Microsoft is dropping RSAT in May 2027. What tests Finance and Operations after that?
Microsoft stops supporting RSAT on May 15, 2027 and hasn't named a replacement. Here's how to pick what tests your Finance and Operations updates next, and the sign-in problem you'll want to fix first.
part 9 of 9 · Running enterprise platforms wellthe ideaTest 10.0.51 with both tools. After that, RSAT is on its own.
after reading, you can- Explain to your team what stops when RSAT's support ends, and what's still unclear
- Choose a replacement for RSAT that people can actually keep running
- Spot the MFA-exempt test accounts and certificates that RSAT leaves behind
Microsoft will stop supporting RSATdefinitionMicrosoft's Regression Suite Automation Tool. You record a business task once and it replays the steps in a browser after every update., the tool many Finance and Operations teams use to retest the system after each update, on May 15, 2027, and it hasn't named a replacement. Count what you've built on RSAT this quarter and pick its successor before the April 2027 update cycle.
The robot that retests your finance system is losing its warranty, and nobody's offering a new one
Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations runs purchasing, invoicing, inventory and the ledger for a lot of companies. Microsoft updates it several times a year, and you have to take at least two of those updates. Someone has to check that your invoices still post afterwards. RSAT, the Regression Suite Automation Tool, does that checking by replaying recorded business tasks in a browser. Your staff record a task once and the tool repeats it after every update. Microsoft says RSAT won't be supported after May 15, 2027. Nothing on its pages says the tool stops running that day. You just lose fixes and help, while the updates keep coming.
Picture a test driver you've employed for years, who drives every car off the line through the same route. The factory says that from next May nobody will train or insure that driver. The cars keep coming on schedule, so you need someone else behind the wheel before the driver's route stops matching the road.
- Finance and Operations owners
- ERP and IT managers
- Test leads and key users
- Identity and security teams
- Dynamics partners and ISVs
Why a testing tool deserves a budget line
Microsoft tests each release itself, then says plainly that your data, configuration and extensions are yours to retest. You can pause one update, and then the next one comes whether you're ready or not. Once it's in your sandbox, you've got seven calendar days before production follows.
A week is a short time to walk through procure-to-pay by hand, and rollback isn't available as a safety net. Microsoft's service updatedefinitionOne of the scheduled releases Microsoft ships for Finance and Operations. There are four a year, and you have to take at least two. FAQ says a rollback can't be done once the update is applied. If nothing checks the update, your first test is a real invoice run.
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01 An update reaches your sandbox
Microsoft puts it on your chosen sandbox a week before production, same as it does now.
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02 RSAT replays your recordings
A browser opens and RSAT works through each task, one click at a time. The values come out of Excel files someone maintains.
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03 A test fails
Maybe the update really broke something. Maybe a form changed, or the browser driver RSAT relies on no longer fits.
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04 Nobody fixes the tool
After May 15, 2027 Microsoft doesn't support RSAT, so a failure caused by the tool becomes your problem to work around.
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05 The team tests by hand
Key users drop their day jobs and rerun the critical processes inside the seven-day window, with no rollback behind them.
The failure we'd plan for is slow. RSAT needs Selenium and browser driver libraries, and browsers keep updating. Each service update can also change forms your recordings depend on. A suite like that tends to rot a few test cases at a time, and people stop trusting the red results long before anyone formally retires it.
What Microsoft changed, and what it hasn't said
The changes that affect your test setup
You get support until May 15, 2027, and after that you're on your own. Microsoft's whole explanation is one line saying the functionality is no longer supported.
Microsoft's list has a row asking whether another feature replaces it, and the answer is a flat No. Picking a successor falls to you.
RSAT's own documentation says certificate sign-in to Finance and Operations is deprecated. Teams have to move RSAT to user-based sign-in.
Microsoft says the admin center replacing Lifecycle Services no longer offers certificate downloads, so that route closes as environments move across.
Finance and Operations doesn't accept app registrations or managed identities for this sign-in. A named user account is the only route Microsoft leaves open.
If you're new to Finance, Supply Chain Management or Project Operations, you've been unable to start a cloud project there since February 16, 2026, unless it's an AX 2012 upgrade or Microsoft approves an exception. Existing customers can move environments to the new admin center, but there's no coming back.
