Our client plans to discontinue Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations, but they need to retain full database access for 10 years to meet regulatory and audit requirements.
We are exploring options such as maintaining a minimal D365FO environment (Tier-1 or equivalent) with minimum necessary licenses to allow read-only access for data reference and report generation. No new transactions will be posted.
Could anyone suggest the supported and most cost-effective approach for long-term data retention and secure access?
Any Microsoft documentation or real-world experience would be greatly appreciated.
Best Approach for Long-Term Retention of D365 F&O Data After Discontinuation
Hi
You would get support(from Microsoft) only if you have a minimum of 20 Enterprise licenses, which could cost about USD 210 × 20 = 4,200 per month, or roughly 50,000 USD per year.
You have the option to download the database backup (as a BACPAC file), but viewing the data in SQL Server means you lose access to all Dynamics reports and would need to develop all reports yourself.
I could be wrong, but you likely would not be able to deploy a Tier-1 environment if your tenant does not meet the minimum license requirement.
You can keep your data locally on a VHD (downloadable from LCS) and host it on-premises; however, some features may not work in the VHD. Additionally, Microsoft will discontinue VHD support at some point in the near future (due to UDE).
If you decide to go with Long Term retention feature, you still need minimum number of F&O licenses to use that feature.
Your other options include, taking data to the new ERP system (if you have one, replacing the D365FO)
I recommend reaching out to Microsoft support or your licensing partner for a reasonable solution.
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