CRM Transformation with Performance Engineering

Client Overview

Our client, a major UK construction company launched a new CRM program using D365 Sales & Marketing and D365 Customer Service to enhance customer engagement and sales conversion. The core systems included the custom Homebuilder platform, integrating with COINS House Sales Financials and Adobe Campaign Manager.

The Challenge - Project Volatility and Performance Uncertainty

Project Volatility: The project experienced delays due to lack of collaboration and D365 knowledge this coupled with unrealistic delivery timelines and multiple changes to user story acceptance criteria, putting the project at risk with a quarter of the budget already consumed.
Integration Risk: Critical system integrations were not fully defined by requirements, creating a significant quality gap that needed to be covered.

The Solution - Expert Scaling and Targeted Performance Testing

A team of over 15 Functional and Non-Functional Testing experts was engaged to stabilise the D365 rollout. Our strategy focused on scaling quickly, imposing process discipline and guaranteeing performance under load:

Experts put to work: Our D365 functional consultants brought in the quality perspective and bridged the gap between business and the implementation team. Reducing review and rework significantly.
Dynamic Resource Scaling: Our D365 bench was utilised as a core flex model to rapidly scale to manage project demand spikes.
Integration and End-to-end Coverage: End-to-end business processes were documented and integrations mapped. Our QA consultants facilitated discussions with third parties to understand the data flow and worked with implementers to deliver the best results. This laid the foundation for an effective and optimised regression test pack
Leveraging NeoLoad for Non-Functional Assurance: Performance was key for this migration and the right tool selected was crucial. After comparing multiple tools, the team narrowed down on NeoLoad, a leading performance testing tool known for simulating large user loads, compatible with the dynamic UI properties of D365 and providing detailed real-time analysis. This was instrumental in:
- Evaluating the D365 application’s responsiveness and scalability under varying load conditions.
- Guaranteeing optimal performance before go-live, preventing system slowdowns that could impact critical sales cycle operations.

The Results - Metrics of Control and Confidence

The intervention successfully delivered project control, quality confidence, and a stable foundation for the D365 rollout:

Metric	Outcome	Detail
Integration Quality	Zero Critical Defects	End-to-end business-critical processes were tested and defects were fixed. There have been no issues in production.
UAT Readiness	Robust Pass Rate	Improved test coverage with automated test for System Integration Testing (SIT), and End-to-End Testing (E2E) delivered a higher defect detection rate and reduced risk of failure in critical processes and integrations. This enabled business users to focus on exploratory testing, reducing the issues in UAT.
Performance Assurance	Confirmed Scalability	NeoLoad identified 5 critical performance defects at the integration points with COINS and D365. The test proved that the system met its required capacity of supporting 300 concurrent end users.
Process Control	Enhanced Transparency	Provided an enhanced DevOps dashboard and managed UAT defect, triage, scripting and defect logging, giving the client team full visibility and control over the testing lifecycle.

Client

Major UK Construction Company

Industry

Residential Construction & Homebuilding

Project

CRM Transformation Programme

System Under Test

D365 Sales & Marketing and D365 Customer Service (Core CRM)

Tools Used

NeoLoad (for Non-Functional/Performance Testing), Azure DevOps (for Test Management)

Stabilizing a UK Construction Giant’s CRM Transformation with Performance Engineering