Our advice would be the same even if Microsoft narrowed the scope tomorrow. A tool that's been marked for deprecation won't get much new investment, and the certificate and Lifecycle ServicesdefinitionThe older Microsoft portal where teams manage Finance and Operations projects and environments. The Power Platform admin center is taking over that job. changes hit cloud customers regardless.
Line the date up against your update calendar
| Release | Self-update | First production window | Second production window | End of service | RSAT status at self-update |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10.0.49 (major) | Sep 11, 2026 | Oct 2, 2026 | Oct 30, 2026 | May 21, 2027 | Supported |
| 10.0.50 | Dec 22, 2026 | Jan 31, 2027 | Feb 28, 2027 | Aug 20, 2027 | Supported |
| 10.0.51 (major) | Mar 12, 2027 | Apr 2, 2027 | Apr 30, 2027 | Nov 19, 2027 | Supported, for about two more months |
| 10.0.52 | Jun 4, 2027 | Jul 2, 2027 | Jul 30, 2027 | Feb 15, 2028 | Out of support |
| 10.0.53 | Sep 10, 2027 | Oct 1, 2027 | Oct 29, 2027 | May 20, 2028 | Out of support |
10.0.51 is the last release to reach general availability with RSAT still supported, and it's a major one. Treat its cycle as your parallel run: RSAT and the new tool both test the same release, so you can compare what each one catches. 10.0.52 is the first to reach general availability with Microsoft no longer behind the tool.
Dates to plan around
- Feb 16, 2026New Lifecycle Services projects frozen
New to Finance, Supply Chain Management or Project Operations in the cloud? You'll start in the new admin center.
- Sep 2026Environment migration preview opens
Existing customers can move sandboxes to the Power Platform admin center. It's one-way.
- Feb 28, 2027Field Service Data Integrator templates end
A separate retirement on the same list. If you run them, that deadline comes first.
- Mar 12, 202710.0.51 self-update
Use this major release for the parallel run.
- May 15, 2027RSAT support ends
- Jun 4, 202710.0.52 self-update
It's the first release to open for self-update with RSAT out of support.
- Power users do the recording and nobody has to touch code
- Excel files hold the test data
- Azure DevOps Test Plans stores cases and results
- Runs from a Windows machine that somebody has to keep alive
- Used for everything, including tests it wasn't meant for
- Business cycle tests run on a tool you picked after trying it yourself
- X++ developers test the components themselves, with SysTest and the Acceptance test library
- Integration checks run in Data task automation, so on-premises teams will need another way
- Every test account and secret has somebody's name next to it
- Fewer tests, and when one goes red people actually look
Your options, side by side
Most teams should stop looking for one product that does what RSAT did. Microsoft's own RSAT page tells you not to use it for unit tests or integration tests, so part of your suite may already be in the wrong tool. Split the work by test type, then choose a tool for the business cycle tests that are left.
| Route | What you get | What you take on | Fits when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Keep RSAT past the date | No migration work now | No Microsoft support, and every breakage is yours | A short bridge only, with an exit date you've written down |
| Playwright | An open-source framework Microsoft lists as an option, plus a managed cloud run service | Someone has to write and maintain code. We didn't find a Microsoft tool that converts Task recorder files to Playwright | You have developers who'll own a test codebase |
| Commercial test platform | Microsoft's guide lists Leapwork, Tricentis Tosca, TheTestMart, Alithya Rapid QA, Elevaite365 and others | Licence cost, vendor lock-in and possibly a rebuild of your tests. Ask each vendor | Key users, not developers, will keep authoring tests |
| Split by test type, then pick | SysTest and ATL for components, Data task automation for integrations, a smaller UI suite | More than one tool to run, and X++ skills for the lower layers | You've got a large suite and a development team on the platform |
A word on the other names you'll see. Microsoft's list also includes EasyRepro, but its description limits it to Dynamics 365 Online versions 9.0 and 9.2, and Finance and Operations runs on 10.0.x, so we wouldn't plan around it. Microsoft PlaywrightdefinitionOpen-source code that drives a web browser the way a person would. It's on Microsoft's list of regression testing options for Dynamics 365. Testing, the older cloud service, has been retired. A Microsoft employee's post on the Dynamics community blog points to Playwright Workspaces in its place and shows sample Finance and Operations tests.
