We often get asked by customers and resellers if their Demand Forecasting release is compatible with a specific D365 SCM release or, if not, when it will be.
The reply we generally give to such questions is: “The latest release of Demand Forecasting is compatible with the latest D365 SCM release. Please update to that Demand Forecasting release, if this is needed.”
We don’t specifically certify each Demand Forecasting release for compatibility with every possible D365 SCM release it can be used with. Instead, we have taken a better approach and architected the product so that it is insulated from the underlying D365 SCM system as much as possible. This ensures each Demand Forecasting release remains as update-compatible with D365 SCM as possible.
Because of this important design feature, we generally do not need to publish a schedule of when Demand Forecasting releases will be certified on any release of D365 SCM, or state when we will release a compatible version of Demand Forecasting. Each release of Demand Forecasting is already compatible out of the box.
From time to time, we will conduct internal testing of the current Demand Forecasting release with particular D365 SCM releases. We do this if we think it is needed. This is usually required if, for example, we know Microsoft is releasing new product features we plan to make use of, or Microsoft makes other product enhancements or feature changes that affect grids, lookups or dropdowns, or any other user interface elements we make extensive use of, or there are changes to other components in D365 SCM that we know Demand Forecasting relies on to function correctly.
When we do this compatibility testing, our policy is to wait for the Generally Available version of the D365 SCM rather than conduct testing on any Preview D365 SCM releases, because there are often many differences and bug fixes between the Preview releases and Generally Available releases. As a result if you are wanting to update to a D365 SCM release we recommend you use a Generally Available (or later) releases for this, where this is possible. We accept this is not always possible, so if you need specific guidance, contact us for advice before you proceed.
As a general recommendation, we advise any customer who is on an older standard (non-modified) Demand Forecasting release and who wishes to upgrade to the latest D365 SCM release, also upgrades to the latest Demand Forecasting release. This can be done either prior to, or at the same time as, their D365 SCM upgrade. This ensures that you not only get the latest D365 SCM functionality, you also get the latest Demand Forecasting features & functionality.
Finally, no matter whether in a new customer installation, or an existing customer upgrading to the latest D365 SCM or Demand Forecasting release, we always recommend full end-to-end testing of all Demand Forecasting functionality that is critical to the business, as well as testing of any upgrade procedures required as part of the upgrade.
This ensures that every upgrade you do, whether it be just Demand Forecasting or D365 SCM, is able to be completed with minimal impact on your use of both D365 SCM & Demand Forecasting.
