WHAT IS THE RSAT TESTING TOOL FOR DYNAMICS 365 FSCM AND IS THERE AN ALTERNATIVE?
Strategy and planning are the first steps in setting up a testing project, though often they are not taken seriously; sometimes they are missed altogether. What you can do is use a simple RACI Matrix and populate it with all the necessary data, so it helps you see who is who. Point out the test manager responsible for this project, name a consultant who will provide expertise on the configuration. See who makes sure you’ve got everything you need on the environment: the workflow, dimensions, main accounts as well as anything else that will let you do business process testing well. You also have the subject matter experts and the team know what the testing scope is as well as the IT department, who can be informed when and how to perform data migration. What’s the next step? Automation. Let’s see how.
| RSAT | EXECUTIVE ATOMATS | |
|
Ease of setup and installation
|
⚠️ Hard (requires tech support and own research)
|
✅ Ready in 1 hour (delivery in 1 hour with dedicated training) |
| Ease of creation and modification of scripts | ⚠️ Hard (manual files handling; low scripts reusability) | ✅ Ready in 1 hour (everything in single workspace) |
| Average time to create and run a simple automated test ("happy path") | ⚠️ 5-10 minutes |
✅ 2-3 minutes
|
| Mass scriptsre-configuration (redirect your entire regression test to another enviorment) |
⚠️ Limited (only one environment, users and data sets can be changed in excel file |
✅ Fully available |
| Use of internal API to integrate testing solution with outher platforms |
❌ Not available
|
✅ Yes (own API for integrations) |
|
Basic SSRS Report testing
|
❌ Not available
|
✅ Yes |
| Detailed execution history analysis |
✅ Yes
(DevOps) |
✅ Yes (PowerBI dashboards, DEvOPS, EA summary) |
| Capturing and storing files generated through the test case |
❌ Not available
|
✅ Yes (files are stored in the execution history) |
| Test script statuses (to help your team collaborate on test case execution and creation) |
⚠️ Limited
(DevOps only) |
✅ Yes (in DevOps and scripts) |
TEST AUTOMATION
Test automation may take several months, which includes building test plans and reports. The obvious takeaways are stability and assurance. The added value comes in the form of:
- updated process documentation (a web-based downloadable source of knowledge)
- performance testing as you run the same process several times
- precisely defined security roles, so users are more effective, there is less room for human error, and overall costs are reduced (license-based roles)
EXECUTIVE AUTOMATS AND RSAT MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AT A GLANCE
Enter Executive Automats — a tool that makes automation manageable. EA can be treated as a single centralized point where you’ve got all your environments, all test accounts as well as all your test cases. Everything in the system is flexible and can be configured. This includes bug reporting and room for developers to make changes.
Executive Automats is a sophisticated, though simple, tool, and anyone on your team can use it – you don’t need to hire specialists who understand the coding – your local team can do everything and maintain the tool easily. As mentioned above, EA is Microsoft certified and license based while RSAT Dynamics 365 is a free Microsoft solution. And that’s where D365 RSAT advantages over EA end.
EA is the perfect RSAT alternative as it has multiple functions to address specific testing needs, which includes functional, regression, smoke, performance, security as well as workflow tests. RSAT D365, on the other hand, is limited to specific use cases with limited workflow testing. With EA you record, play, and manage your testing in one place as opposed to a mixed tool from Microsoft relying on RSAT together with 365 FSCM, TskRec, LCS as well as Excel. With EA there are also the by-products as mentioned previously – up-to-date process documentation, performance testing, and well-defined security roles – all these are unavailable in RSAT 2.0. Ok, to be fair, security roles can be defined in RSAT, but the detail level is different – poorer. What’s more, RSAT testing is limited to Dynamics 365 FSCM, while EA can be used elsewhere. Finally, once Executive Automats are up and running, you are provided with dedicated customer support for EA.
SPEED & EFFICIENCY – TEST SCRIPT FLEXIBILITY & REUSABILITY
The average time to create and run a simple automated test takes to two to three times longer with RSAT than EA (5-10 minutes vs. 2-3 minutes). You can run up to hundreds parallel sessions with EA while with RSAT no simultaneous test runs are possible, hence the whole operation becomes time-consuming. UI value and data retrieval during recording, adding steps to and existing script as well as merging, combining or cloning existing scripts is limited with RSAT while all of these are possible with EA.
With EA you can also copy, delete, and move selected steps within a script; you can copy steps between scripts and reuse them to create process documentation. None of this is possible with RSAT. Test creation is time-consuming and any change requires you to start from scratch with RSAT while EA is fast and flexible to use and reuse all tests and test suites.
FUNCTIONALITIES & COMPLETENESS
Executive Automats use variables and Excel data sets as well as perform negative tests and recognize system notifications and alerts. So does RSAT but to a limited extent only. Now, the following functionalities are only available in Executive Automats:
- the if/then conditional steps
- catching and storing file generation through test cases
- setting up steps as optional for handling unexpected system notifications
- jumping between test steps
- workflow tests – switching users while running scripts
- scheduling test executions outside DevOps
- detailed execution history analysis.
In general, RSAT can only be used for simple and limited test scenarios while EA can be used in both small and large testing scopes allowing you for advanced validations and controls.
INTEGRATION TESTS & MORE
RSAT can only be used with D365FO while Executive Automats can be used to test other applications such as XCarrier, Veeva, Sharepoint, and others. With EA you can test D365 CPOS with peripheral device simulators, test grouping scripts into projects, test user and access management, run performance tests, create business process documentation based on recordings as well as use internal APIs to integrate your testing solutions with other platforms.
SELECTING THE RIGHT AUTOMATED TESTING TOOL
To sum it up, the needs of the community have been converted into Executive Automats. Although there is a Microsoft automated testing solution, the EA tool wins hands down as it addresses all automated testing needs, does everything in one place, documents processes, defines security roles, and can be used beyond MS D365 FSCM. Ultimately, EA is an investment that pays off.