/or upgrades?
-How do you ensure MSFT updates are incorporated without breaking existing functionality?
-How often are they performing full regression testing?
-How many test cases are being executed during regression testing?
Work management:
-Are system enhancements and bug fixes placed on-hold during regression testing?
-Who in your org is responsible for reviewing and understanding the impacts of an update?
-Once the update(s) is understood, are all regression test cases executed every time there is an update?
Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated!
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7 Replies
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Lizzeth,
See my answers inline.
Staffing model:
-How many IT staff members are supporting your solution?
We have 2 admins overseeing the update process. Roughly 15 SME’s working through a set of test scripts detailing all functions in F&O our company uses. Our developers are consultants, and are engaged when/if errors arise.
-What are the IT roles (PM, BA, Developer, etc.)?
ERP Admin (our admins are more technical than the average role), Developers.
Testing:
-What is your standard testing approach for updates and/or upgrades?
Using LCS update schedule, determine what upgrade you need to take. Implement to a TEST or UAT box when that upgrade becomes available. Since you have to stay within 3 versions, this occurs about quarterly for my company.
-How do you ensure MSFT updates are incorporated without breaking existing functionality?
Test scripts were created which cover every aspect of the system we use. It is especially important to focus on customizations. MSFT often removes extension capabilities, objects, etc. and so dev is needed to fix those. Also important to update any ISV’s you have in conjunction with MSFT versions.
-How often are they performing full regression testing?
The whole “update test cycle” for our company is regression testing. It is done in the Sandbox prior to taking the update to PROD. Again, it occurs roughly every 3 months.
-How many test cases are being executed during regression testing?
Our test scripts are roughly 150 tasks between our 7 legal entities.
Work management:
-Are system enhancements and bug fixes placed on-hold during regression testing?
Our company continues to process bug fixes and enhancements during regression testing. It just depends on the work load at that time.
-Who in your org is responsible for reviewing and understanding the impacts of an update?
The ERP admin is responsible for ensuring all impacts from MSFT updates to PROD are understood and mitigated.
-Once the update(s) is understood, are all regression test cases executed every time there is an update?
YES. For our company, we test every task on each update. The tasks also grow as new processes, or functionality are added. It is a living document and will save you SO much headache down the line.
The most important advice I can give is be proactive. Get in the habit of checking release schedules and notes and planning accordingly.
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Lizzeth,
Because we use SME’s who have day jobs and we also continue with normal projects and implementations our regression testing is about 1 month long. If my team were solely dedicated to regression testing, it could be much quicker. It also depends on the changes being implemented by MSFT. You will notice on the release schedule, some versions have an “asterisk” next to them. Those include large changes that are more likely to break things.
Without knowing your system, it is difficult to say. The first few updates are going to be a learning process. I would give yourself as much time as you can.
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This has been so helpful. Would you be willing to discuss in greater detail you testing cycles? I would love to set up a call to share your best practices. Thank you in advance. I can be reached out lizl@chemtreat.com.
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Staffing model:
-How many IT staff members are supporting your solution?
3
-What are the IT roles (PM, BA, Developer, etc.)?
1 Infrastructure
2 Finance SpecialistsTesting:
-What is your standard testing approach for updates and/or upgrades?
Recorded all 60 of our Finance Processes, integrated them with RSAT.
-How do you ensure MSFT updates are incorporated without breaking existing functionality?
Monthly Cadences and all Quality Updates deployed on staging server.
All RSAT tests run.
One test (Power Automate with AI Builder) to ensure all document layouts are complete
Set as release candidate, push to Production-How often are they performing full regression testing?
Used to be on Monthly Update Cadences only.
However, Microsoft have caught us out adding new security roles and matching field security in quality updates, so we do the full works every update now.-How many test cases are being executed during regression testing?
60 tests – recordings of all our standard finance processes across 14 customised job roles.
Work management:
-Are system enhancements and bug fixes placed on-hold during regression testing?
No – all done on staging, only goes to production when whole test suite passes.
-Who in your org is responsible for reviewing and understanding the impacts of an update?
Infrastructure specialist working alongside Financial Controller.
-Once the update(s) is understood, are all regression test cases executed every time there is an update?
Yes, without fail.
FWIW last time we counted it (our fiscal Q2), we updated Production 42x in the quarter – with no need to involve any finance staff in manual testing.
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