Know what a Microsoft update changed, before your team spends the week finding out by hand.
Microsoft ships four Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations service updates a year and requires you to take at least two. Each one updates your sandbox seven days before production. In that window, someone has to confirm your critical processes still work, your customizations and ISV solutions still behave, and the update itself didn't quietly move a configuration setting.
Microsoft's Regression Suite Automation Tool (RSAT) is marked for deprecation and won't be supported after May 15, 2027. Microsoft's own deprecation record answers "replaced by another feature?" with a flat no. DES-Core™ ReleaseGuard is our own answer to that gap: a recurring service, not a tool you have to run yourself.
What ReleaseGuard delivers, every cycle
Regression library, refreshed
A test library built from your own design documents and configuration, regenerated whenever your documents change, so it stays current rather than fixed at the moment it was first written.
Configuration drift report
A read-only comparison of your sandbox configuration before and after the update: exactly what changed, and what didn't.
Findings delta
Every change traced to a cause: the update itself, a customization, an ISV solution, or your own data.
Acceptance pack
One document per cycle for your named process owners, with a review call, inside the seven-day sandbox window.
Optional add-on: scripted scenario execution. We run your critical business scenarios in your sandbox, recording pass or fail with the data trail.
How it works
Document ingestion
We ingest your design documentation and existing test scripts, build the first library, and capture your configuration baseline.
Inside the 7-day window
Post-update snapshot, drift report, findings delta, scenario execution if contracted, then the acceptance pack and review call.
Stays current
Your documents live in a shared folder we re-sync from; when they change, the library changes with them.
Read-only by default
Any read of your environment is exactly that. Scenario execution, if contracted, runs only in your sandbox under a tester role you grant.
Consultant-led
A named senior F&O architect leads every cycle. Our team reviews and finalizes every deliverable before it reaches you, then walks it through with your process owners on the review call.
What we need from you
- Cloud Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations on Microsoft's mandatory service-update cadence.
- A Tier-2 or higher sandbox environment.
- Your design documentation (functional and technical design documents, configuration workbooks, existing test scripts) in a shared folder we can re-sync from.
- Read-only access, set up during onboarding.
- Named process owners for the review call each cycle.
Pricing
| Item | Fee | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Onboarding, one time | Contact us | Document ingestion, first library, configuration baseline, read-only access setup. |
| Per cycle, up to 10 processes tested | Contact us | Library refresh, configuration drift report, findings delta, acceptance pack, review call. |
| Per cycle, 11 to 30 processes tested | Contact us | Same, at greater test-volume scale. |
| Per cycle, 31 to 100 processes tested | Contact us | Same, at greater test-volume scale. |
| Per cycle, 100+ processes tested | Quoted | Custom scale, quoted to fit your process count. |
| Customizations, ISV solutions, and integrations that deviate from standard functionality | Quoted | Priced as an additional band or quoted separately. |
Priced by the number of business processes under test, not a flat per-cycle fee: test 5 vendors' processes or 100, and scale coverage to what the business actually needs. Consultant time is included in every fee above; there is no hourly line. Billed per cycle actually run: if you pause an update, you are not billed for it. Remediation, fixing what a cycle finds, is change work at our normal terms, quoted separately.
Why DES
We're a Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations consultancy headquartered in Austin, Texas, delivering globally across North America, Europe, the Middle East, Australia and China. Every one of our consultants is certified in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations, and we've delivered hundreds of Dynamics AX and D365 F&O implementations. ReleaseGuard runs on DES-Core™, our proprietary intelligence engine: cutting-edge AI and automation build the library and the configuration comparison, so consultant time goes to judgment, not clicking. Our team reviews and finalizes everything before it reaches you.
Common questions
Does ReleaseGuard replace RSAT?
RSAT is marked for deprecation and won't be supported after May 15, 2027, with no first-party successor named. ReleaseGuard is DES's own answer: a test library built from your own design documents, a configuration drift report, and scripted scenario execution, delivered as a service.
Do we need Copilot?
No. ReleaseGuard requires no Copilot licensing.
What happens to our existing test scripts?
Onboarding ingests them, along with your design documents and configuration workbooks, to build the first library. Nothing is discarded; the library regenerates as your documents change.
Is it safe for production?
Any read of your environment is read-only by default. Scripted scenario execution, if contracted, runs only in your sandbox, under a tester role you grant.
How is it priced?
A one-time onboarding fee, then a per-cycle fee priced by the number of business processes under test, in bands (up to 10, 11 to 30, 31 to 100, and 100-plus processes). Customizations, ISV solutions, and integrations that deviate from standard functionality are priced as an additional band or quoted separately. Contact us for a quote sized to your process count.
See if it fits your update calendar.
Not ready to commit yet? A no-cost first look at your F&O environment through our DES-Core™ intelligence engine, reviewed by our team before it reaches you, is available for a limited number of engagements. Or go straight to a call with our founder.