Smarter coverage for continuous updates in Dynamics 365 Business Central

Automated testing in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central has become the gold standard for managing continuous updates, rollouts, and integrations. But as testing frameworks evolve and test coverage expands, a new challenge of testing without the right coverage has emerged, this leads to over-testing as well.

The reality is testing isn’t always productive, if coverage isn’t prioritized. When testing becomes bloated, unfocused, and resource-heavy, it drains QA capacity, slows down releases, and adds complexity rather than clarity.

Let’s talk about what misaligned test coverage looks like in Business Central environments, why it happens, and how platforms like Fortest helps teams cut through the noise and focus on what really matters.

Coverage without risk-based testing creates complexity

Most Dynamics 365 Business Central teams begin with a healthy goal of reducing manual testing, increasing speed, and improving accuracy. But somewhere along the way, things often spiral into:

• Massive regression suites that take hours (or days) to execute manually
• Redundant test cases for workflows that rarely change
• Testing low-risk features with high-effort scripts
• Overlapping test ownership across business units
• Unnecessary checks triggered by minor UI or data tweaks

And due to this, it results in slower release cycles, frustrated testing teams, and decision paralysis over what actually needs to be tested after every update. Risk-based testing approaches, such as business criticality and change impact analysis, must define coverage.

Why does misaligned testing happen?

This over-reliance on test volume typically stems from one key issue: a lack of clearly defined coverage objectives. Many teams react to Microsoft’s frequent updates, platform changes, hotfixes, major wave rollouts, with a blanket testing approach driven by fear of failure. Without a confident understanding of what needs coverage and why, they default to testing everything. While automation makes this possible, it doesn’t make it smart.

Other times, outdated testing strategies are to blame. Legacy manual test cases are often lifted directly into automation frameworks without re-evaluation, leading to unnecessary or irrelevant tests that add little value. In many cases, teams focus on what can be automated instead of what should be automated. This misalignment leads to gaps in critical areas and redundancy elsewhere.

This approach can lead to gaps in end-to-end coverage where individual components are tested in isolation, but the full business process isn’t validated as a whole. In complex systems like Dynamics 365 Business Central, an end-to-end perspective is essential to catch integration issues, data flow problems, and real-world user scenarios that only emerge when the system is exercised holistically.

Without proper end-to-end coverage, you may have hundreds of passing tests and still miss failures that happen where processes intersect.

The hidden cost of over-testing

While testing is supposed to accelerate change, if testing coverage isn’t defined, over-testing would occur introducing friction and increasing cost:

• Wasted time and effort: Testing teams spend hours maintaining tests that rarely catch critical bugs.
• Delayed releases: Excessive test cycles extend timelines and bottleneck DevOps pipelines.
• Increased maintenance overhead: More tests mean more points of failure when configurations or integrations shift.
• Team burnout: Repetitive cycles and unclear test value drain morale and productivity.

What smarter testing looks like in Business Central

Shifting from a “test everything” mindset to a strategic automation approach requires a new game plan.

1. Prioritize by business impact

Focus test coverage on high-risk, high-usage processes like invoicing and payments, inventory updates, sales order processing, and inter-company postings.

2. Automate with purpose

Don’t automate tests just because you can. Automate those that are repetitive and stable, touch critical integrations, and show regression risks in past releases.

3. Use pre-built test packs

Ready-made test scenarios for Business Central functions help you start strong and scale smarter.

4. Monitor test value

Track pass/fail rates, execution times, and bug-catching performance to identify tests worth maintaining or retiring.

Fortest helps you focus on what matters most

Before we dive deeper into the capabilities of Fortest, it’s important to recognize why it is so important. Many testing tools claim to offer end-to-end automation, but few are purpose-built for the complexities of automated testing in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. Fortest was developed to address all the pain points of customers.

Rather than overwhelming teams with a flood of features, Fortest is designed to simplify testing where it matters most, delivering speed, coverage, and control without unnecessary test bloat.

Fortunately for businesses, most Business Central environments don’t need (and can’t sustain) exhaustive testing for every new deployment. The smarter approach is to understand what changes are coming, align tests to what matters most, and use automation that adapts with your business. This is where Fortest comes in.

Intelligent testing for Microsoft Dynamics 365

Fortest is Fortude’s automated regression testing platform, designed specifically for ERP systems like Dynamics 365 Business Central. Instead of throwing more test cases at the problem, Fortest helps teams test smarter with:

• Pre-built scenarios: Out-of-the-box test cases for Business Central processes mean you don’t have to start from scratch.
• Smarter test data: Dynamic data generation reduces reliance on outdated, static datasets.
• Targeted test coverage: Fortest enables prioritization based on process importance and update impact, avoiding unnecessary test executions.
• 24/7 execution without disruption: Run tests anytime, even during off-hours, to validate updates without holding up the business.
• Visual reporting & analytics: Quickly identify failure patterns, root causes, and optimize test cycles over time.

Don’t let test bloat hold you back

Ultimately, the answer isn’t to test more, it’s to test smarter. That means clearly defining what meaningful coverage looks like for your organization. With this clarity, over-testing becomes unnecessary. You gain the confidence to reduce test suite size without compromising quality, improving speed, reducing cost, and enabling more agile releases.

Fortude’s Fortest is built around this principle, giving teams the tools and insights to ensure coverage is intentional, targeted, and aligned with real-world risks. Because when you have the right coverage, every test counts.