Tuesday, May 26, 2020
Transitioning to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management from an older version makes your customer’s life easier as they no longer need to worry about the potential major upgrades anymore. Plus, customers receive the latest and greatest features and get expert support provided by Microsoft. However, after you deploy a customer on Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management, every 6 weeks, automatic service updates are rolled out. With these continuous updates delivered as a ‘One Version’ approach, the customer can easily and quickly take advantage of the latest Microsoft enhancements.
What are the Continuous updates to Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management?
Continuous updates were introduced with Microsoft’s One Version approach to Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management. This means that instead of the customer concerning themselves with having big upgrades and data migrations, they now get regular service updates and receive new functionality with every release. Thus, they receive the latest features available, without the concern or consequences caused by technical upgrades. The continuous updates save a lot of time and resources. It’s a win-win.
Continuous service updates cover both application and platform changes that are essential in order to improve the service. Backward compatibility is maintained with the continuous updates, therefore, there is no requirement for technical efforts to merge your customizations and add the new service update feature manually.
How are the Continuous Updates to Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management Different from Upgrades we know?
These are the key benefits that define continuous updates:
- Updates are rolled out every 6 weeks as service updates.
- The customer’s sandbox and production environments are updated automatically.
- There is no need to merge code and to apply those updates manually.
- The customer is given an “Update Sunday” choice out of three Sundays. Therefore, they have the flexibility of choosing which date suits them, based on their business schedule.
- Updates are mandatory. While they can be postponed, no more than three updates can be canceled in a row.
- At least 2 annual updates are required at a minimum.
Why Should your Customer Always Keep Dynamics 365 Finance & Supply Chain Management up to date?
To always have the latest features available. By applying continuous updates, you have all the latest and improved features easily accessible within your Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management deployment, including regulatory updates.
To always have the latest bugfixes available. If there was a bug, (even one that might not be relevant to your customer) but was fixed by Microsoft, it will now be available to you, regardless of what was in the previous versions of AX applications.
What are the Requirements for Staying Up to Date with Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management?
To ensure continuous updates with the newest features, it is mandatory to check if your customer:
- Has Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management live.
- Has their LCS solution configured for automatic updates.
- Follows release plans to stay informed and to avoid unexpected surprises after updates.
- Has chosen their “Update Sunday” and accepts automatic updates.
- Has validated updates in a sandbox environment.
Why is Automated Testing Needed with the Continuous Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management Updates?
One of the key requirements when applying continuous updates is that each Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management customer needs to perform end-to-end system testing. This is to validate new updates before applying them to the customer’s live production environment.
Automated testing is particularly relevant when automatic updates are occurring. It is required to validate if the customer’s modifications are compatible with new features and to ensure that their business processes are fully functional on the new version of Dynamics 365 Finance & Supply Chain Management. A one-time opt-out might be a solution for your customer, however, it’s important to keep in mind that even this one-time opting out from testing could result in unidentified errors appearing in the production environment after an automatic update, ultimately damaging your customer’s business.
What are the Requirements for Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management Automated Testing?
In order to process automated testing, there are certain requirements that should be met:
- Testing scenarios have to be defined.
- Test cases have to be created in DevOps.
- Test cases need to be parametrized in Excel files.
- Automated testing tools need to be configured to run.
There’s quite an extensive effort required either by the Dynamics Partner or the customer to set up and run automated testing for a Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management solution. Here at 1ClickFactory, we’re more than ready to help. Our expertise coupled with our close support from Microsoft, means we can help both Dynamics Partners and customers to identify what’s missing and what’s needed to set up automated testing.
1ClickFactory has created an effective cure for headaches caused by unexpected automatic updates. Solution Maintenance Services is a service package that enables you to assess your Dynamics 365 solution readiness for:
- Automated-testing
- Creating missing assets
- Enabling your solution to securely stay up-to-date with the automated updates.
All for a yearly subscription-based fixed price. Click here to find out more or don’t hesitate to request a consultation with our AX/Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management specialist at service@1clickfactory.com
For your customers that are still running the older version, start with a BestPath Assessment, this is a Dynamics AX Solution upgrade analysis service which provides an upgrade proposal with a fixed price and clear technical scope!