Many Dynamics ERP users of SL, GP and NAV are curious when these products will stop being supported and what that really means to them. Often, Dynamics SL clients have significant customizations relative to our other clients so more planning and testing is required on upgrades.
Microsoft Lifecycle information can be found at the Microsoft support site. Below is key information on product support for users of Dynamics SL 7 and Dynamics SL 2011:
- Microsoft Dynamics SL 7: The end date for extended support is October 10, 2017.
- Microsoft Dynamics SL 2011: The 2011 version is moving from Microsoft mainstream support to extended support starting July 12, 2016.
If you’re unsure what version you are currently using, go to “Help” and then “About Microsoft Dynamics SL.” You will see your version number in the box as shown below:
So what does this mean for Dynamics SL 2011 users? If you have a question or are experiencing an issue, you can continue to contact Microsoft support for these versions of SL 2011:
- SL 2011 SP2
- SL 2011 FP1 (not listed but is a part of SP2 support)
- SL 2011 SP3
What changes is that hot fixes are no longer created for a product in extended support. Hot fixes are changes made to a product that address an issue where the product is not working as expected.
In addition, year-end updates are no longer available for products in extended support. However, it’s important to note that a special one-time extension is being made for year-end 2016 updates for SL 2011 (SP2, FP1 & SP3).
The Microsoft Dynamics SL team is highly focused on the next releases for SL, including the current Dynamics SL 2015 and Web Apps releases. With the end of mainstream support for Dynamics SL 2011 approaching, hot fix requests for this version are being evaluated to determine if they will be corrected in SL 2011 or if they will be moved to SL 2015 (when needed).
For a hot fix to be a candidate for correction in SL 2011, it must be for a data corruption issue that does not have a viable workaround. Requests that do not meet this bar will be reviewed but generally moved forward to the current release of Microsoft Dynamics SL.
