What are the potential issues with Managed environments

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Posted on by Samantha73

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Hi All

I have 3 environments, dev, test, prod and I want to convert test and prod to Managed . What are the issues or considerations ? Or negatives related a managed environment vs unmanaged? Below are the licenses

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Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Dynamics 365 Sales

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Quartzite 135 on at

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Hi,

No Direct Customization: Once deployed, any modifications must go through the development team, requiring an update and redeployment in production as a managed solution.

Complex Removal Process: Removing a solution can be challenging, especially when dependencies exist.

Rollback & Dependency Risks: Rolling back or removing a solution is difficult and may lead to broken dependencies, potentially impacting system stability.

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Holly Huffman 6,530 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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Hi there! Good morning, evening, or afternoon - depending on where you are :) Hope you are well today!

Converting your test and production environments to Managed in Microsoft Dynamics 365 has several considerations, both positive and negative.

Key Considerations for Managed Environments

Governance and Control:

Managed environments provide enhanced governance, allowing administrators to enforce policies, monitor usage, and maintain compliance.

This is particularly useful in production environments where stability and security are critical.

Solution Management:

Managed solutions are locked, meaning components cannot be directly modified. This protects intellectual property and ensures consistency.

However, any changes require updates to the original unmanaged solution and re-importing, which can slow down the process.

Layering and Dependencies:

Managed solutions support layering, allowing multiple solutions to coexist without conflicts.

Be cautious of dependencies between solutions, as removing a managed solution can sometimes lead to issues if other solutions rely on it.

Flexibility:

Unmanaged environments offer greater flexibility for development and testing, as components can be modified directly.

Converting test to Managed may limit your ability to experiment and troubleshoot freely.

Licensing:

Ensure your licenses align with Managed Environments' requirements. For example, Managed Environments are included with certain Dynamics 365 licenses. Based on your license list, you seem to have sufficient Dynamics 365 Sales Enterprise licenses for production but may need to review other licenses for compatibility.

Backup and Recovery:

Managed environments often come with extended backup options, which can be a significant advantage for production.

Negatives of Managed Environments

Reduced Flexibility: Managed environments are less adaptable for quick changes or experimentation.

Dependency Management: Removing or updating managed solutions can be complex if dependencies exist.

Learning Curve: Teams accustomed to unmanaged environments may need time to adapt to the restrictions and processes of Managed Environments.

Recommendations

Test Environment: Consider keeping the test environment unmanaged for flexibility during development and testing.

Production Environment: Converting to Managed is advisable for better governance, security, and stability.

Hope this helps!

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AS-24052230-0 14 on at

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I am a big fan of Managed Solutions and Managed environments; however, when there is an issue with either, then you might be on the phone with Microsoft support for a fair amount of time.

Key areas that cause issues

1) Creating a field in "DEV" , Deploying it to the downstream environments as MANAGED and then

DELETING the field in DEV and creating a new field with the same schema name. To mitigate this risk ALWAYS rename fields to Ztobedeleted - [field name] and then use upgrade and other best practices for removing the set of Ztobedeleted fields in downstream environments.

2) Alternate Keys and Keys: If you use alternate keys, they have some "Delete" limitations so be careful with keys.

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Satyam Prakash 961 on at

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Hi,

Converting your Test and Prod environments to Managed from Unmanaged involves a few considerations:

Licensing Impact: Managed environments may require premium licenses for all users, potentially increasing costs if you have non-premium users accessing them.

Change Control: Once managed, you can’t edit components directly in Test/Prod; changes must flow from Dev (unmanaged) as managed solutions, enforcing stricter ALM but limiting flexibility.

Conversion Effort: You’ll need to export unmanaged solutions from Dev as managed, test thoroughly, and ensure all customizations are captured—missed components could cause issues.

Negatives vs. Unmanaged: There is less direct control in Managed environments, and dependency on Dev for updates can slow urgent fixes.

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