To test or not to test

We have now led our clients through multiple Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central update cycles as part of our Client Care Program and Release Management service. Upon reflection, we can identify many benefits of the program and service, both for ourselves at Professional Advantage (PA) and for our clients.

To test, or not to test...

Testing software updates is a best practice that can help avoid bugs and other issues. It also helps to identify the areas of the software that need to be improved or fixed.

Good software testing practices are vital for any company. They are especially important for enterprises which rely on their business systems to process important transactions and run day-to-day operations.

The best practice for testing Business Central versions is to test before upgrading to the new version. This will help avoid any issues with your current setup, such as data loss or changes in your configuration settings. Whilst some clients may not have felt that this was necessary, we have witnessed that the six-monthly automatic updates coming from Microsoft are not always perfect. If this is the case for an update and the new version is not tested, it can result in client issues with production and delays.

She'll Be Right

Much of our client base see the Business Central updates as a matter of course with little need to worry, with the knowledge that PA are there should any issues arise.

We like to remember the adage that fixing something in a test will cost $1, but fixing it in production will cost $100. As such, during each update cycle, we work diligently to provide the best options for our clients to test and resolve any issues that may come up during the update.

To do this, we create a new sandbox and test the update as soon as it is available. We have a DevOps team working constantly to make sure all our apps and IP are up-to-date and compatible with the latest version of the software. The pipeline is constantly checked against the code of future releases to make sure we are ahead of the requirements as a team. We have consultants scheduled to assist with any issue found in testing, and we work to resolve these issues as quickly as possible so we can install the fix in production ready for the update.

It takes a village—indeed PA is a village—to manage the update sometimes.

Gotta check, gotta check, gotta check

There are some clients that, when they hear the word "testing”, like to ensure that every single aspect is tested (sometimes twice). Whilst this diligence is valuable in many circumstances, the Microsoft update for Business Central is very well managed and tightly scoped. Therefore, we need our clients focused on areas of their own business and business processes that are affected.

Our team goes through a UAT spreadsheet with each client, hopefully reducing any concern or even ‘dread’ going into the update season. The Microsoft updates do not require hundreds of transactions to test; they are well-defined in scope and the business domains that are affected, and so can be managed well by anyone with a clear testing regime, or a team that are familiar with their business roles and processes.

We work with our clients to help build up this testing schedule with them so they can simply transfer their knowledge and activities every cycle to the new focus of the update.