Cannot access vCSA 5.5 with local root account

We are upgrading from ESXi 5.0 to 5.5 U2. Per the corresponding checklist I first upgraded vCSA to 5.5.

The upgraded vCSA 5.5 is giving me login problems. I can login to the vSphere admin GUI (port 5480) and the web client (port 9443) using the local "root" account. However if I try to access vCSA from an application (ie VUM or Backup Exec) the root credentials get rejected (as if I am using wrong username/password). Any ideas why? FYI we are using Active Directory and embedded DB & SSO. I attach screenshot of the summary page.

Thanks! :-)