Of late, I have been getting a lot of questions about Microsoft’s announcement regarding the end of service life for clients who are running Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009.
In this blog, I’ll go over the changes to the application effective April 1, 2019.
Microsoft recently announced that, effective April 1st, 2019, customers will no longer be able to upgrade to NAV 2018. So, if you are up-to date on maintenance and want to maintain your concurrent user model, then all you need to do is request the upgrade key from your partner before the deadline. Doing so will allow NAV users on 2009 or older to upgrade to the latest perpetual version of NAV, which is NAV 2018; NAV 2013 through 2018 are perpetual versions, and if you run a perpetual version of NAV now, then this message isn’t applicable.
However, if you are on NAV 09 or older, and you wait until after April 1st to request your license key, then your upgrade path will change to the newest version of NAV, which has been re-branded as Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. There are two models for Dynamics 365 BC, a traditional on premises version (single tenant) as well as a cloud-based version (multi-tenant). But, the user model has changed for the on premises version. In the past, on premises versions were based on a concurrent user model, your current model. Moving forward, Microsoft has adopted a named user model. In a concurrent user model, if you own 30 licenses, then any 30 users can be on NAV at the same time. In a named user mode, individuals must have their own license to log in. Therefore, if you have 10 people that need to log into NAV, then you need 10 named licenses, if you have 15 people, then you need 15 named licenses, and so on. On the bright side, Microsoft announced that they are giving a 1:2 mapping ratio, and for every single concurrent user you have, you will receive two named users. The deadline for concurrent users to count toward the 1:2 ratio from Microsoft was Oct. 1, 2018.
If you’re a process manufacturer in the food, beverage, or chemical industry, and you are looking to upgrade, then this is an excellent opportunity to transition to ColumbusFood for Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Microsoft Dynamics BC.
