Thursday, April 2, 2020
I n our previous blog post , we explained when you should choose to upgrade to Dynamics 365 B usiness C entral SaaS NOW . But more often than not, it is a complicated process. Y ou may experience various limitations which prevent you from upgra ding . T o resolve some of th e se limitations sometimes the answer is to wait and eventually these issues disappear with technological progress . E xamples of such limitations are as follows:
-
Missing Microsoft Standard Event Publishers
.
When
creating an Extension
for Dynamics 365 Business Central
,
we found that
there’s a lack of
Microsoft
‘
Standard Event Publishers
’
when trying
to
move customizations
over
to events.
Therefore,
if you c
hoose to upgrade
LATER
,
Microsoft
may have
implement
ed
most of the
‘
Standard Event Publishers
’
and you will be able to move
code
from
‘
the standard
’ more easily
.
-
Add-ons yet to exist as apps.
Customers
m
ay
use
a
dd-ons that their business processes depend
up
on,
but
some add-ons are yet to be released as apps
(which are required to work
with
Dynamics 365
Business Central SaaS
)
.
In March 2020, we counted more than 60 apps on Microsoft AppSource for Dynamics 365 Business Central SaaS . However, it has been predicted that the number of apps on Microsoft AppSource is to increase significantly in 2020; with many add-on providers upgrading the ir popular o n- p remises solutions .
-
Unavailable localizations.
Localizations for Dynamics 365 Business Central SaaS are not released for the required country.
-
High demand for backups and database management.
At present, Dynamics 365
Business Central SaaS
functionality does not offer the possibility for customers
themselves
to automate backups and restore databases back to a select
ed
point in time, which some business units require. This
is dissimilar to
SQL backups for
O
n-
P
rem
ise
s
versions.
Although it is possible to conduct manual backups regularly or ask Microsoft support to restore database to a selected point
in
time in emergency case.
-
Database size
.
In order to migrate
to a Dynamics 365
Business Central database
from
a
Microsoft Azure
SQL database
,
you need to ensure that the database size
is
no more than
8
0 GB
– this is
the
maximum size supported by
the
Dynamics 365
Business Central SaaS tenant.
Technically
,
it is possible to migrate databases up to 150 GB, but if size
exceeds 80 GB – you should
ask Microsoft support
for
more space.
-
Internet quality and speed dependent.
In
certain
countries
and regions, internet speed and quality can be an issue
when
upgrad
ing
to
Dynamics 365
Business Central SaaS.
Even though many of the limitations when upgrading to Dynamics 365 Business C entral SaaS disappear over time , the re are some limitation s that remain and to resolve them you must take action . In such c ase s, you should choos e ‘ re - implementation ’ and also re - do certain functionalities using different technologies . Examples of such limitations are as follows:
-
Web Client limitations.
It can be problematic
upgrad
ing
an
O
n-
P
remises
C/AL solution
that
uses
Windows Client
only
to
a Dynamics 365
Business
C
entral
SaaS because
some
Windows Client
features are not supported by
Web
Client
on SaaS
.
Therefore
, r
eimplementation is needed for
the following
functionalities
:
- Automations and .NET variables.
- Long running dialogs.
- Reports without request pages.
-
Integrations.
SaaS supports integrations using Web Services only.
If
an
old
third
party software is
using different integration methods
on
C/AL
, it
needs
to
be reimplemented
for SaaS
.
-
File system limitations.
Many old
customizations
store
files
in local servers
, but with
SaaS there is no access to local file system
s
, everything
has to
be done using
Microsoft
Azure
storage or other online alternatives.
-
Other technological constraints
:
- A ccess to Dynamics 365 Business Central SaaS s ystem tables is restricted .
- Standard keys, variables and table relations cannot be modified by Extensions .
- Standard fields cannot be used in custom keys.
- Some s tandard object properties cannot be modified and need to be mandator il y filled for SaaS .
-
S
ome grid layout
s
, indentation
s
, lookup
s
,
and
refresh features are not supported
by
a
Web client
which generates challenges.
What are the Benefits of Upgrading to Dynamics 365 Business Central SaaS LATER?
-
Managed risk.
When making
the
decision
of
whether to upgrade
to Business Central SaaS
NOW or LATER, you take a risk of massive gain or loss depending on which you decide. To manage risks, you can choose to upgrade LATER and spread
the
upgrade
over
2 or 3 steps,
the
first step
is
moving to
Dynamics 365
Business Central
O
n-
P
remise
s
and then from there
, moving
to a SaaS deployment as the limitations are resolved
with technological progress
.
This type of a
pproach
is
called
a
‘
Lift and Shift
’
. It
is
generally
less risky for the customer because not only
is the full, complicated transition to SaaS split into
multiple
phases, but
the
risks are also split into two
or three
phases as well.
-
Reduced
upgrade price.