We haven't priced these for you, because the number depends on how many tests you keep, who authors them and how each vendor licenses. Ask each vendor to quote against your real test count and to show a run against one of your own forms, including a lookup and a posting.
- Count your RSAT test cases and mark which ones anyone has looked at this year.
- Count the folders in RSAT's working directory if you can't get a number from Azure DevOps. There's one folder per test case ID.
- Tag each case as business cycle, component or integration. Only the first group needs a UI tool.
- Name an owner for every business process, someone who can say what correct looks like.
- Find every place RSAT actually runs. Expect laptops and shared VMs as well as Azure DevOps agents.
- Search your pipeline repos and classic pipeline definitions for RegressionSuite.ConsoleApp, one way pipelines call RSAT, and for the Marketplace RSAT tasks. Each hit is a job you'll have to move.
- Write down each account, certificate and secret those runs use. Then add the date each one expires, because someone will forget.
- Pick five processes that would really hurt if they broke, and make sure one of them posts to the ledger.
- Check which environments are still in Lifecycle Services and which have already moved. It affects how RSAT can sign in to each one.
What to do now, by role
Who does what before May
- Ask whoever runs your ERP how each update gets tested today, and who signs it off.
- Put one person in charge of replacing RSAT. Give them a budget for the first half of 2027, or it'll slide.
- If a partner does your testing, ask what they'll use once RSAT's support ends. Get the answer in writing.
- Count the RSAT cases, machines and pipelines, and sort cases by test type.
- Ask Microsoft Support whether the date covers your deployment type. You want that answer in writing.
- Book the 10.0.51 cycle for a parallel run and protect key users' time for it.
- Hold any sandbox move to the admin center until RSAT sign-in is sorted.
- Retire tests nobody can explain, and don't migrate them.
- Try each shortlisted tool on the same five processes. Demos on a vendor's sample data won't tell you much.
- A recording only knows what got clicked. Write down what the right result looks like for each case.
- Pull the list of accounts exempted from MFA for RSAT. Each one should be test-only.
- Check no test account can reach production or holds a real person's name.
- Add the app registration's secret expiry to whatever calendar actually gets read.
The order we'd run it in
- 01Take stock
Pull the test plans from Azure DevOps, count the cases and find out which ones have passed lately. Expect to delete a good share of them. A suite that's been failing quietly for a year isn't protecting anyone.
- 02Fix sign-in first
Move RSAT from certificates to user-based authentication if you can, because you need it working until the new tool takes over. Do it before any sandbox moves to the Power Platform admin center.
- 03Split the suite
Push component checks down to SysTest with the Acceptance test library, and integration checks to Data task automation if you're in the cloud. Whatever's left is your real business cycle suite.
- 04Pilot two tools on the same five processes
Include a posting, a lookup, a file upload and a Workflow approval if you use one. RSAT can't play back file uploads or page refreshes, so you may gain coverage here.
- 05Run both on 10.0.51
Test the April 2027 release with RSAT and the new tool side by side. Where they disagree, find out why before you trust either one.
- 06Switch off RSAT on purpose
Remove it from the pipelines, retire the agent machines, and delete the test accounts and secrets that only RSAT used. Leftover accounts with no MFA are the part that bites later.
Your test suite has an identity problem
Finance and Operations won't let an app registration or managed identity sign in for these tests, so automation has to use a user account with a password. MFA breaks that sign-in, and Microsoft's documentation says user-based authentication times out on an account with MFA on.
So every setup like this has accounts that skip MFA on purpose. Microsoft keeps the exemption narrow, and you should too. The test accounts get it, for test environments only, through Conditional AccessdefinitionA premium Microsoft Entra feature for setting who can sign in to what, and how. Here it's what keeps the MFA exemption limited to test accounts., which is a premium Entra feature. Don't turn off security defaults to get there, because that drops MFA for everyone.
Replacing RSAT won't automatically fix this, because a browser-based tool still has to get through a sign-in. Playwright's documentation warns that its saved sign-in state can contain cookies that could be used to impersonate you, and says to keep that file out of your repository. The Logixr converter's README says TOTP codes can be automated, but number-matching and push-approval MFA can't.
