Sage 200 – End of support policy

Sage have released their end of support policy; the changes are as follows.

The software lifecycle policy

Sage adopts a policy to formalise their procedure of withdrawing support for software versions that use technology that is no longer supported by the provider. An example of this is Microsoft Windows XP.

What does this mean?

This doesn’t mean the software will stop working. The software can still be used, but they will withdraw support, updates and upgrades in a phased approach. When they announce the withdrawal of support, if the version of the software is affected, we will contact you to advise you of the date on which support will cease, along with details of upgrade offers available to you.

Why do Sage do this?

It is standard industry practice for technology companies to withdraw support for older versions of software. Every year Sage invests in research and development to improve their software and services. Sage does this in line with regular customer feedback and to consider new technology and changes in legislation. Sage believes that “using the latest software is the best way to help run a business effectively” and by concentrating their resources on looking forward, they can “help your business move forward too.”

We want to ensure that we continue to offer the best level of support for their software that we can. We want you to be able to reach technical experts with the right level of knowledge to answer your questions quickly.

End of Support

For products available for sale new licence sales are withdrawn from sale once the product enters extended support & beyond. Licence sales of additional users & companies are still available during extended support and end of support.*  Additional module licence sales are no longer available.

Sage 200 systems require an annual enable string to function, which we provide subject to the Sage 200 Services Annual Plan being in place and paid for via the linked Business Partner. Legislative updates are provided by Sage to maintain legal / fiscal compliance.  Hotfixes / Bug fixes / Patches / Service packs are provided for recognised defects in line with the defect resolution process

*Once a version has been at an end of support status for 12 months, the ability to buy additional users is also removed. Should there be a need to buy a module or user, you will need to upgrade to the latest version.

Sage will be removing all Ask Sage Articles related to a particular version, but they will make them available to download.

Please note this is the end of support, not life. The software will still work.

A full list of affected programs along with the date support ends can be viewed below.

All support for Sage Line 100 ended on 31 March 2014.

All support for Sage MMS ended on 30 September 2014.

*Following a communication to the channel on 12th June 2016 Sage supported Sage 200 Extra 2011 for an additional 6 months until 30th April 2018.

Sage 200 Extra Online

Following a communication sent to Sage’s partners on the 26th January 2018 from 1st July 2018, Sage 200 2016 Service Pack 3 (v12.00.0004) will be the only version supported.

This is due to TLS 1.0 protocol being retired, which is responsible for ensuring secure communication between Sage 200 client and services within Sage 200 Extra Online.

Sage 200 CRM

Sage 200 CRM will be supported in line with the version of Sage 200 it is integrated with.

All queries concerning the integration or core CRM functionality will be supported by our technical support team.

API

Sage 200 API using external facing web server is now in extended support until 31/03/2021.

Sales, Marketing & Service Connector

The Sales, Marketing & Service Connector for Sage 200 CRM will enter extended support on 01/10/2018.

Details of Sage’s extended support offering can be found in the grid above.

◾ Sage will continue to test compatibility for connector v4.3.1 for all Sage 200 releases from 05/02/2019 until 31/12/2019.

◾ Sage will continue to provide 2nd line support, via our technical support team until 30/09/2020