Test automation and manual software testing for business-critical systems
Dynamics 365 updates twice a year, and your own customisations and integrations change all the time. Whoever clicks through the sales and service processes by hand before every release is spending either a lot of time or taking a lot of risk. We cover both sides: we test by hand where human judgement is needed (new features, integrations, user acceptance) and build automated regression suites with Tricentis Tosca, Katalon Studio or Playwright for what repeats before every release — from Budapest, in English, in your CI pipeline.
Manual or automated testing?
The two are not competitors but a division of labour. Manual testing suits new features, rarely run or fast-changing processes, usability and business acceptance: human judgement is needed, and writing a script would cost more than it saves. Automated testing suits stable, business-critical, frequently run processes — these make up the regression suite.
Everything on one page: download our service overview (PDF, 5 pages, in Hungarian).
Regression testing checks that what worked before still works after a change: the quote still generates, the approval flow still starts, the ERP integration still passes the order. It does not test the new feature; it protects the old ones.
By hand, on a medium-sized Dynamics 365 system, that is 50–200 test cases, 2–5 person-days per release and 6–10 releases a year (two Microsoft waves, own developments, fixes). An automated suite runs the same thing in hours, overnight, identically every time — and finds the defect in the sandbox, not the customer in production.
What do we test?
Manual testing: functional, exploratory, integration and UAT
Our testers understand the system and the business process: they check not only that the button works, but that the quote reaches the right approver at the right price and ends up as the right ERP order. Available as a service on its own, not only alongside automation.
Tricentis Tosca, Katalon or Playwright?
| Criterion | Tricentis Tosca | Katalon Studio | Playwright |
|---|---|---|---|
| Approach | model-based, no-code: scans the application UI into a model | hybrid: recorder + script (Groovy/Java), low-code and code together | code-based: tests in TypeScript, JavaScript, Python, C# or Java, with the developers’ own tooling |
| Strength | enterprise, multi-module systems (Dynamics 365, SAP), maintainability, risk-based testing | web, API, mobile, desktop in one tool; fast start; CI integration | fast, stable web execution (auto-waiting), Chromium, Firefox and WebKit, parallel runs, trace viewer for debugging |
| Licence | enterprise, higher fee | free base + paid team edition | open source, free (Microsoft) |
| Best for | business-critical, frequently updated systems with large test suites | fast, lower-cost start, or web and API tested together | teams where developers maintain the tests next to the code, in the same repository and CI |
| For Dynamics 365 | dedicated Dynamics support, recommended by Microsoft FastTrack | works on the web UI with more manual maintenance | works on the web UI; Dynamics controls need custom helpers, which we provide |
The tool is not the point; the maintainability of the suite is. For a large, business-critical Dynamics system Tosca’s model-based approach is cheaper in the long run; for a smaller system or a mixed (web + API) landscape Katalon is faster and more economical; where the development team will maintain the tests next to the code, licence-free Playwright is the right choice. We recommend after discovery and are at home in all three.
How does a test automation engagement work?
- 1Risk-based test suite
We do not automate everything: business-critical and frequently changing processes are ranked, and the first 30–50 test cases come from that.
- 2Test cases and test data
Step-by-step description, expected result, data set in the sandbox; the tests create and clean up their own data.
- 3Automation
Tosca modules or Katalon scripts built from reusable components — when the UI changes, you fix it in one place.
- 4CI execution
Scheduled nightly runs and a run before every deployment (Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, Jenkins); results by email and in Teams.
- 5Reporting and maintenance
A report per run: what failed, why, with screenshots. We maintain the suite together with the system.
Other tools: Selenium, Robot Framework, Postman, JMeter
If you already have a test suite, we do not throw it away: we take over existing Selenium or Robot Framework scripts, clean them up, wire them into CI and extend them. For a new suite we use these too if your team prefers a code-based tool.
What does it cost?
Manual testing is charged per day, according to the effort in the test plan; the proposal shows each test phase on its own line. Automation has three items: tool licence (Tosca: enterprise fee; Katalon: free base to team edition; Playwright: free), building the suite (per test case or as a project fee, quoted after discovery) and maintenance (monthly retainer or part of Dynamics operations). One critical defect found in production, with its consequences, typically costs more than a year of maintenance.
Who works on your tests?
Which exams and certifications do we hold?
| Area | Certification | Issuer |
|---|---|---|
| Dynamics CRM | MB2-704: Microsoft Dynamics CRM Application | Microsoft |
| Dynamics CRM | MB2-707: Microsoft Dynamics CRM Customization and Configuration | Microsoft |
| Implementation management | MB5-705: Managing Microsoft Dynamics Implementations | Microsoft |
| Test automation | Tosca Automation Specialist – Level 1 and Level 2 | Tricentis |
| Test design | Tosca Test Design Specialist – Level 1 and Level 2 | Tricentis |
| API testing | Tosca Automation Specialist for API | Tricentis |
| Database testing | Tosca Automation Specialist for Database | Tricentis |
| Test automation | Tosca Query Language (TQL) | Tricentis |
| Licensing | Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) reseller; Google Workspace partner | Microsoft, Google |
Test automation with a nearshore partner
For international clients we work from Budapest, inside the EU, in the Central European time zone: English test documentation, access to your sandbox via VPN or Entra ID, execution in your CI system. With this model, testing can be cost-effectively outsourced in part or in full, or used to extend your own team, for local and international companies alike.
References
Manual testing and test automation: AirPlus, SEB, SICK, XING, dormakaba and Magyar Telekom.
Further reading
Frequently asked questions
Do you only test Dynamics 365?
No, we naturally support other systems too. Dynamics 365 is our main area, but we build regression suites in the same way for SAP (S/4HANA, ECC, Fiori), Salesforce (Sales Cloud, Service Cloud), Oracle (Siebel CRM, E-Business Suite, NetSuite), ServiceNow, Workday, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and Finance & Operations, HubSpot, SharePoint and Microsoft 365, as well as web shops (Shopify, Magento/Adobe Commerce, WooCommerce) and custom web applications. Tosca offers dedicated technology support for most of these — SAP, Salesforce, Oracle, ServiceNow, Workday; for web systems Playwright or Katalon are options as well.
Do we need our own test environment?
Yes, we never run tests in production. For Dynamics 365 that is a sandbox environment (the licence usually includes one) refreshed as a copy of production. The tests create and delete their own data.
How many tests should be automated?
Not all of them. Following a risk-based approach, the business-critical, frequently run, stable processes: on a medium system 30–50 test cases cover 80 % of the risk. Rare, volatile or one-off cases are cheaper to check by hand.
What happens at a new Dynamics 365 release?
Microsoft makes the release wave available in the sandbox first (early access). We run the full regression suite there, analyse failures (real defect or UI change), fix the system or the test, and only then let the update into production.
Do you also do manual testing only?
Yes. Before an implementation or a larger change, often only functional and UAT testing is needed, without automation. The manual test cases can later become the basis of the automated suite, so the work is not lost.
Do you build tests for a system implemented by another partner?
Yes, testing is independent of who implemented the system. It is often the entry point: building the suite reveals how the system really works.
How quickly do we see results?
Automation is built up step by step: the first, most important test cases go into CI before the starter suite is complete; from then on there is feedback before every release and the suite keeps growing.
Let’s talk about your project.
Tell us what you are planning and we will get back to you within a few days.
Get in touch