Questions online show how easily this goes sideways. Someone on Stack Overflow in February described RSAT failing with "No client was opened in the timeout period" after setting it up with an app registration and a certificate, and the question still had no answer when we checked. We can't say what caused that one, but compare your own setup with what Microsoft documents before you assume it's a browser problem.
Before: RSAT with certificates on someone's Windows machine
Every client machine needs the certificate installed. When the person who set it up leaves, the suite tends to go quiet with them.
After: tests split by type, and someone owns the test accounts
Test account passwords sit in one vault, and the accounts can't touch production. A pipeline kicks off every test type, so nobody has to remember to start them.
Durable fixes
- 01Keep test accounts boring
Microsoft says not to use real users' accounts, and to keep test accounts away from production. Give each one a name that's obviously a test account, and only the roles its test needs.
- 02Keep passwords in Azure Key Vault
RSAT requires this for user-based sign-in. Hold your replacement tool to the same standard, and rotate the passwords on a schedule someone owns.
- 03Watch the secret that expires quietly
RSAT reaches the vault through an app registration whose secret has an expiry date. Saved RSAT settings files leave that secret out, so pipeline machines need it entered by hand under the account that runs RSAT.
- 04Test early, using the preview
Preview packages are open to every customer through the Shared asset library, with no sign-up. Run your suite there and you get weeks of warning in place of seven days.
- 05Give each business process a named owner
A tool can tell you a button still works. Someone from finance has to say whether the posting it produced is correct.
If an update breaks something your tests missed
If the update breaks something the tests missed, work through it in this order
Rollback isn't available after a service update is applied, so the job is to find the problem early and use the routes Microsoft does offer. Work out first whether the product broke or the test did.
- 01Separate tool from productfirst hour
- Run the failing process by hand in the sandbox. If it works, your test is what broke.
- Check RSAT's playback logs, or your new tool's trace, before you raise it with anyone.
- Write down the build number and the exact form or step that failed. Support will ask.
- 02Stop it reaching productionsame day
- Still in the sandbox window? Microsoft lets you request a skip in Lifecycle Services, with a support ticket and business reason.
- Already used your one pause? Log it with Microsoft Support today and mark it critical.
- If you've moved to the admin center, ask Support which route applies to your environment.
- 03Fix it in placefirst days
- Look for a newer cumulative quality update, since individual hotfixes aren't supported.
- If a feature you just switched on caused it, turn it back off in Feature management.
- Don't plan on a restore as your first move. You'd lose whatever was posted since.
- 04Tell peoplefirst day
- Tell finance and operations which processes are affected and what the workaround is.
- If a posting may be wrong, bring in whoever owns the ledger before anyone corrects it.
- 05Close the gapnext cycle
- Add a test for the process that slipped through, with an expected result written down.
- Ask yourselves if seven days was ever enough. If it wasn't, start testing from the preview.
Four illustrative situations
- the setup
- A manufacturer's key users built hundreds of RSAT cases over several years. One consultant wrote the parameter files and has since moved on, and the suite runs on one shared VM.
- what happens
- Sometime after May 2027 a browser update stops the runs. Nobody can tell which failures are real, and the next update's already in the sandbox with seven days on the clock.
- what to do
- Audit the suite now and delete what nobody can explain. Move the keepers in priority order and run old and new together on 10.0.51.
- the setup
- A company runs Finance and Operations in its own data center, and RSAT signs in there with certificates. That's the one deployment the deprecation entry names.
- what happens
- Microsoft says they can't use user-based sign-in, and Data task automation isn't supported there either. Most of the usual ways out are closed.
- what to do
- Confirm your position with Microsoft first. Then pilot tools that can sign in through AD FS, and ask each vendor to prove it against your environment.
- the setup
- An IT team moves a sandbox to the Power Platform admin center in the preview. RSAT there still signs in with a certificate from Lifecycle Services.
- what happens
- The environment is now read-only in Lifecycle Services, the move can't be reversed, and the admin center doesn't offer certificate downloads. The next time the certificate needs replacing, the team has to switch to user-based sign-in in a hurry.
- what to do
- Switch RSAT to user-based sign-in and test it on one less critical sandbox before moving the rest. Treat that as a step on your migration checklist.
- the setup
- A distributor tests each update by asking a few finance users to click through their usual work. It never adopted RSAT, and the update calendar is a shared spreadsheet.
