Why pay for the annual Enhancement Program?

Alex_Chow

Why should we pay for the annual Enhancement Program to Microsoft if:
1. Our system is running very smoothly
2. We can still buy additional granules and sessions
3. Our VAR has developers willing to support our version

I can't think of any reasons to pay the annual enhancement fees if these conditions are met. Other than the new technologies coming that that will cost us a lot of money to do.

Any thoughts?

:-k

Savatage

We felt the same way.
Everything is perfect.
We don't see upgrading to get a little extra this & that once in a while.

1) We're not made of money
2) Don't fix what's not broken

We've been on our own for a while now.
& even if something comes up we will just have to pay full price for that service instead of a discounted one.

We haven't needed to do this, but the option is still there for extra help and only paying when you actually need it.

..Just my opinion, this works for us.

Shenpen

What the damn is Enchacement Program? Is it the same stuff as "maintenance", meaning you get new versions for free?

My advice is: don't ever expect new versions would ever provide useful new features for you. What they can provide is bug fixes. Think about how many bugs you have. Think about whether your VAR is able to fix bugs or not, and for how big a price. If bugs seem to be a big problem, buy maintenance - and change VARs. If not, forget it.

Shenpen

Another thought: there are two kind of bugs:

- one of Inventory Value - this alone can mean years of suffering for companies, having an ERP and not knowing how much profits they made

- and everything else

If inventory value is OK, you do not have to fear bugs. (It means: either you have at least 3.7 or back to 2.6 but nothing between).

kine

yes, if you are not growing, not changing in time, you do not need upgrades. But if you are growing, you need better performance, more data to store, more functionality, new technology to connect etc. It can be better to pay. Of course, if you calc the cost of this and cost of new license after some time when you will need to upgrade, it can be better to not pay it. But it depends on how fast is your grow etc.

For example, in one day you will need to access the Navision data through sharepoint and the Employee portal will be right solution for you. Will you have money to pay whole maintenance to be able to use new client? It is not so easy to say "Do not pay" or "pay it in each case...". There are pro and cons in each case...

Alex_Chow

It seems like there are more reasons NOT to be on enhancement than to be ON it.

I think Microsoft need to do a better job selling the enhancement programs. Like providing discounts for granule purchases. Currently, it's hard to find any incentive for the customer to maintain the enhancement program.

relay23

So NONE of the enhancements are forced?? Dev included..

Let's say the 5.0 upgrade will require the enhancement to get the upgrade for the dev license portion (??) .. will I have to pay enhancement for all of the back years? that is what I'm being led to believe.

Based on what Ruiz is saying, I can probably just buy the 5.0 version of the dev license.. but if that's in a year, then i was way better off buying the enhancement,, unless of course the developer license will not need to be upgraded to 5.0.

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks

themave

before you buy or don't buy you should find out all the cost if you decide to later upgrade.

for instance, we just got the notice for our annual enhancement billing, with a note, that if it is not paid in full by the due date there is a 50% mandatory penalty from Microsoft. For all the time the enhancement was not in effect up till when you decide to go back on it.

So, if you decide in two years you need to upgrade, you will pay the full price of the enhancement program plus 50% additional penalty for the full two years, or you will have to simply buy the next version at full price and pay the enhancement for the at least the first year on your new software.

For us we think the 5.0 upgrade is the last one we will go to for a long time, including the first year of service packs that will surely follow. So, we paid the enhancement for this year and will pay again next year. It will be cheaper then paying full price for the version 5.0 which is the only option if you don't have a current enhancement agreement.

themave

relay23 wrote:

So NONE of the enhancements are forced?? Dev included..

Let's say the 5.0 upgrade will require the enhancement to get the upgrade for the dev license portion (??) .. will I have to pay enhancement for all of the back years? that is what I'm being led to believe.

Based on what Ruiz is saying, I can probably just buy the 5.0 version of the dev license.. but if that's in a year, then i was way better off buying the enhancement,, unless of course the developer license will not need to be upgraded to 5.0.

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks

I would bet the developer license will have to be upgraded, we could not even install a bug fix for a SP1 issue without having a current 4.01 license. The bank rec bug fix install a new table, and as such needed the 4.01 license to work.

Alex_Chow

Yes, the developer license will need to be upgrade to 5.0 as well.

If you want 5.0 with the developer license, then I would wait until 5.0 is actually released then buy the developer license. This way, you can save on the enhancement program.

relay23

THanks mave, I'm aware of this penalty, and we're paying enhancements for another 2 years because we paid up front, BUT, I'm now upgrading to the dev license and don't know if that portion of it will get upgraded to 5.0 as well which means i'd have to pay the enhancement once 5.0 comes out, just for the dev portion. I was told by someone @ Microsoft at Convergence 2006 that the dev granules do not fall under the same enhancement rules. What do you think? thanks

relay23

Thanks Deadlizard for following up on that.

Sounds like that MS guy didn't know what he was talking about.

best~

Alex_Chow

This is easily proved.

Just try to use your 3.xx license on a 4.xx client.