This page describes the release policies for our Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Supply Chain Management solutions.
D365 Finance & Supply Chain Release Policy
Microsoft Dynamics 365 F&SCM updates are backward compatible with ISV solutions.
Microsoft maintains a policy of binary backward compatibility for D365 F&SCM (see also this page for more details). This means that you can deploy the latest update of D365 F&SCM while keeping the ISV solution unchanged and without a need to recompile the solution. The goal of Microsoft is that the quarterly updates of D365 F&SCM are not only binary compatible but also functionally compatible so that an update of D365 F&SCM does not break the ISV solution in place and vice versa.
Update Policy
The One Version policy from Microsoft (located here) requests the customer to have their production environment updated every quarter to the latest D365 F&SCM update. Microsoft can allow a customer to lapse for 1 update on the quarterly schedule for D365 F&SCM.
To support this kind of scenario, STAEDEAN strives to create updates for its solutions that can be used with older versions ( a.k.a. are backwards compatible) with that same minimum version of D365 F&SCM, meaning that our efforts focus on ensuring our new updates will remain compatible with a maximum of 2 previous versions.
Note that it may happen – despite the best efforts of Microsoft and STAEDEAN – that a new D365 F&SCM update is not backwards compatible with a STAEDEAN solution. Therefore, STAEDEAN indicates the minimum required D365 F&SCM update for each of its solutions. Please note that this minimum required version could be older than what Microsoft considers their oldest version.
If a new D365 F&SCM update is not backwards compatible with a specific STAEDEAN solution, this will be indicated. An update of the STAEDEAN solution will be provided on this latest D365F&SCM update, and the overview of release information will show the latest version number as “Minimum Required”.
If your environment is not managed by Microsoft, but you have your own managed environment, the forced update to the latest version is not enforced. This could lead to a situation where your versions are no longer actively supported.
If this is the case, we strongly advise you to maintain the minimum upgrade schedule enforced by Microsoft, which is two updates a year, both for the D365 F&SCM solution as well for all your ISV-solutions.
Release cycle for STAEDEAN solutions
STAEDEAN will release new versions of software four times a year, with the stipulation that this may not apply to all STAEDEAN products. At the same time, the number of updates may be higher if there are market demands or technical needs. Of course, we will follow the general update rules from Microsoft regarding backward compatibility and we will also ensure that the currently available software will function as-is on the latest MS versions. The target date for the next updates from STAEDEAN are listed in the Release Update overview, located here.
STAEDEAN delivers new features, extension requests, or fixes only on the most current update. All updates are cumulative and therefore contain all changes to date. Even when a single hotfix is released with priority, the content of the package will be the complete release as well as the fix itself. This way STAEDEAN guarantees the unbroken chain of cumulative updates and releases.
STAEDEAN is committed to avoid introducing breaking changes in its solutions. However, it cannot be excluded that a new update of STAEDEAN will never cause an issue with customization made on top of STAEDEAN solutions. STAEDEAN will continue to further improve tooling as far as available to minimize this risk even further. In the case that a change made by STAEDEAN causes an issue with customizations, STAEDEAN will work together with the customer to resolve this considering the severity of the issue.
More information on releases, versions and compatibility can be found in the links above. If there are delays in delivery of updates or is there are special exceptions for a specific product, we will share the information on our website.
