Test Automation Suite for Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations, Part 2

In the first part of this series, I took a look at how you configure the Test Automation Suite (TAS) for Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations (D365FO). Now it is time to take a look a how you use TAS for test automation.

Test Automation Suite Example

As mentioned in the earlier post, the starting point for a test case in TAS is a task recording. In my example, I am using a task recording of how to create a new customer as shown in the following screenshot:

As the following screenshot shows, I have uploaded the task recording to my process library in the Business Process Modeler (BPM) in Lifecycle Services (LCS).

The task recording is now a process, and it becomes an epic or user story (depending on level) in Azure DevOps when the two tools synchronise, but it is not yet a test case. To make the process into a test case, you must create at least one requirement for it in BPM as shown below.

In Azure DevOps, each requirement becomes a user story, but only one test case is created – for the entire process. This is shown in the below query from Azure DevOps.

In the previous post, we created a test plan in Azure DevOps. Now it is time to add test cases to this test plan. In my example I only have one test case, so it is relatively easy to add them to the test plan as shown below.

With the test plan in place, it is time to switch to the TAS. Before you are able to use the TAS, you must configure the settings as described in the previous blog post. Once this has been done, you can click on Load and the test plan is loaded from Azure DevOps. If the Parameters File field is empty, you must click on New to populate the file. This file contains the test data for the test case.

When clicking on Edit, an Excel spreadsheet opens up with test data captured in the task recording, as the above screenshot shows. This spreadsheet is also available for editing in the folder configured under settings.

Please note, before clicking on Run to execute the automated test, you must make sure you display zoom factor on your PC (not the VM) has been set to 100% otherwise, the Internet Explorer driver on the VM will fail.

Now, when clicking Run in the TAS, the system logs in to D365FO and starts to automatically simulate the test. If successful, the test will be marked with “Passed” in the Result field or “Failed” if the test failed.

If I go back to Azure DevOps under Test plans / Runs, the query shows a list of all the test runs I have carried out and their status as shown below.

You can obviously drill-down from here and use the Azure DevOps tools to investigate further and take appropriate action.

Test Case Meta-Data

One last thing worth exploring is what data is carried across to a test case in Azure DevOps. As you can see from the following screenshot, the test case in Azure DevOps automatically inherits the task recording steps from BPM.

If you are not using automated testing, this would still allow the user to manually perform a test based on task recordings.

Also, as this screenshot shows, the test data used in TAS is stored with the test case.

Conclusion

As I have shown in this blog post, we are now able to automate testing based on data from BPM and Azure DevOps without developer assistance. I am sure we will see the TAS develop further in future, but for now we have a strong tool to support our agile projects and regression testing during continuous delivery.

In my third, and last, post on the subject I will be looking at how to investigate failed test cases and chaining of test cases in TAS.