If
a
limitation
for
upgrad
ing
to
Dynamics 365
B
usiness
C
entral
SaaS is
no
n-
exist
ent
Microsoft Standard Event Publishers, then waiting
instead of
reimplementing
customization
s
would result in
a
reduced
upgrade price.
E
ach year
Microsoft introduces new
Standard Event Publishers to make
the base application more extendable
.
For example, w
ith
Dynamics 365
Business Central 2019 wave 2,
Microsoft released 1400 new Standard Event Publishers
.
To understand the difference in pricing, you can compare the time it takes to move customization s to the existing Standard Event and the time it takes to reimplement customization s . T o move a customization to the existing Standard Event it takes 5 to 10 minutes work. Reimplementing a customization , without having a Microsoft Standard Event Publisher , can take more than 10 hours of work.
-
Cost control.
The cost of u
pgrad
ing
to
Dynamics 365
Business Central SaaS
might be
difficult to estimate
for larger and more complex installations,
this is
because a lot of re
implementation work can be
required
when
mov
ing
customizations to Extensions
.
Choosing
‘
Lift and Shift
’
approach
gives you the benefit of controlling the cost, as the bulk of the upgrade is charged at a fixed price upfront,
and the redesign work is minimized
.
-
A smart way to invest.
If you move to
Dynamics 365
Business Central
O
n-
P
remise
s
as a first step of
a
‘
Lift and Shift
’
project,
any
investment you make will count as an investment towards moving to the SaaS version
,
b
ecause upgrade to the newest Business Central
O
n-
P
remises version is a mandatory step when upgrading to Business Central SaaS.
How to Upgrade to Dynamics 365 Business Central SaaS LATER: Lift and Shift Strategy
Before
upgrading
, i
t is important to evaluate the solution
first,
to find out what exactly limits the upgrade to
Dynamics 365
Business Central SaaS
and
then
make a
long-term
transition
plan
consist
ing
of 2 phases: Lift and Shift.
Lift Phase
D uring the Lift phase of the upgrade process , it is important to get to the closest possible ‘ stop ’ to Dynamics 365 Business Central SaaS . There can be several Dynamics 365 Business Central O n- P remises ‘ stops ’ y ou can choose from , such as :
-
Upgrade to
Business Central 2020 Wave 1 (version
16.x) with base app customizations.
Choose this option if you are ready for the Web Client . Once you u pgrade to Dynamics 365 B usiness C entral 20 20 wave 1 release O n- P remises with base app customizations , build Custom Event Publishers for not yet available Standard Event Publishers. You can put in a request to Microsoft to create Standard Event Publishers in the places where you have created Custom Event Publishers. This way, you can gradually transition customizations into a standalone E xtension once M icrosoft releases Standard Event Publishers .
-
Upgrade to Dynamics 365 Business Central 2019 April release (version 14.x).
Choose this option if you are not yet ready for the Web Client and your required a dd-ons are not yet available for Business Central 2019 wave 2 (version 15.x ) or Business Central 2020 Wave 1 (version 16.x ) . Dynamics 365 Business Central 2019 April release is the last version that supports C/AL and W indows C lient O n - P remise s .
Shift Phase
After the ‘ Lift ’ phase, wait until time- sensi tive limitations preventing you from going in to the ‘ Shift ’ phase are gone. For example, if you requested Standard Event Publishers from Microsoft and they are approved , you sh ould wait until the next Dynamics 365 Business Central release where it will be implemented . Equally , w ith the other limitations that require waiting , i t is recommended to ensure that the gap between the ‘ Lift ’ and ‘ Shift ’ phase is no longer than 1 – 2 years.
When everything is ready for the second ‘ Shift ’ phase, the upgrade process is as follows :
- Upgrade. E xecute upgrade tasks to get to the latest available version of Dynamics 365 Business Central.
- Create an Extension. Move the remaining code in to the events that Microsoft has added and execute the remaining work to create an Extension out of all the customizations.
-
Reimplement.
Review all customizations that were not moved from the standard code and the limitations of
Dynamics 365
Business Central SaaS
. Then
decide how to best reimplement these conflicts.
Upgrade with 英雄联盟竞猜抽注入口v8.8 安卓版 in 2 Phases
英雄联盟竞猜抽注入口v8.8 安卓版 ’s ‘ Phased Transition ’ service helps to successfully implement ‘ Lift and Shift ’ strategy . It brings all data and transforms all customizations into Dynamics 365 Business Central SaaS in 2 steps .
To s tart planning your ‘ Phased Transition ’ to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central SaaS , u pload a .fob file on the 英雄联盟竞猜抽注入口v8.8 安卓版 Upgrade Analyzer , where you will receive a fixed price estimate for the first upgrade phase and exact plan to get ready for the second phase.
To ascertain which path is best for you , the strategies available and how to make the best choice when upgrading to Dynamics 365 Business Central SaaS – download the 英雄联盟竞猜抽注入口v8.8 安卓版 e-book or get in touch with us .