3 March 2022

Cloud First strategy for Tinx apps

As part of our new business strategy and the cloud policy of Microsoft, we at Tinx-IT share an important announcement for our partners and customers. We are changing our product release management policy and lifecycle support of all Tinx apps for Microsoft Dynamics NAV as well as Dynamics 365 Business Central. As of 2022, our primary focus will be on the latest versions of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. This means we will continue to maintain, develop and expand our E-commerce, marketplace, and POS apps using the latest versions of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.

Why make this move?

To us, it’s important to deliver the latest in Microsoft technology to our customers. Business Central has been out for several years now, and we recognize this shift with our new customers. Which are almost exclusively using Business Central.

Our key reasons for focusing on a Cloud First strategy:

  • The substantial growth of new customers that use Business Central
  • The introduction of Business Central Universal Code. Microsoft is introducing a license fee for apps that are not cloud compatible and only work on-premise. (Note that all our apps have been available through Microsoft AppSource, since practically the beginning)
  • Development focus on Business Central, which translates to shorter release cycles of apps
  • Usage of advanced functionalities like state of the art ERP functionality like the newly introduced onboarding tools within Business Central V19 for a better customer journey

Two types of Business Central editions

On-Premise edition
On-Premise Microsoft Dynamics 365 is essentially deployed on private servers, which ensures absolute control and management of the vast amount of information either cloud-based or stored on internal servers.

For the On-Premise edition, we will follow the fixed policy of Microsoft. See the following link for more information.

We will support release waves that have ending dates for the foreseeable future.

Cloud / Software As A Service (SAAS) edition
The Modern Lifecycle Policy covers products and services that are serviced and supported continuously. Under this policy, the product or service remains in support assuming the following criteria are met:

  1. Customers stay up to date regarding servicing and system requirements published for a specific product or service.
  2. Customers are licensed to use this product or service.
  3. Tinx-IT currently offers support for this product or service.

Hosted by Microsoft through secure data centers. Access to Business Central is done via an internet browser using an Office 365 account. Click here for the main URL.

For the cloud version, we will align with Microsoft’s policy: the modern Lifecycle Policy.

For more information on this topic, please read this.

What does this mean for our current customers using Microsoft Dynamics NAV?

We currently provide support for customers using Microsoft Dynamics NAV. However, from now on, for any NAV version, we will only apply bug fixes. This means we will not develop new functionality for these versions. Should customers wish to continue to use Tinx apps and/or desire new functionality, they are recommended to upgrade to Business Central.

This applies to all Tinx customers who have bought a perpetual software license and currently pay the annual maintenance fee.

Tinx Apps in Microsoft AppSource

Our apps for Business Central are available on Microsoft’s AppSource platform. We also offer trial versions for customers to try on their own environments.

You can download a trial version.

Roadmap of Microsoft and Tinx-IT

To find out more about new features in Business Central, check out Microsoft’s roadmap here.
The Tinx-IT roadmap with upcoming features can be found here.