- what happens
- RSAT's end changes nothing for them on paper. The exposure was already there: two updates a year, seven days to check each, and no rollback.
- what to do
- Don't start on a tool that's being retired. Write down your ten most important processes and automate three of them with a supported option.
How Cohash helps
We put each service update on a sandbox, run the suite against it and get fixes in before your window opens. On an RSAT exit, we'd start by sorting your cases by test type and cleaning up the accounts behind them. See our Finance and Operations page, engineers for this work, or start with an assessment.
What to take from this
- 01
RSAT's support runs out after May 15, 2027. Nobody at Microsoft is going to pick the replacement for you.
- 02
The list says on-premises while other pages apply no limit. Plan as if it covers you and ask Microsoft to confirm.
- 03
Use the 10.0.51 cycle in spring 2027 as a parallel run. 10.0.52 is the first to reach general availability with RSAT unsupported.
- 04
Split the suite by test type first. RSAT was never meant for unit or integration tests.
- 05
Sort out test identities before you move sandboxes to the admin center, because that move is one-way.
- 06
When RSAT goes, delete the MFA-exempt accounts and secrets that only it used.
01Will RSAT stop working on May 15, 2027?
Microsoft's pages say it won't be supported after that date. They don't say the tool stops running. Expect it to keep launching for a while, with nobody at Microsoft fixing it when a browser or form change breaks your tests.
02Does RSAT's end of support apply if we're in the cloud?
It isn't clear. The deprecation list shows the deployment option as on-premises, but RSAT's overview and install pages carry the same warning with no limit. We couldn't find a Microsoft page that settles it. Plan as if it applies and ask Microsoft Support to confirm for your tenant.
03What is Microsoft's replacement for RSAT?
It hasn't named one. The deprecation entry's row for a replacement just says "No". Microsoft's regression testing guide lists Playwright and several partner products. Its RSAT page sends you to SysTest and the Acceptance test library for unit and component tests, and Data task automation for integrations.
04Can we convert our RSAT recordings to Playwright automatically?
Partly, and carefully. An open-source converter exists, but its own README says it hasn't been run against a live Dynamics environment, and it won't read RSAT v2 parameter workbooks, so expected values held there don't come across. Use it as a head start and add the expected results yourself.
05Do we have to take the update if our tests aren't ready?
You can pause one update, and then you have to take the next. Microsoft requires at least two service updates a year and applies the latest one automatically if you fall further behind. If you find a real issue in the sandbox, you can ask to skip through Lifecycle Services with a support ticket and a business reason.
06Why do RSAT test accounts need MFA turned off?
User-based sign-in fails on accounts with MFA on, and Finance and Operations doesn't accept service principals or managed identities here. Microsoft's guidance is to exempt only those test accounts, only for test environments, through Conditional Access. Keep them out of production and off real people's names.
07Is our on-premises Finance and Operations affected differently?
Yes, and it's the harder spot. Microsoft says on-premises environments can't use user-based authentication, because they don't support AD FS user accounts for it. Data task automation isn't supported there either, and certificate sign-in is deprecated. Ask Microsoft what it expects you to use, and make vendors prove they can sign in.
Three questions, about a minute
Pick an answer and we'll tell you if it's right, and why it is or isn't. The score stays in this browser.
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Q1Your Finance and Operations is in the cloud, and someone says RSAT's deprecation only lists on-premises. What's the sensible response?
show the answer
B. Plan as if it applies and ask Microsoft to confirm in writing Microsoft's list says on-premises, yet its RSAT pages carry the same warning with no limit. Until Microsoft settles it, planning for the date costs little and being wrong costs a lot.
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Q2RSAT signs in to a sandbox with a certificate, and you want that sandbox in the new admin center. What comes first?
show the answer
D. Switch RSAT to user-based sign-in and test it The move is one-way and the admin center doesn't offer certificate downloads. Finance and Operations doesn't accept service principals either, so user-based sign-in has to work first.
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Q3An update just reached your sandbox and an RSAT test went red. What do you do first?
show the answer
A. Run the process by hand to see whether the test or the product broke A failure can come from the tool or the product, and only a manual run separates them. Rollback isn't available after an update is applied, so the sandbox week is when you need that answer.